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Tucker Carlson’s interview with the activist revealed the mainstream right is being flooded by extremism – and it’s now impossible to contain

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[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip -5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Dialectic and historical materialism are pseudoscience. Applications in which lead to brutal dictatorships like Pol Pot and disastrous policies like Lysenkoism. The masses are an object of inertia, there is no unconsciousness of the masses, they are aware of their material conditions and they don’t care, they just want someone in charge to blame when things go wrong. Historical forces only move on the Principle of Evil (vice, sin, self-interest), the masses only rise up when they are literally starving, and embrace change when it is seductive.

[–] wheezy@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Your comment has almost nothing to do with what was the substance of my comment so I'm not gonna take the bait. I'm not here to debate with a doomer about dialectical materialism. Something you're very clearly not capable of understanding. Because you described it as some sort of mass pshycosis for some reason. Which just tells me you don't actually know what you're talking about.

If you'd like to be more specific about what PART of my comment's analysis is wrong. Or somehow leading to "dictatorships"? But you basically saw the words "dialectical materialism" and then regurgitated shit completely unrelated to the substance of my comment.

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip -4 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It was explicitly outlined in Marx’s writing. The dictatorship of the proletariat. As Žižek wrote in The Sublime Object of Ideology, “ideological fantasy creates social reality.” However, that social reality does not determine objective reality, merely how we interact with it. The Marxist position of achieving class consciousness is a falsehood, it is a presupposition that ignores human nature. There is no deeper philosophical meaning, the surface is the truth, the masses are an inertial force, an object not a subject. In a deterministic universe, all we have to do is look at past results to predict future outcomes.

A quote from my copy of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, “What is universally valid is also universally effective; what ought to be, in fact also is, and what ought to be without [actually] being, has no truth.”

[–] wheezy@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What conversation are you hoping to have here? Because my comment was about Israel and its relationship to American imperialism fueling antisemitism. I really can't be bothered to engage with someone who's entire argument revolves around an appeal to "human nature". My friend, we have fucking planes and skyscrapers and we're communicating instantly from anywhere in the planet either of us might be right now. Part of being human is literally about overcoming nature. If you ever hear yourself saying "this is wrong because its against human nature to " you should probably get a better foundation for your argument. Because an appeal to some vague idea of "human nature" is about as good as appealing to some deity.

Wanna talk about my criticism of American Imperialism and Israel? Because that's what you replied to.

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip -2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

You’re entire comment comes from a flawed position, I don’t need to focus on particulars when your entire premise is wrong.

Instead of engaging my comment, you fall back on logical fallacies. Your pseudoscientific analysis points to a lack of understanding of reality itself. It’s almost like your entire worldview was formed by propaganda coming through a screen.

Go ahead and explain how people in general are going to spontaneously evolve beyond the human condition. I do not ascribe good or bad to it, I just find it important to maybe you know, start from an accurate position.

He is hitting a point of contradiction within modern American conservative thought as well as that of Zionism. But contradictions are fundamental to right wing thought and should be seen as more of a "shift" when their talking heads and leaders admit to them.

Signifying chains may appear contradictory, but they are not. There is no commitment to any previous meaning, it can simply be resignified.

It is why right wing politics most logical conclusion is Nazism. Because it completely lacks the tools of dialectic and historical materialism that leftist use to analyze the world. To understand the Imperialism of America IS Israel. They are one in the same.

This is what makes my previous comments relevant. The tools you used are inadequate, it’s pseudoscience. I did not make an “appeal to nature,” I made empirical observation showing that your argument is invalid.

The right winger will believe the lie that Israel is important to the US because it is "a safe place for Jews". When this doesn't impact them personally they don't really care (as we've seen for decades). But, as the material conditions of the working class decline they are less supportive of this. They will quickly revoked "the white card" for Jews in America. They see immigrants being rounded up, put in camps, but their life is still not improving. Their job still sucks and groceries are more expensive than ever. They ask - "What undeserving minority is still hurting me?" At least this is the narrative being fed to them by people like Nick.

From your (il)logical position, you build an argument based on fallacy after fallacy. Strawman, hasty generalization, post hoc, appeal to emotion, slippery slope.

