Page 14 of 25

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:41 pm
by mentalgongfu2
Don't know how I managed to lose the post I just spent like 30 minutes crafting - but let me try and boil it down in 30 seconds:

Elvis is worth keeping around, IMO. We've had some decent interactions.
I don't want to argue FOR using the ignore function, but I have no personal reason to defend anyone else in this context, and I can understand the inclination to block people whose only purpose at this board seems to be to specifically insult you, AD. I have had and my own problems with some of your posts and I often find your responses to criticism to be vague and frustrating. But at least they aren't usually focused on insulting your detractors (sometimes you do insinuate a bit, though).

Regardless, I think it's important to note that there is another discussion board started by a disgruntled former RI poster, which exists almost exclusively to talk shit about RI, and particularly about AD, SLAD, and Jerky. It has two threads on RI, including one about "covert ops" its members are doing here at RI. It's possible that the "covert ops" thread is half satire, or even all satire, based on its tone, but the only thread on this other site that goes over 4 pages is the one focused on shit-talking RI, so that does seem to be the focus of most of the energy there. I don't know if that plays into anything currently happening at RI, but it's something to be aware of.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:42 pm
by Belligerent Savant
.

American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:25 pm wrote:No, but they really have much more time and energy for this than I do.


Wow. Now I'm concerned. Yes, that's right: your "foe" is actually concerned for your mental health, if indeed those words you typed are genuine.

How can one possibly claim that a member with 4700 total posts has "MORE time and energy" than you do, with more than 18K posts under your belt? Simply perform a search in this forum for the amount of times 'Syria' and/or 'Assad' were mentioned by AD vs. Elvis if the post count variance alone won't suffice.

Alas, it appears Dr. Evil may be on to something (though others have suggested the same over the years): you simply do not like to have your views challenged. At all.

You want RI to be your very own zen garden of AD, whereby you can post content to your liking with NO rebuttal, no challenge.

I've a solution: simply create your own blog and disable the comments section. Problem Solved. You can then continue to tend to your sandbox unfettered by the burdens of The world outside your view.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:44 pm
by Elvis
American Dream wrote:I don't think the endless clash of fundamentally different world views is going anywhere for me personally.


Agreed.

As for myself, I like to temper my world view with challenging discussions, objectivity, critical thinking and respect for facts and evidence.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:55 pm
by American Dream
peartreed » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:18 pm wrote:
Your dog piling on AD with your fellow trollers is also becoming tiresome and should involve the distribution of doggy bags for all of you to clean up your act.



I couldn't have said it any better myself- and with that, I'm out.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:58 pm
by Marionumber1
American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 4:25 pm wrote:Quite possibly I will be up for discussion a bit later, with others who bring a better style of argumentation to the table.


I'm curious what you mean by this, AD. From what I can see, Elvis has pretty much always kept his comments in this discussion respectful and issue-based.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:07 pm
by American Dream
Marionumber1 » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:58 pm wrote:
I'm curious what you mean by this, AD. From what I can see, Elvis has pretty much always kept his comments in this discussion respectful and issue-based.


One more quick comment before I go: Elvis is generally mild in tone, I do agree. However in terms of group dynamics, he at times must be considered in terms of a small group of like-minded people who love to pile-on and make personal attacks.

As to clear contentions backed by strong logic and evidence, I've generally been disappointed with those who I consider in the pro-Assad camp. I'm not now inviting such arguments- both because I have to go and also because I'm very close to that perma-block decision.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:22 pm
by minime
Yes, I'm Running As A Socialist
Why Candidates Are Embracing the Label in 2018

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/d ... terms.html

HOUSTON — There was no question on primary night in Texas last month that Franklin Bynum would win the Democratic nomination to become a criminal court judge in Houston. The 34-year-old defense attorney had no challengers.

But for his supporters who packed into a Mexican restaurant that evening, there was still something impressive to celebrate. Many in the crowd were members of the Democratic Socialists of America, or D.S.A., a group that has experienced an enormous surge of interest since the election of President Trump, even in conservative states. And Mr. Bynum was one of their own — a socialist who, along with at least 16 others, appeared on the ballot in primary races across the state of Texas.

“Yes, I’m running as a socialist,” Mr. Bynum said. “I’m a far-left candidate. What I’m trying to do is be a Democrat who actually stands for something, and tells people, ‘Here’s how we are going to materially improve conditions in your life.’”

