They ran the country before we got there, too.

Turns out Afghans just have a terrible culture.

America wasn't trying to stop opium production, we were using druglords to beat warlords. The brother of the leader we installed was the kingpin.

Who would have thought.

You want a source for the existence of Mao's Great Famine? You want a source for the Holocaust too? Jesus Christ no wonder you guys fall for the commie propaganda.

Mao.

Capitalism doesn't "insist" anything, your propaganda does. It objectively and demonstrably keeps everyone fed.

Capitalism creates profit, the motive for profit is intrinsic to its utility.

I understand why you are objecting to what I have to say: you have fallen for propaganda. We all do.

I am not a "capitalist apologetic" I am just an American. How the fuck do you make a living that isn't capitalist? You in a kibbutz? You currently living in a collectiviey commune? You understand you just can go do that, right? Why aren't you, if that's what you want?

I am alive today because many people realized that an economic system alone isn't sufficient to fix all of society's problems, and implemented social safety nets. I'm alive because greedy pharmaceutical companies invented drugs that keep me alive. I'm alive because my ancestors moved here because capitalism was demonstrably improving lives.

I understand that it seems to you that we can't have compatibilism between communism and capitalism because the ideologies are anyithetical. But that's just it, they're just ideologies. They don't like up cleanly with reality. I'm perfectly fine with socialist movements like labor unions and social safety nets working in concert with capitalism. We need significant checks on capitalism to dismantle the current oligopoly. But we also need significant checks on communism, lest we all end up driving beige cars and shopping at soviet-quality grocers.

This isn't inane, it's just not lining up with your extremist rhetoric. What you want under a socialist or communist government is for good to be provided to those that need it. But when it comes in the form of excess capital being redistributed to the poor by good banks, you find it inherently offensive. We are feeding the poor, successfully, under capitalism. If it were fundamentally contradictory, it wouldn't be happening. And yet it clearly is.

Again, all I want from you is better propaganda.

$

As would I. Been a home theater/audiophile guy for 25 years

Capitalism has demonstrably led to more people being fed, and communism has demonstrably led to starvation. I'm not referencing theory, I'm referencing reality. You can believe the sky is yellow, but it isn't.

My position is that social support networks are in no way incompatible with capitalism, as evidenced by -gestures literally everywhere-

Plenty of people who want to continue the social safety net are capitalists, too. Plenty of people on the right want social safety nets, too. It's the idiot extremists on both sides that take black and white positions and ignore reality.

I didn't insinuate anything of the sort. You'd assume you could deduce that by recognizing I was advocating that you focus your propaganda on healthcare. Starvation isnt a thing that happens Happy to talk about mal nutrition and food insecurity, but it's a very minor problem. It's an empty political talking point. Nobody is dying from starvation, again, except the mentally ill. Those people need medical and institutional interventions beyond the scope of providing food. You're inventing boogeymen. Nobody serious, sane, or even just politically impactful is pro starvation or pro the death of the mentally ill. That's for fictional supervillains.

I've survived entirely on food banks and government provided food before. It was entirely sufficient nutritionally and easily accessed, although if I wasn't a great cook it would have been a pretty tough culinary experience.

Your logic about food insecurity may satisfy your inner armchair communist, but it is not a demonstrably real problem. We have empirical data to support my position and not yours. In fact there's so little starvation that we lump in all deaths from malnutrition together in the data, with the vast majority being from people relying on a diet of meth and/or alcohol. Upstream of that, again, is metal health. Amounts to about 0.25% of all deaths. Nobody starves. Yes, we can optimize and improve, but it's a dumb thing to focus high level political effort on. Obesity is literally, demonstrably and empirically more of a problem in capitalist societies than starvation. You can't have both of these things be true.

Starvation is a vastly overblown socialist propaganda/lefty talking point. I understand propaganda must exist, I just prefer it be relevant to reality. I assume it's because it is all generated in China or Russia where the problem of malnutrition is less solved. Again, if you want to make an improvement in America, focus your lefty propaganda on healthcare. We do a shit job of that, unlike feeding people, and that argument is just as valid and important as starvation WOULD be if it actually happened.

Food insecurity doesn't lead to starvation in the developed world except in the case of the mentally ill. It isn't a lack of food. It's not worth focusing your propaganda on this issue, shift it to healthcare.

Starvation basically just isn't a thing in the USA. Food insecurity, sure, but government food assistance and food banks make this not a thing.

Basically, no, this is bogus and just propaganda. Successful modern capitalist societies like the USA objectively do not let people starve. That doesn't mean all food is free. Nor should it be, because farmers aren't our slaves. It is already the case that the government will provide you a minimum amount of food if you need it. We literally already do this and everyone who would read this agrees it is a good thing. The evil extremist fucks who believe otherwise will never see this. This is virtue signalling empty propaganda and you can all do better than this.

My high school and college crush that became a very close friend once told me she wanted to be my Valentine instead of going on a date with some other guy. She had known me for years and I assumed she was completely disinterested, so even with that, I still didn't think she was flirting with me. I was like "haha that would be weird because we're friends". I friendzoned myself, HARD.

Guys, you know what she's doing now? She's rich, married to the next guy she met, owns a cannabis company and she teaches sex yoga.

I think about it every single day. Gotta just remind myself how much I love my wife.... sigh

It is not only rare but a red flag if you can drink like a 21 year old in your 30s and 40s. If you can drink like that in your 50s you probably have ascites.

Some American Jews. Mostly the women.

Because the narrative that Israel is white colonizers oppressing poor brown locals is the predominant American liberal narrative for how power is structured everywhere in the world, even if it is of course never that simple.

If she thinks any white people look like that either she's being racist.

They didn't, this is just an extremist having a freakout about every god damn thing and trying to completely control everyone's language like a fascist