Fuentes is not gaining traction because material conditions deteriorate, its because his message was amplified in right wing media circles, and his message is seductive. Social media has somewhat decentralized control over messaging, so regardless of material conditions, a seductive message would gain popularity.

The logical conclusion for them, because they lack class consciousness, is MORE rascism and xenophobia. What makes "the Jews" so special? Why is our money going to a genocide?

The left also lacks “class consciousness,” so why are they not seduced by rascist, xenophobic messages? Maybe because their signifying chains take an inverse position?

It's at this point they even leverage leftist talking points in support of Gaza. But never never direct it towards the American Empire and the interest of the capitalist class.

Israel is used as a door to target Jews. And it's perfect for them because all this time the other conservative party (the Democratic party) has been supporting Israel without hesitation. So, it's simple to label them as "the left" whenever convenient to do so. It's a key role that the Democratic party plays in the right wing shift of American politics. To be the contradiction that masks the contradictions of the far right.

Here is evidence that disproves your assertions and renders your argument invalid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Soviet_Union

The only true conflict within the American right is whether or not hating Jews will negatively impact the settler colonialist project that is important to maintain American imperialist interest in West Asia. And it's not really a conflict but more a hesitation of capital to make that shift. The far right ideology that supports them wants it. But the profit incentives and Imperialism will always come first.

Incorrect. American popular support for Israel is projected to decline, there is a threshold of tolerance that overrides “profit incentives and Imperialism.”

So, really, there is no conflict. There is only a shift and the illusion of a conflict. We were always heading here. Will some talking heads and politicians miss this boat? Ben Shapiro comes to mind. Yes. Yes they will. But was this always where things were headed? Yes.

The US will always continue to maintain it's support of Israel. Because Israel and America are one in the same. Not because America is "controlled by Jews" but because Israel is just an extension of US imperialism.

America will always support Israel? That’s a long time. You make this prediction based on your cognitive bias and (il)logical reasoning.

The only dialectical change that is occuring is the push now by the far right to stop pretending. To stop pretending that the right wing is anything but the American Nazi party.

If the right wing is the “nazi party,” why do they support Israel? The establishment uses parafascism to bring extremist elements to their side, but has no interest in transforming society into some mythical utopia of the past.

Does Nick really want support for Israel to stop? Probably he does. He is not a leftist. He doesn't actually understand material interest of American empire or look at things through that lense.

Most leftists don’t either. Most leftists only take an adversarial position of America and ignore the rest of the world and history.

Will the interest of capital allow anti Jewish hatred into the ruling class in order to maintain the scapegoat for fascism? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean they will stop supporting capitalist interest in Israel. It just means that hatred of Jews will be allowed along with all other minorities.

America will literally fly the Swastika over the white house and still support Israel. A fascist ethnostate is exactly what Nazis want for white people at home. They would deport Jewish Americans to Israel if they can. That conversation is coming.

Your entire worldview is built on logical fallacy and propaganda. The extreme right is the group being placed on the altar of sacrifice, they are unleashed for the purpose of making them so intolerable, everyday Americans will accept any draconian measures to be rid of them.

It is has been said that Antisemitism is the dumb man's class conflict. And that is exactly what is happening now. The American working class lacks any class consciousness or organization and is ripe for further exploitation built on antisemitic rhetoric.

Welcome to the society of the spectacle, its not the working class who are stupid, but the “intellectual” (you) who doesn’t understand them or even the basic fundamentals of reality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulation_of_elites

[–] wheezy@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago

Signifying chains may appear contradictory, but they are not. There is no commitment to any previous meaning, it can simply be resignified.

You clearly don't understand what I'm even talking about in the context you quoted. If you did you'd realize you're just repeating what I said. You aren't even disagreeing with me. I was literally explaining how they appear as contradictions to the current narrative of the right wing at the moment. Which results in a shift of the narrative to align it closer to their true ideology (something they usually hide the totality of). I wasn't saying it was a contradiction to right wing ideology at it's core.

I think you're so ready to disagree with me you didn't even understand what I wrote. It's clear you're not actually looking to have a conversation. You decided you disagree with me when you read the words "historical materialism" and didn't even bother trying to understand what was written. Do better.