Studies suggest that young people with few memories of the Cold War embrace socialism far more than older people do. A 2016 survey of 18- to 29-year-olds by Harvard’s Institute of Politics found that 16 percent identified as socialists, while 33 percent supported socialism. Only 42 percent supported capitalism, while a majority — 51 percent — said they did not.

More at the link...

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:48 pm
by Elvis
For crying out loud, I'm not part of any "group" here that's trying to antagonize or "dogpile" AD. Nothing I've posted resembles a personal attack on AD.

I'll continue to critique articles posted on RI and if that's upsetting to some people, it's just the way it is on a discussion board. If you don't want your posts discussed, don't post!

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:43 pm
by American Dream
All of us are free to post, given that we respect the guidelines. All of us are also free to choose if, when and what we post, given the same caveats. That's the beauty of this board.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2018 5:00 am
by Sounder
There is a very basic mechanism involved, commonly used by elites to ‘control’ social development. The working method of the mechanism is to create exaggerated expressions of ‘needed social change’. Naive folk fall for the ruse because after all, we are in dire need of social change. The effect is to ramp up ‘enthusiasm’ of an unhealthy type.

The bonus comes for the manipulators when folk become less naïve and retreat out of embarrassment rather than admitting past shortcomings and re-entering the fray of learning to be humane.

Enthusiasm, Intuition, or direct connection to source is compromised by all the noise.

That is why the noise will not stop.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2018 9:08 am
by American Dream
Soon we'll find out who are the real revolutionaries...


The Struggle of Women Across the Sea

Image


Silvie and Joelle

In April 2017, Sylvie and Joelle wanted to cross the sea to escape their predicament and start a new life in Europe.i They did not know one another until they boarded the small rubber boat in Turkey, together with twenty-two others, including two children. Sylvie was anxious and entered last, handing over her red bag to Joelle who promised to return it after their safe arrival. They departed, but at some point, somewhere in the Aegean Sea, they ran out of fuel and could not continue. Sylvie tried to call for help, but her phone was caught by a large wave. Lost at sea, Joelle, who was in the eighth month of pregnancy, started to cry and pray for help, but nobody came. The boat capsized, and everybody fell into the water, drifting away from each other.

Sylvie and Joelle were separated, but Joelle did not give up. “I had a strong feeling of power in me. I don’t even know where this came from. Where we fell in the sea there was nothing: no boats, no fishermen, no police, no one.” She was able to stay together with two others, Guilaine and Teddy. They floated in the water throughout the night, trying to stay conscious and together. But at some point, a wave parted them, and Joelle was all alone. Hours later, she suddenly saw a boat approaching. She was taken aboard the rescue vessel of the NGO ProActiva and brought to land.

Sylvie was able to stay together with three others as well, holding hands, talking, giving each other hope, and trying to stay awake. But after a while they also lost one another, and when Sylvie was finally discovered, she could not see anymore. “The sea salt had burned my eyes. I was blind.” She was brought to Joelle and together they went to the hospital. Joelle wondered: “Where are the others? Let’s hope they bring them even if they are not alive. But no one could join us. The same evening I saw an assistant and a psychologist and I asked them: ‘Where are my brothers and sisters?’”

Eventually, they were informed that only the two of them had survived. Two out of a group of twenty-two. Joelle still had the red bag with her, and returned it to Sylvie. “I thought maybe she has her money inside, I can’t abandon the bag.” Joelle said that without the search-and-rescue NGO, they would not have survived. She gave birth a few weeks later to a healthy girl. “She is my joy and my power. I believe I would have died if she was not in me. God really pitied me. It’s really a miracle. I call her Victoria-Miracle.”

Image

Intersectional Struggle

Stories of women struggling across sea borders are rarely heard. When we do hear them, women are often simply portrayed as subordinate, exploited, and passive victims who depend on male companions, and who lack individual migration projects and political agency. The erasure of their agency and voices is also the effect of hegemonic narratives of migration to Europe, in which ‘the migrant’ is routinely imagined as young, able-bodied, and male, more an abstract figure than a human being, commonly constructed as a dangerous subject against whom border enforcement and deterrence policies are legitimized.

Knowing well that the personal is political, and the political is personal, we want to listen to women’s voices and stories, and be inspired by their disobedient movements, their strength, their resistance. This report is being published shortly after International Women’s Day, on which women led demonstrations all over the world, including in Spain where the first nationwide ‘feminist strike’ took place against sexual discrimination, domestic violence, and the wage gap; or in Turkey where the crowd of protesters shouted: “We won’t shut up, we aren’t afraid, we won’t obey”.


