No One Cares Because Nothing Matters Anymore

[KUTradition]

here's a subset of leftists known as "tankies," a term coined from when the USSR sent in tanks to quash a fascist uprising in Hungary way back when. Basically, this group of leftists subscribe to an ideological paradox that's something along the lines of "you NEED a certain amount of authoritarianism to achieve a certain free society." or something. I suppose it's part of the paradox of "in a truly tolerant society, intolerance must not be tolerated."

I'm not even sure how I feel about it, though. But, for the sake of an economic and political system to be implemented on some macro scale, maybe a little authoritarianism IS necessary to get everyone on the same page. Or, at least that's more likely to work than going full furthest-left anarchist and thinking everyone will suddenly adopt some ideology of "horizontal communities" and "robust mutual aid" enough to render a hierarchical authority obsolete.

perhaps some of the sentiments here belong in the war thread?

[ousdahl]

i can almost guarantee that Puerto Ricans are grateful for the western healthcare they receive (relative to other caribbean locales), but is that more important than other effects from colonialism?

do they?

at least in the context of healthcare in Caribbean locales, pretty sure the commie socialist marxists in Cuba - excuse me, Quba - are kicking Merica's ass on a lot of health metrics, but I dunno how Puerto Rico specifically compares.

[ousdahl]

here's a subset of leftists known as "tankies," a term coined from when the USSR sent in tanks to quash a fascist uprising in Hungary way back when. Basically, this group of leftists subscribe to an ideological paradox that's something along the lines of "you NEED a certain amount of authoritarianism to achieve a certain free society." or something. I suppose it's part of the paradox of "in a truly tolerant society, intolerance must not be tolerated."

I'm not even sure how I feel about it, though. But, for the sake of an economic and political system to be implemented on some macro scale, maybe a little authoritarianism IS necessary to get everyone on the same page. Or, at least that's more likely to work than going full furthest-left anarchist and thinking everyone will suddenly adopt some ideology of "horizontal communities" and "robust mutual aid" enough to render a hierarchical authority obsolete.

perhaps some of the sentiments here belong in the war thread?

perhaps?

I dunno.

All the revolutionary types - those who actually try to study historical revolutions, and understand why they happen and how they work and what they achieve - are quick to point out that revolution has never really happened without violence. Whether it's black emancipation or gay rights or women's rights or whatever, nothing really changed unless or until somebody got fucked up.

At least ideologically, I'm pretty caught up on the idea of a nonviolent revolution. I think it's necessary, even, to implement the systems the world now needs. While I can see the sentiment behind "morally justified violence" and how maybe it's necessary or whatever when it's an oppressed peoples rising up against their oppressors, I also think fighting fire with fire doesn't necessarily make anything better, either.

I'd rather just condemn all violence. I'd also like to make the effort to understand the root causes of violence in a way that can help us prevent violence. I think "nonviolent revolution" is very much what Jesus was going for too (cue Christian Leftism).

[KUTradition]

i can almost guarantee that Puerto Ricans are grateful for the western healthcare they receive (relative to other caribbean locales), but is that more important than other effects from colonialism?

do they?

at least in the context of healthcare in Caribbean locales, pretty sure the commie socialist marxists in Cuba - excuse me, Quba - are kicking Merica's ass on a lot of health metrics, but I dunno how Puerto Rico specifically compares.

you are correct, but that’s only because of the communist system in cuba (which i’m sure you’ll admit has its own problems) and state-sponsored healthcare

there are a few academic works on the subject, but i don’t have the time (or interest, honestly) to read them right now

“kicking Merica’s ass” means what, exactly?

there are some things such a system is better at, but if i have cancer or a rare disease i’m signing up for Mayo, Johns Hopkins, or the like over ANY other institution

[MICHHAWK]

at least in the context of healthcare in Caribbean locales, pretty sure the commie socialist marxists in Cuba - excuse me, Quba - are kicking Merica's ass on a lot of health metrics,

so you got a big brain tumor in your brain. you are going to cuba to have it removed. instead of having it done here in the United States. cool.

[ousdahl]

yea, there's plenty of actual analysis and better understanding of this, and pretty much every other topic ever. But yea, I too don't necessarily have the time or interest in digging through every single work that academia has to offer on the matter.

re: kicking Merica's ass, Cuba treats healthcare like a basic human right and necessity, rather than just another commodity (and often luxury commodity at that). Pretty sure Cuba beats us on a lot of metrics such as life expectancy, infant mortality, and such. They also afford their people things like sick leave, maternity leave, childcare, and things that so many Mericans tend to miss out on.

If a Cuban person is sick, they can just GO to the doctor, without having to worry about what it'll cost, or whether they should shop around first, or whether they're insured, or whether their insurance will even actually cover it, or whether they're better off just toughing it out cuz they may otherwise face bankruptcy.

