Fascism is inseparable from capitalism. The working class within the imperial core is normally protected from it, but that doesn’t mean fascism starts the moment this class is made to care — ie the state’s foreign policy turns inward, and finally the workers’ true position in society is laid bare. That was true all along, and all along fascist policies have been active in other parts of the world.

The problem with understanding fascism as a recent phenomenon is it narrows the horizon of resistance. We ought to dream bigger, not just for a return to a time when fascism didn’t apply domestically, but to a future when fascism ceases to exist.

undisclosed matter

Mom said it’s my turn to steer the truck

https://tankie.tube/w/aZk8gi9ed4mTK4WsdpAY9K

Combination of heel lift, to look taller, and wearing a girdle to hide his gut, preventing an arched back. Plus he’s probably trying to drape his suit over his gut and puff his chest, kind of like sucking in.

I bet he feels so uncomfortable all of the time

Elon is even less cool than this

Melania’s photo is so ridiculously over-airbrushed

It’s still surreal that something this mask-off happened with no room at all for deniability

lmao

Wow that’s… an escalation, to say the least.

You have nothing to be ashamed of. No one’s career path is linear. You draw on all experiences as you move forward, and I’m confident you can use this knowledge to provide insight that others will not have.

Most people change careers 2-3 times in their life, that doesn’t mean they start over entirely from scratch. I had a coworker who was notoriously the brilliant “numbers” guy — turns out he spent most of his career as a chef, of all things, and had only recently switched.

I studied astrophysics in college but my job is not remotely related to that. Yet it shaped my ability to analyze and problem-solve in a way that a traditional path to this job wouldn’t offer. Not that I love my job or anything, but just underscoring the point that education is always a step forward, even if you can’t yet see where you are heading.

I assumed this was fake

by emphasizing the Chinese part, they’re playing into Orientalism

I think this is 90% of the reason. To a sinophobic population, “Chinese” is a scary and derogatory term. “Of China” provokes less of a fear response because it’s more of a statement of fact.

implies some sort of international communist cabal (a la red scare) while the CPC is more accurate as the Communist party is just one of the many political parties in China

This, but also the converse: CPC implies solidarity with an international communist movement, this party representing that in China. On the other hand, CCP just sounds like a party with two scary ebil adjectives, the party being at once both “Chinese” and “communist” 😱

TikTok has the same “not interested” feature. I think xhs works about the same, just more aggressive. It’s actually a little annoying that I watch one video of coffee or something, then I get like a dozen more after thay; then, it takes a while for the algorithm to show me wildcard content to add to the mix. This might just be an early-algorithm issue though.

Well it’s not clear that they can even legally sell the algorithm to the US, but all things are negotiable and perhaps China is also willing to compromise on this issue to win favor with Trump from the get-go. I hope that’s not the case but I don’t think any politician on any side cares about the app as such, it’s a proxy war of sorts.

in shambles rn

“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” [Trump] wrote. “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.”

Hopefully ByteDance doesn’t get strong-armed into 50% US ownership. That would be, like, the most awkward divorced parents situation ever

That was even faster than I thought

Politicians primarily conceived as brands seems the most fitting form of politics in a commodified society where identical products are re-invented over and over as different brands. Each brand attempts to persuade the public about their patented, utopian vision of life that only their product will offer if you buy (or elect) it. When your commodity is physically the same as that offered by a competing producer, then you either compete on price alone, or you brand your product such that its perceived to be different, although it would be impossible to tell in a double-blind test.

The American worldview is deeply capitalist-realist, and I think it will require reeducation if a revolution ever comes.