Continues: https://antidotezine.com/2018/04/30/wom ... s-the-sea/

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 6:53 am
by American Dream

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 3:02 pm
by MacCruiskeen
American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:57 pm wrote:
American Dream » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:38 am wrote:As a friendly reminder to all, there are only two people currently active who are on my "foe" list- one is Belligerent Savant and one is MacCruiskeen, so that should explain any disconnect here. This has been in place for a long, long time now.

I will keep repeating this message as needed and helpful. This is not intended to "diss" anyone in particular but reflects my own decision regarding what's best for me- and for this board.


Literally five posts later:

DrEvil » Sun Apr 22, 2018 3:14 pm wrote:
American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:12 pm wrote:I'm reflecting on group dynamics here and I've got to say, I'm 98% of the way there to adding Sounder and Elvis to my perma-block list. I see little that is positive in the roles that they play towards me here.

This also is not intended as a "diss" but rather a drawing of healthy boundaries. Through that, I might be able to carry on more productive conversations with others. It will be better for the board as a whole.


Yeah, god forbid someone should politely disagree with you.


It's comedy gold, really. As exemplified and embodied by American Dream, "the socialist response" consists in responding to no one who challenges him, disagrees with him, or posts evidence he would rather not see and instead placing everyone* on his personal Ignore List.

On other threads, he completely ignored cogently- and politely-argued posts written by bks, Jack Riddler, and too many other RI members to remember, never mind list. Every one of them had taken the trouble to write those posts in their own words.

This is Rigorous Intuition General Discussion. It is not, as someone put it recently, "American Dream's bulletin board".

Or is it? 18,104 posts, well over a hundred in the last week alone. Not 1% of that giant text-conglomerate was written by "American Dream" himself, and not one word of it will he defend honestly.

Why is this still allowed?

*Sycophants excepted. So if AD speaks for Socialism (and by god he thinks he does), then The Socialist Alliance on this board consists of him plus peartreed. Capitalism must be trembling in its boots.

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 3:13 pm
by MacCruiskeen
American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:05 pm wrote:I don't love the White Helmets personally, I just think most of the Assadist type claims against them them are based on sketchy logic and/or evidence.


1. What do you mean by "sketchy", exactly?

2. What do you mean by "Assadist type claims", exactly?

Re: The Socialist Response

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 4:29 pm
by Belligerent Savant
.

MacCruiskeen » Fri May 04, 2018 2:13 pm wrote:
American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:05 pm wrote:I don't love the White Helmets personally, I just think most of the Assadist type claims against them them are based on sketchy logic and/or evidence.


1. What do you mean by "sketchy", exactly?

2. What do you mean by "Assadist type claims", exactly?



^^^^
Indeed.

Belligerent Savant » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:33 pm wrote:
American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:05 pm wrote:I don't love the White Helmets personally


Your love (or hate) of the White Helmets has no bearing on their reported role in service to propaganda. Frankly, this statement has no meaning and provides no clarity as to your position.

American Dream » Sun Apr 22, 2018 12:05 pm wrote: I just think most of the Assadist type claims against them them are based on sketchy evidence.


"Assadist type claims" . What about the NON-"Assadist type claims" against them? There's ample information along those lines within these forum walls. What's your opinion on those claims?

Or is this your (vague) way of suggesting that ALL claims against the White Helmets are "Assadist type claims" ?

(Relatedly, how would you define an "Assadist type claim" ?)

If so, that's a patently wrong supposition; even a cursory review of the content within this forum, and broadly across the internet, provides non-Assad sourced arguments -- sound arguments -- that the White Helmets are part of the Imperial Agenda.

All that said, you have an OPPORTUNITY here to state your case: please outline for us the evidence you find "sketchy" and why you find it "sketchy" .

You see, saying something in and of itself doesn't make it true.

SHOW US WHY you think the evidence is sketchy, and not simply by pasting more biased/shallow content that only attempts to reinforce your stance (while providing minimal, if any, evidence or researched analysis supporting the content's claims).

I know you won't be replying to any of these questions; I am commenting here as further testament to your unwillingness to answer direct questions with direct answers.

One would understandably surmise that, given the sheer volume of your output here, consisting overwhelmingly of material pasted from elsewhere, that you have actually read most of the content you paste. Operating under this assumption, you should be abundantly qualified --- equipped with ALL THAT SOURCE MATERIAL -- to state your position FIRMLY, with clarity.