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  • I work at a Union and I STILL feel hesitant to call in sick lol what an amazing system we live in

    • Which, of course, is not a problem at all. But after years of working in a sigma grindset environment you have to rewire your brain a bit.

  • I got a cold I think, which sucks.

    Also, I'm getting increasingly done with the football (soccer) world in The Netherlands. One of the players of the women national team said she'd love to be a manager in men football and some talking heads are saying that it would be ridiculous to have a female coach at a male team. Like, Sarina Wiegman won two European Championships and two second places are the World Cup. Surely she can be a better manager than many male trainers. The football world is sick.

  • I have no time for my research project.

    I want to define exactly to what extent the state is present in America. If the state is defined as the only legal perpetrators of violence, and gun ownership is prevalent to such an extent in the US, then what does that say about gun owners?

    Similarly, why is a larger percentage of white men more likely to own guns compared to non-white men?

    Like, we know the answer from theory, but what are the laws and regulations that led to this result? Who had put these laws into practice? How does this criminalization used to segregate the populace and enforce privilege?

    • The civilian gun owners aren't part of the state; civilians can exert violence in many ways, not just guns, but it's not legal outside of special circumstances (even if the law isn't applied equally in practice). As for why more white men own guns, using black men as an example, one reason is that they've been unable to access guns until relatively recently and even when they could legally acquire them, it was either very difficult in practice or caused them to be targeted by the state (especially in revolutionary groups like the Black Panthers)

      • In general, I would agree with you, but I think it’s a special case in the US. I would argue that with the way that gun ownership exists in the US, that civilian gun ownership is part of the state, as much as propaganda is a part of the state. As in an oligarchy, it would make sense that the government wouldn’t comprise of the entirety of the state.

        There is a reason that gun ownership is mainly attributed to reactionary elements. This is intentional, resulting from the propagation and polarization of gun culture across party lines, and the subsequent rejection of gun culture and gun ownership by the opposing party. This results in the means for violence being concentrated in the most reactionary elements of society.

        The state, through propaganda and law, has essentially set up this reserve militia as a reserve bulwark against progress. We have seen that it’s these reactionary forces that are the most willing and most able to use violence.

        It’s not just gun ownership, but rather reactionary adventurism in general that’s not only encouraged but funded and protected by the state. (Like with the libs of TikTok bomb threats) I would go so far as to say this parallels what we saw in Italy before WWII, and the start of an official fascist regime.

        But of course, this is just a framework for my research, and a lot of these claims are something I would still need to prove or deny. But this is a trend that I’ve been noticing recently.

    • Interesting topic.

      If the state is defined as the only legal perpetrators of violence…

      Is that the right definition? It could be a good place to start. You might want to look up John Austin. This article may be useful: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-positivism/ If Austin is useful, you might want to check exactly how he reflected Bentham and then see if Marx said anything about that part of Bentham. Marx wasn't generally kind to him lol.

      If you find this legal view of the state and keep reading you may come across Kelsen. If so, or if you're otherwise interested, have a look at Max Adler, The Marxist Conception of the State: A Contribution to the Differentiation of the Sociological and the Juristic Method. It's an old text but may be useful.

      Otherwise, is the state the 'only legal [perpetrator] of violence' or does it have a monopoly on violence? Is there a difference?

      I've yet to read it but Ralph Miliband's The State in Capitalist Society could be useful, too.

      If you are going down a legal path, Pashukanis and Renner may be essential reading. Even anti-communists treat them seriously. I'm unsure if he's an anti-communist, but Fuller's Morality of Law relies on Pashukanis. Fuller was involved in one of a few great debates in jurisprudence in the twentieth century. His was the Hart-Fuller debate. Hart being the arch-positivist. You'll see him mentioned in the Austin article cited above, along with Kelsen (Pashukanis gets a line about some Marxists rejecting positivism).

      (For those who are just passing by, legal positivism is basically the idea that there is a difference between what law is and what law ought to be. I.e. law doesn't necessarily tell you what is moral and law doesn't necessarily have to be moral.)

    • Highly recommend reading loaded, by roxanne dunbar-ortiz.

  • There's been a video posted by Shariy (Ukrainian liberal journalist, currently in opposition to Zelensky) with a deputy in Zakarpatye tossing live grenades into a government session. Anyone has more info on this?

  • Just typed a post complaining about personal life, but then I clicked the wrong button and now the post is gone. No energy to type again. I don't feel well and I really need more sleep. Much work tomorrow. I wish students were allowed to take days off. Impatiently counting time towards the winter holidays cuz I really need a break.

    At least I am enjoying this song by the Moranbong Band. Very beautiful singing and lyrics. (The video that I linked has subtitles in several languages.)

  • About one hour ago I finished reading an article titled ‘Is it ‘anti-Semitic’ to acknowledge that Arabs are Semites too?’. It mostly quibbles over how misleading terms like ‘antisemitism’ are, but it gave me some food for thought on something that the author had the opportunity to address but managed to miss.

    Anti‐Arab and anti‐Jewish sentiments overlap in numerous ways. There are not only some similar stereotypes—that they’re unfair merchants interested in world domination—but fervent Judeophobes also tend to hate Arabs, often seeing them (and other races) as ‘pawns’ in Jewish plans. Admittedly, it is unlikely that anybody would mistake Ashkenazim for Arabs, but it is very tempting to think of anti‐Arab racism as not only an Arab but also a Jewish concern, because often such attackers are just as willing to target Jews as well; Judeophobia is not far off.

    I am planning to read The Arab and Jewish questions: geographies of engagement in Palestine and beyond, because I have a feeling that I may be onto something here, but presently it sounds like I’m grasping at straws. I have a lot to think about; maybe these two prejudices are more closely related than they look.

  • Ever since last year, the buses around here have all had their LED signs (the ones showing the number and route) cycle between the actual info and "STAND WITH UKRAINE" every few seconds constantly, they're still doing that

    Yep, this is Klanada alright lol [insert Hexbear's "canada flag burning emoji" here]

    • That sucks- not seen that bad where I live, but instead I get to walk by "stand with Ukraine," "close the sky" and "at what cost NATO" signs every time on my way home... they're also the most inauthentic, probably/definitely astroturfed signs at that, like I think it was meant to look like stencil graffiti art, but they did it on wooden boards that have been secured onto this one building, like as if whoever it was that doing it was (a) definitely the buildings' owner and (b) wanted the signs, but didn't want it to look "ghetto" or have to be washed off the building after the fact

  • I want to gouge my eyes out every time i have to interact with a whitexican girl 😩

  • Stomach has been upset af for nearly a week now, was hoping it was just something I ate but at this point I’m annoyed it hasnt gone back to normal. Could be stress and too much caffeine maybe, hopefully if I take it nice and easy this weekend I can avoid having to actually figure out whats wrong

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