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Everything posted by lord of flies
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As long as there is still capitalism, there will be anti-capitalism. Socialism, even revolutionary socialism, is hardly defunct.
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Please rephrase your question.
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That's all I'm interested in. This is why women in the Islamic world wear hajib, by the way.
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This is more or less true: communism is pie-in-the-sky transhumanist crap for socialists. However, most people use the term "communism" to refer to the government of socialist countries, so I decided to title my thread that. If anything, intelligent machines would be a crucial stage in the transition from socialism to communism.
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Medal of Honor pulls a Modern Warfare
lord of flies replied to GreasyDogMeat's topic in Computer and Console
Somebody should make a shooter set in a war zone where there are civilians, only the civilians are like the civilians in Grand Theft Auto. -
What's that I sense? A new AP Blog Post?
lord of flies replied to Matthew Rorie's topic in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion
There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet. -
It should be open source.
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Thanks for breaking my h-scroll for an image that's old as hell.
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Catholic means universal, so yes, catholics are the only christians. I think you mean Roman Catholics, which as any New Testament teacher will tell you, is quite different from the original meaning of "catholic."
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I figure that a lot of people around here apparently don't understand communism, so here, let me help you out. I will be completely unbiased in my explanations, so feel free to ask whatever you like! Here's a brief introduction: Socialism is an economic and political system wherein the class interests of the working class (i.e. the proletariat) are put above the class interests of the rich (i.e. the bourgeois). To understand a bit better, it's important to realize that the primary beneficiaries of "democratic" revolutions were never the general populace. Rather, these revolutions and political upheavals were targeted at the advancement of the interests of the developing merchant class. This class is the cornerstone of modern capitalism, and had by that era begun to grow quite a bit. Marx lived shortly after the main thrust of this upheaval. Parliamentarianism was entrenched in the political structures of the west, and was designed and run to serve primarily bourgeois interests. However, he saw the development of another class: the proletariat, the urban workers. At the time, the proletariat lived on subsistence wages and worked long days in dangerous factories. They were taken advantage of, and their desires and interests were almost completely ignored. If you read anything about late 19th century workers, it becomes vividly clear that their conditions were horrifying, and they (and their underage children) worked because they were forced to. Socialism (and by extension Marxism) was a political reaction to this. Marx saw a developing class which seemed to be economically vital, for whom the current structure was destructive and bloody. Their conditions were worse than that of the bourgeois; their numbers were greater. It would seem natural then, that where the bourgeois had succeeded in destroying or subduing the aristocrats' government, they would do the same. Lenin developed political theories on the basis of two facts which had become clear to him: firstly, that Russia was still escaping feudalism and entering the capitalist stage of development, and secondly, that the revolution had not come to Europe (an observation only reinforced by the turmoil of the Great War). He proposed that the proletariat was incapable of acting in its long-term class interests, since it was preoccupied with the day-to-day workings of society. As a response to this, he pushed the idea of the "vanguard party," intended to take the natural outcry of the proletariat at their conditions and push them towards a revolution. This was what lead to the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Contemporary Marxists criticized this; Luxemburg (another revolutionary Marxist) called it "Blanquism," a reference to a French socialist who believed in a form of socialist putschism, where a small group of conspirators would take power and convert their country to legitimate socialism. However, Lenin's idea (christened "Leninism" or "Bolshevism") worked out, unlike the others. It successfully put together an organized military resistance which defeated the counter-revolutionary elements in its society and pushed forward a government which acted in (at least what it saw as) the interests of the proletariat. When his "war communism" didn't work, he accepted NEP. Lenin's principle difference to his contemporaries was his pragmatism. Stalin later developed Russia into what is called a command economy; this was opposed by many Bolsheviks. The command economy came to be associated with socialism, though there are still variants which do not engage in such statist behavior, such as council communism.
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Subscribe to my newsletter and you can get a FREE copy of Alpha Protocol*. Contact me at my email account, if you dare.
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Alpha Protocol has been delayed.
lord of flies replied to Matthew Rorie's topic in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion
When is that exactly? Officially, it's Spring. Rumors say it's around May. So, November 2010 then? -
If I found Mass Effect and KotOR to be bland, uninventive, and boring in terms of gameplay, will I enjoy this?
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I joined Greenpeace a little while ago. The way I figure it, if the establishment decries them all the time, they can't be all bad.
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A Force More Powerful, the game of NONVIOLENT strategy Can a computer game help people learn how to defeat dictators, military occupiers, and corrupt rulers
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The blog link is very long. Can anybody sum it up for me?
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Are there zombies in this game?
lord of flies replied to lord of flies's topic in Alpha Protocol: General Discussion
Come on, you've got a couple months to correct this oversight. Don't let it pass you by. -
Unlikely. I recognize that the people of Somalia are not yet through the stage of capitalism so that they can attain proper socialism, though I would highly recommend they create institutions - such as these cooperatives - that help lay the groundwork for a socialist paradise for their children and grandchildren.
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Yeah, that's Israel. Here's your reminder for today that the Ottoman Empire was multicultural in a way that puts modern day "liberal democracies"
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Of course climate change isn't a scam. How exactly could you organize some kind of conspiracy in the most infighting industry in the world?
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Really? If I were captured by Somali pirates, I'd wait for the ransom to be paid and wish them the best of the luck in the future. Maybe I'm just a better human being, though.
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my beloved international megacorporations... forced to pay ransoms... i know that many dumped nuclear waste on Somalia's shores, leaving many dead... but that's just capitalism. what the somalian pirates are doing is just WRONG...
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Also, the western industrialists dumped a ****load of polluted crap into their waters. They're really engaging in completely justified retaliation on the corporations which have ruined their country's shores.
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I have almost complete certainty that the pirates have killed less mariners over their entire existence than the United States has killed civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past month. The pirates are the plucky underdog defending their people.