Hate5six, a pretty legendary concert videographer within the hardcore music scene who is also extremely outspoken in his support for Palestine, shared a sentiment on Instagram arguing that the people who want to collapse the distinction between Zionism and Judaism are the majority of followers of Judaism themselves, so it shouldn’t be a concern to the Pro-Palestine movement.

Right away I saw sizable backlash in the online hardcore community calling him antisemitic, but this data and all other indications I have seen, directly support his point.

It seems like the distinction between Zionism and Judaism serves to shield the vast majority of Jewish institutions that staunchly support Zionism and Israel.

The rigorous need to tip toe around language, ensure that the distinction is abundantly clear, serves as a distraction to the movement.

And furthermore, when these organizations are happy to call anything as simple as a Palestinian flag antisemitic, why should we take antisemitism seriously at all? It’s the boy who cried wolf. Maybe once Israel is gone we can have a real conversation about anti-semitism but it seems completely pointless in the current state of things.

They’re asking so they can provide VIP treatment to those who answer yes /s

When this is the way Platner acts in the US, to other white people, I can only imagine what he felt emboldened to do against the Iraqi women he terrorized. But to most Americans, all is forgiven if you are a veteran.

I hope I never have to hear Graham Platner speak again. Unfortunately, his campaign has proven the extent to which a candidate can get away with having an absolutely terrible background and still get support by posing as a “progressive”. The white supremacist American Socdems are going to want more from where this came from.

My best friend from school and I lost contact after graduating, we met up a couple of times and had a good time, but when I tried to rekindle the friendship he was starting to drift into the alt-right (had always been a libertarian edgy guy, but became completely obsessed with reactionary politics during covid lockdowns). I just found out he is now working for a US arms company.

While it is completely unsurprising, it hit me harder than I expected. Literally a company that builds weapons for Israel to carry out genocide.

Idk that argument helped convince me to be vegan.

Being vegan does mean changing the way you eat for nutrition and it does mean sacrificing the taste pleasure of meat, but I just think the sacrifice is worth it because I am not actively participating in a system that causes billions of animals to suffer.

Ah that is very interesting! I hope they do abandon it. I cannot say I am at all surprised that Eastern Europe would be far ahead of the USA in terms of ethical farming practices.

Do you have a source on that? I am not aware of, and unable to find, any nations that have actually banned the practice of cow calf separation. I’m also not aware of any farms that allow calves to stay with their mother, would be very interested in learning more about this.

From what I know, this is still very widely practiced in the USA, and if anything, some small scale farmers prefer a foster system where multiple calves (2-4) suckle from one mother cow they are essentially assigned to, but is not necessarily their birth mother.

It isn’t that milking a cow is rape as much as getting a cow to produce milk requires it. A cow has to give birth in order to produce milk, which in any sort of large scale production involves forcefully inseminating the cow, and then taking away its child after birth to take the mother’s milk.

When white Americans (not speaking for people of other countries or other backgrounds) can just as easily buy and drink oat milk, which doesn’t involve any forced insemination or forced removal of baby animals, it seems like a clearly better option morally speaking.

At the end of the day veganism is a boycott. In that regard, it is basically as individualist as BDS (or similar boycott movements). Sure, that alone isn’t likely to bring larger systemic change, but I do think it can be a very beneficial piece of the larger strategy.

There is an unfortunately large number of liberal vegans who genuinely don’t care about the lives of oppressed people around the world (I’ve seen people argue against being pro-Palestine and post ridiculous propaganda puff pieces for the IOF in the vegan subreddit, which is a horrible place). But I think human liberation and animal liberation can both be supported at the same time without one detracting from the other

The data I have seen points to new US military recruits, at least in recent years, being predominantly “middle class” basically to say they aren’t people living in poverty, but are not coming from notable generational wealth either.

It is hard to get exact data, but I have seen multiple sources suggest that the $50k - 100k household income bracket is the biggest for military enlistment. Like this study for example

The people that I knew growing up who have since gone into the military (and I no longer have contact with) did it because someone in their family was in the military, none of them were poor. I think the whole propaganda and perception of the military being a force for good and virtuously defending the country plays a much bigger role than the money aspect, even though that perception, as we know, is extremely inaccurate.

Saw a guy I got a socialist/anti-fascist tattoo from posting online in support of Graham Platner.

I just can’t believe how after such a long and documented history of US subterfuge of the left, people will just fall for this guy so easily

Hundreds of think tanks developing new indexes to rank settler colonies + Europe above the rest of the world

It’s a bit surprising to me that these shows keep inviting him given how well he defends Iran. They try so hard to catch him but never succeed

Well said. The strategy has never been to go to, say hardcore monarchists, and try to convert them to a socialist ideology by appealing to their reactionary tendencies. It has been to speak to the disenfranchised, who have not been represented in the political system.

The whole maga communism idea is no different than how the democratic party constantly insists the only strategy is leaning further right wing to capture reactionary voters.

I’m so sick of business executives and middle managers. I have to work with many of these people and it drives me insane. Their jobs consist of saying things like, “we need to monitor this closely”, that’s basically their whole job.

Like no shit I’m going to monitor this, that’s all I get paid to do.

B-b-b-but we have to teach the big mean Russians a lesson! /s

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit as well. It seems like the most likely way that any kind of revolutionary movement would come to fruition in the US, as a countrywide revolution seems many levels more difficult.

Seeing CHAZ in Seattle during the BLM protests planted the seed in my head, specifically in the case of a Cascadia-type state. It would be a difficult split though to be sure, the USA would have a lot to lose to a breakaway state and I’m sure would put up a fight against it. If US imperialism is weakened enough and spread thin in conflicts elsewhere in the world, it could be a moment of opportunity for such a movement if proper organization is in place.

I also wonder if as US empire declines, and turns inward, if capitalist infighting will lead to some level of balkanization anyway.

I was a liberal and the Gaza genocide is definitely the catalyst that made me become first anti-imperialist and then fully communist. Seeing the horrendous lies from the west about what was happening and slandering the Palestinian resistance spurred me to seek out alternative sources of political information, which in turn led me to Michael Parenti. From there I became more open to the USSR and AES, thanks to his lectures and black shirts and Reds.

I think you’re right about the marketing audience angle. Even all the christian nationalists who were pissed about Bad Bunny’s inclusion still watched the Super Bowl, just not the half time show. The NFL gets the best of both worlds this way vs. having a halftime performer that appeals to the crowd who is already watching the Super Bowl for the football anyway.