Also, you sound like a 12 year old debate lord listing off logical fallacies they learned last week without actually doing any of the work logically to conclude them. You might think it sounds smart. But it really just makes you sound childish. Especially when you didn't actually do any logical analysis to conclude to them in the first place. Logical fallacies aren't a shopping list mate. You wrote so much and said so little.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Geez if you think that's bad wait until you find out how many people capitalist dictators have killed in just the last year

Dumbass lmao and I don't even buy Marx

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip -2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

The ideology is irrelevant in dominance hierarchies, they all follow similar patterns. Maybe read a book instead of spewing logical fallacies ad hominem, red herring, false equivalency.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What in the idealist load of bullcrap is this?

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This all you got? Further idealism?

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You seem to not grasp meaning of the term “idealism.” Would you like a dictionary?

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Seems like that's all you've got dictionary definitions and Wikipedia pages. Have you read any books?

And yes the ideas you espouse are idealist because they aren't based on an objective look at how things actually develop and fall back to reductive phrases like "human nature"

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Throughout human history, the general pattern is dominance hierarchies form, wealth accumulates and eventually the system collapses. Previous collapses, people were able to disperse and live somewhat egalitarian lifestyles temporarily but the interdependence created by global neoliberal capitalism means there is nothing to fall back on. Self-termination (extinction) is the most likely path.

That’s what you call ideal? What is wrong with you?

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (5 children)

Brother you literally cited capitalist realism like it supports your claim when the guy who coined the term was a LITERAL SOCIALIST HIMSELF. You're not educated about anything.

Other economic systems fell as a result of contradictions between classes. The roman empire fell because there were no lands left to pillage and no slaves left to misuse. Feudalism fell because the peasants wanted to be free labourers and the lords wanted money and not agricultural products. Capitalism WILL fall because there are contradictions between who owns the means of production and those who are subject to it. This contradiction is being accelerated by climate change and the global south is experiencing the brunt of this.

Shut the fuck up and do some reading

You don't even know what the term idealism is😂🫵. You think I'm using it to call a system great or something. You're a halfwit!

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Have you read capitalist realism? The guy killed himself because he placed all his hopes that it wasn’t the case. Literally read a fucking book.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

State your source for this, and i swear to God if you give me a misreading of his work...

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Capitalism falls to what? What replaces the system? Technofeudalism?

You are so propagandized you have no idea what I said, the type of system does not matter in so far as it is a dominance hierarchy.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Capitalism falls to whatever solves the contradictions between the working class and the owners of capital. Most likely some form of socialism

Your dominance hierarchy has nothing to do with this. The working class has the revolutionary potential, so it is necessarily the working class who will seize the means of production and we end up with socialism. That is Marxism in a nutshell

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Vulgar Marxism, and history has already shown the masses are an inertial force. The ideal circumstances for socialism was last century, only dominance hierarchies formed.

Ideological delusions to think otherwise.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No idea what you mean by dominance hierarchy pal. As far as i know, the working class has the revolutionary potential and will seize the means of production when pushed to the brink.

Climate change is accelerating this reality

Also what nonsense is this about the working class always being inertial? There are plenty of moments within history where the working class was in pole position to start an uprising. You're the one ignoring history here. Occupy wall Street was literally that. Bernie Sanders fucked up the moment by being a lapdog to the democratic party

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Feudalism fell to the capitalists, the only revolutionary class in world history.

Talk about reductivist slop, it’s not wonder socialists make ideal converts to fascism.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Bruh. That's literally the point. Feudalism was supposed to fall into capitalism. That was the entire point. What's your problem?

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

You should probably explain what you mean, because I already stated that ideological fantasy does not determine objective reality.

That is the exact opposite of “idealism” you dolt.

It was explicitly outlined in Marx’s writing. The dictatorship of the proletariat. As Žižek wrote in The Sublime Object of Ideology, “ideological fantasy creates social reality.” However, that social reality does not determine objective reality, merely how we interact with it. The Marxist position of achieving class consciousness is a falsehood, it is a presupposition that ignores human nature. There is no deeper philosophical meaning, the surface is the truth, the masses are an inertial force, an object not a subject. In a deterministic universe, all we have to do is look at past results to predict future outcomes.

A quote from my copy of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, “What is universally valid is also universally effective; what ought to be, in fact also is, and what ought to be without [actually] being, has no truth.”

