Lol
Agree 100% that the working class has more in common with each other than with the ruling classes and their lackeys.
The capitalist ruling class is scared shitless of working class solidarity. Their ruling, and thus far winning, strategy is to divide us and then conquer us. So, what they’ve done is foster divisions among the working class based upon anything they can use: race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc. (More detail on this can be found in the Capitalism and Racism conjoined twins thread, or google)
The next step is to convince some of the divided groups within the working class that they or their way of life are being attacked by the other sub groups within the working class. Which creates a perception that the people that the ruling class are treating shitty(the subjugated people) are coming for your property, your women, your life, etc.
When you say you “don’t understand why the subjugated people are their enemy”, I get it, in the sense that the people on the streets demanding justice are not their natural enemies. The issue is the perception that someone in a militia or the proud boys or the KKK has. Perception is (their)reality.
In order for working class solidarity to defeat the ruling class, our strength must be an unbroken chain: human rights=workers rights=immigrant rights=LGBTQ rights=indigenous rights=Black rights=womens rights=and on and on.
The ruling class has convinced some of us that they aren’t part of the chain, or that freedom can be achieved individually without care for the other links within the chain, or worst that self actualization can only be achieved by participating in the subjugation of others.
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I do not. I also don’t know anyone who likes or respects cops except the over-the-top anti-gun goofs I’ve met on here who think cop interactions are safer than people who conceal carry
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The majority of the country, and a significant portion of people who don’t think cops do a good job don’t actually want to change anything.
“58% believe the police do a “good” to “excellent” job of protecting the public from crime.”
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I see thin blue line stickers on cars all around Chicago. That’s why both Trump and Biden want to give police more money lol
I think all of this is spot on
Right. But it also works both ways. The Democratic party is a powerful force in keeping minorities oppressed also. They pay nothing more than lip service to inequality in order to dupe liberals into thinking words mean more than actionable policies. This is why I pondered the strategy of breaking down these narratives to align and focus on one single issue at a time
Do you really know what their perception is? I don’t know anyone in a militia, but always thought they were primarily anti-governmental authority abuse. And we should be too. I won’t address the KKK. However wacky militia members are, they are wackier
First must come the solidarity. That means finding and tackling the issues we align on and not get hung up on what we don’t. As I said earlier, Black people being at much higher risk during a police encounter is absolutely a result of systemic racism. But the actual problem at hand here are the out of control POLICE! Why not address one issue at a time so as not to get divided and bogged down, which is exactly what the establishment counts on?
I’m just throwing spitballs. I don’t see how we ever unite when everyone plays right into the hands of the elites by keeping us busy engaged in culture wars
How many of the dumb ass average Joes do you think know what defunding the police actually means?
Most think it means getting rid of police entirely
(I would’ve like to have blurred that last sentence, but don’t know how?)
I mean, it’s a terrible phrase.
I always assumed that when the right said they want to “defund planned parenthood” that meant they wanted to get rid of it completely.
I mean get rid of the police entirely. I’ll settle for whatever cuts I can get though, or in the case of Biden/Harris, whoever wants to increase police funding the least.
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wow i really regret following rasmussen on twitter. some sick shit out there
And his Dad replied, “Son, there’s a lot of mystery, semi-mystery and clue to this life.”
I take a Chomsky-type view that the Democratic party are the center-right faction(GOP is the far right faction) of the Capitalist party that has essentially had one-party rule of American government. So, I agree that the Dem party tends to be a lot of talk, little action, and have a lead from behind mentality. I’ll reserve judgement for individuals on a case by case basis, valuing action over rhetoric. Which leads us to your next question…
None of us can peer into the minds or hearts of militia members. We can observe their actions though. They can scream from the mountain tops that they hate abuse of governmental authority. They can arm themselves and cosplay ubermench in the woods all day, every day.
In real life, right now, the police are abusing their authority. People(Black, Latinx, white, LGBTQ, men, women, etc.) are protesting that abuse. The police are responding by doubling down on the abuse while committing war crimes on and beating the protesters.
If a militia member was truly against abuse of authority they’d stand in solidarity with the protesters. Instead, we see militia members getting fist bumps and shout outs from the cops. Guess what…they were full of shit. Their words meant nothing. I will judge them the same way I judge the Dem politicians: actions over rhetoric.
You and I are aware enough to know that politicians who are in the back pockets of the billionaires will never lead us out of the Status Quo Desert of Injustice. Change for the better comes from direct action and grass roots movements.
I don’t mean to have this come off as attacking you. However, even when I charitably read what you wrote, I see it as (uninformed?)criticism of activists who are doing their level best to use the limited resources that they have to bring change to their communities. You and I do not get to tell the people doing the work what order they should address problems in. What authority do you or I have? What expertise do we possess? What track record of success can we point to and say, “You activists should do things the way I feel is best.”?
Those that seek to divide us will always find a wedge to use as culture war fodder. The antidote is solidarity. It’s free to give and impossible to run out of. When I see people struggling for dignity, I don’t debate whether they should be trying to combat police brutality or systemic racism first or second. My solidarity is unconditional.
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MysteryConman,
You’re killing it on the forum lately. Great posting!
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Most white Americans feel perfectly safe in their interactions with the police and in the vast majority of times they are. Most of them are irrationally afraid of violence and crime. Most of them would rather pay professionals (and I mean that in the worst possible way) to defend themselves and their neighbors than do it themselves. Most of them want property protected and probably because they feel like their property is more at risk than their bodies, they are more concerned about protecting property.
Solidarity is a lot to expect. Most people will just support what they think is in their best personal interests.
The most I would hope for is for people to understand systemic racism and the aggressive and punative justice system causes crime and violence and that dialing back the harshness would make people more safe - and that’s a lot to hope for.
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When I said “solidarity” in my last post I was referring to Cactus’ idea of solidarity across the entire working class. Solidarity across all people who are outraged by police violence should be expected. The common complaints about how the activists in the street are doing it the wrong way otherwise I’d be right out there with them are hollow.
I don’t come to Unstuck to post my opinions. I read to collect information, to learn from intelligent and thoughtful people, and to form educated opinions that I can call “my own”.
This post is a great example of why I incessantly read this forum.
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Ha, I wish we could explain to all of the “independent thinkers” that there is no such thing as your own thought.
You’re doing it right. I am so thankful for everyone who posts so intelligently here.
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Grunching, but I have a cool story to share. When I got home today, my favorite doorman was here. We usually chat about sports, sometimes news and politics, so he knows where I stand. He’s a black guy in his 20s or 30s.
So we were talking a bit, and I asked him if he saw the NHL had cancelled two days of games. He looked surprised and said, “For real?” I told him about the NHLPA statement, and he was just like “Wow that’s great.” He said he feels optimistic and hopeful about the future when he sees things like that, how far this is spreading. I said, “Yeah, I mean the NHL of all leagues - that’s about as white as it gets, it’s good to see those guys are getting it and standing up.”
He said he thinks humanity is resurfacing, and maybe this is the moment for things to finally really change. He then told me that before I walked in he was literally sitting there watching videos on Twitter of NBA players speaking out, so we talked about which ones we should both check out if we hadn’t seen them.
For all the talk about where this leads and how we get there, how bad the current situation is, etc, and for all of the doom and gloom that I and others project here, it felt really good to just see the human impact of the NHL’s decision on one average person in real life… to see a black man in America feel hopeful and optimistic right now? That’s something. That’s a big thing.
God, I hope he’s right.
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Yah like for all some will denigrate lip service and symbolic victories, acts like these among sports leagues serve to inspire hope for the hopeless and action for people who otherwise just couldn’t bring themselves to care.
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