And, they somehow manage to do it at a fraction of the expense of what we spend on healthcare here

and with a fraction of the resources too.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to Cuban healthcare and the Cuban economy as a whole is, those pesky embargoes imposed by their "free market" neighbors. I wonder what Cuba's healthcare metrics would be if they didn't have to worry about so many supply shortages, and such. Maybe those shortages are a feature of communism in itself, or maybe they're a feature of the sanctions that capitalist countries impose on communist ones. I dunno.

but yes, it seems the most capable specialists and such are still concentrated among the wealthiest areas. If mich did have a big brain tumor, I'd want him to have access to the best doctors available to treat him. If he just needed to go to the doctor for a routine checkup, I hope he'd have access to that too, so that maybe we could find the tumor before it got to be big.

and bear in mind, that specialist treatment is gonna cost some big bucks! But also bear in mind, not much of the cost to you/your insurer actually goes to the specialist treating you. Rather, most of it is going to executives and administrators and insurance guys and various other "free market" middle men.

[KUTradition]

the evils of communism rear their heads

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 446275#_i6

[zsn]

Mayo, Hopkins and Anderson will also likely bankrupt you unless you’re so far progressed to get you on a clinical trial. By that point any treatment is unlikely to do you any good but MAY help another unfortunate person whose insurance will pay when the drug MAY be approved.

Not a great system, if you ask me.

[Overlander]

Mexico has a better health care system than the US

I can tell you from experience

[ousdahl]

[KUTradition]

tragic school shooting in Thailand

akin to Sandy Hook

An ex-policeman has killed at least 38 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in north-east Thailand.

Police say he then killed himself and his family after a manhunt following the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

Children and adults are among the casualties at the nursery - police say the attacker shot and stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene.

The former officer, aged 34, was sacked in June for drug use, police said.

A teacher who survived told Thailand's Thairath TV that the attacker used to drop off his child at the nursery and had seemed polite. A motive remains unclear.

At least 22 children were among the dead in the mass killing in the town of Utthai Sawan. Some victims aged as young as two were attacked as they slept. A dozen people who were injured have been taken to Nong Bua Lamphu district hospital.

[twocoach]

tragic school shooting in Thailand

akin to Sandy Hook

An ex-policeman has killed at least 38 people, most of them children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in north-east Thailand.

Police say he then killed himself and his family after a manhunt following the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

Children and adults are among the casualties at the nursery - police say the attacker shot and stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene.

The former officer, aged 34, was sacked in June for drug use, police said.

A teacher who survived told Thailand's Thairath TV that the attacker used to drop off his child at the nursery and had seemed polite. A motive remains unclear.

At least 22 children were among the dead in the mass killing in the town of Utthai Sawan. Some victims aged as young as two were attacked as they slept. A dozen people who were injured have been taken to Nong Bua Lamphu district hospital.

Ugh, that is awful. My heart breaks for those poor families as well as for the survivors who are old enough to keep a memory of the attack.

[ousdahl]

[ousdahl]

Thousands of officials across the government’s executive branch reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

More than 2,600 officials at agencies from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department, during both Republican and Democratic administrations, disclosed stock investments in companies while those same companies were lobbying their agencies for favorable policies. That amounts to more than one in five senior federal employees across 50 federal agencies reviewed by the Journal.

A top official at the Environmental Protection Agency reported purchases of oil and gas stocks. The Food and Drug Administration improperly let an official own dozens of food and drug stocks on its no-buy list. A Defense Department official bought stock in a defense company five times before it won new business from the Pentagon.

[KUTradition]

that’s why i’m looking at fed jobs

[twocoach]

Thousands of officials across the government’s executive branch reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

More than 2,600 officials at agencies from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department, during both Republican and Democratic administrations, disclosed stock investments in companies while those same companies were lobbying their agencies for favorable policies. That amounts to more than one in five senior federal employees across 50 federal agencies reviewed by the Journal.

A top official at the Environmental Protection Agency reported purchases of oil and gas stocks. The Food and Drug Administration improperly let an official own dozens of food and drug stocks on its no-buy list. A Defense Department official bought stock in a defense company five times before it won new business from the Pentagon.

It's pretty hard to own a mutual fund that doesn't have one of the companies overseen by these agencies.

[zsn]

I don’t think there’s any harm in someone overseeing the FDA owning an S&P500 Index Fund. However, it’s entirely unacceptable for that person to own a Health Science mutual fund.

But it should be illegal for any government official above a certain level to trade individual stocks, regardless of industry, except as part of a blind trust.

[KUTradition]

no mention of the iranian protests

i guess nobody cares because nothing matters, but…some oil workers have started joining in the protests (4 weeks worth now), going on strike monday and tuesday

”We will destroy everything we’ve built.”

could this be the beginning of actual social change in iran?

[ousdahl]

I'm curious about the protests too. Power to the people, and in this case specifically women, of Iran. Fuck the patriarchy.

Now, here's my cynicism showing itself - do we really believe these protests are getting western media attention cuz the west is suddenly so concerned about women's rights?

And even if we can demonstrate western interests are concerned about women's rights, do we think that's the only concern? Is it some noble monolithic rally for women's rights, nothing but? Is that the ONLY reason we're suddenly hearing about Iran?

Or is there some combination of strategic location, and/or resource control, and/or some other interests yet, that are playing a some role in western media suddenly nurturing western sentiment for some kinda change in Iran?

Trad, you mention "some oil workers..." do you mean do say we're suddenly interested in yet another foreign country cuz of oil? Cuz in some bigger picture, there's prob something to that.

[jhawks99]

Did sQuirt kill oussie and steal his account?