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Your brand of idealism is that capitalism is unbreakable. That we've reached the final stage of history. This is fatalistic and therefore idealism. Go to school kid

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I spelled out that it will collapse, what replaces it is eventually another dominance hierarchy if we escape extinction.

Sorry bucko, no socialist utopia in any future.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The dominance hierarchy is one where the proletariat rules over the bourgeoisie. After that we end class altogether. You're way out of your depth here

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominance_hierarchy

Ahh yes, the proletariat rules over the bourgeois, but the proletariat are not smart enough to rule, so some enlightened elite must rule for them, let me guess, you? The closet aristocrat?

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Mate your ignorance is glaring here. There are many socialisms. There's Marxism-Leninism which warrants a vanguard, there's anarchism which believes in decentralisation, there's democratic confederalism which is a fusion of the state and decentralisation. You're so ignorant it's not even slapstick.

This is why you're not intelligent. You're wrong, but some dogma is holding you back and i don't know what it is.

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Any form of socialism is not feasible without human consciousness evolving into some kind of singularity. You’ve already contradicted yourself and betrayed the principles of Marxism by claiming the proletariat would dominate the bourgeois. If socialism is about the worker owning the means of production, there is no bourgeois class, except for the worker. In the real world, all you get is some type of authoritarian state capitalism.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Any form of socialism is not feasible without human consciousness evolving into some kind of singularity

Bruh what😂.That's just not true. The workers only need to be class conscious. That means they need to realise that they're oppressed and must revolt. That's all that is necessary. We've gotten close many times, but those opportunities have been squandered. Once again, i refer you to the Occupy Wall Street movement which started to put capitalism back into the minds of the working class.

by claiming the proletariat would dominate the bourgeois. If socialism is about the worker owning the means of production, there is no bourgeois class, except for the worker.

The bourgeoisie would be in a constant bid to reinstate itself throughout socialism. This fight not only exists within the state's own borders, but outside of it. This is the main fight. That is what is meant by this. I don't have quotes on hand, but I can find you specific Marx quotes if you're adamant about it.

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The old theories are obsolete, the modes of production replaced by modes of representation. No matter how much you pray and recite your holy scripture, paradise never comes. Marxist theory is as relevant as phrenology.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Your position has changed many times throughout our discussion, from faulty use of Fisher's theory, to raving about dominance hierarchies and now you've settled on "the theory is outdated".

The theory is not in fact outdated because it's based on historical materialism which is widely accepted among academics and has proven itself to be true. In fact dialectical materialism was extrapolated to form the basis of the conflict theory which many sociologists use to explain 'why' and 'how' conflicts develop in society, like between different races, the patriarchy etc.

There's an argument to be made that the economic system that is "socialism" is outdated, but that's another argument; the philosophy underlying it however is not. Every Marxist whether anarchist, Leninist, syndicalist and so on agrees that capitalism will end; everyone's just arguing about whose type it's going to be.

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Historical materialism is unfalsifiable, it’s in the same category as praxeology. Junk science.

Marx version of conflict theory is similar to the claim that the sun revolves around the earth, inadequate.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

You don't even attempt to rebut the theories. Just slinging around insults. You're just a troll i guess

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Are you a vulgar Marxist?

That makes sense.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

No idea what that means pal sorry

[–] MrSmiley@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It is impossible to conceive of fascism or Stalinism without propaganda – but capitalism can proceed perfectly well, in some ways better, without anyone making a case for it

Capitalist Realism, M. Fisher.

You didn’t read the book and yet claim you know the contents. Lol.

[–] GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

That quote undermines nothing of what I've said😂. You've taken Fisher out of context like most idiots do. The point of capitalist realism is that the ideology of anti-capitalism and capitalism sustains itself because people are led to believe so. Capitalism fails all the time, like when the market crashes, but governments bail them out because to them that's just how it is. To them the system can't fail because they can't fail because they can't envisage another outcome.

Capitalism realism is just an extension of Marx's theory of false consciousness. Which is when the actions of the proletariat do not align with their actual class position.

This is why it is necessary to sensitize the working class towards socialism, otherwise, capitalism realism happens, where people convince themselves there's no other alternative. It's a diagnosis of a problem, but dimwit ms like you misquote Fisher.