“You guys aren’t gonna use AI for bad stuff, right?”

Tech oligarchs: whaaaaaat no we actually want to be regulated because of how dangerous this technology is!! Also tech oligarchs:

Hey, just a few thoughts I wanted to share in response to this:

First, citing the CIA to praise Stalin is… an odd move. Second, it’s important to recognize that liberals and neoliberals aren’t the same thing. The terms get conflated a lot, but they refer to different ideological frameworks, especially in terms of economics and state intervention. Neoliberalism is basically a rebranding of laissez-faire capitalism whereas liberalism favors more of a welfare-state capitalist system.

Third, I’d encourage reading the full context of the document in question. Here are a few excerpts that stood out:

There will not be a dramatic purge.

This might seem like a neutral observation, but it’s actually referring to a change after Stalin’s death. The implication is that dramatic purges did happen under him, and they’re noting that the new leadership wouldn’t continue that pattern.

Inasmuch as the MVD has already been cleaned up.

Again, this is post-Stalin. The MVD (Interior Ministry, which ran the secret police) being “cleaned up” suggests reform following abuses that were, again, tied to Stalin’s regime.

There is now no organized opposition inside the Party in the Soviet Union.

This kind of political consolidation didn’t happen in a vacuum. It reflects the legacy of Stalin’s crackdowns on dissent and internal opposition.

Since the death of Stalin and the blow which was given to the power of the secret police…

That’s a pretty direct reference to Stalin’s reliance on the secret police to maintain control. Again, the document frames the aftermath of his death as a shift away from that.

No improvement in the food situation can be expected.

This points to long-standing issues in agricultural production and distribution under the USSR, including during Stalin’s time. Whether or not the shortages were intentional, they’re part of the broader legacy of how poorly the Soviet agricultural system was managed. They were pretty much just experimenting with ways to grow food while failing to produce enough for their own population. I’m all for agricultural research, but only after the people are fed.

In short, this isn’t a glowing report of Stalin’s achievements. It’s describing a system trying to recover from the kind of authoritarian control he enforced.

If you’re interested in more critical perspectives from the time, I really recommend My Disillusionment in Russia and My Further Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman. They were written in the early 1920s (just as Stalin was rising to power) and they offer a fascinating, firsthand account of someone who initially supported the revolution (Emma Goldman was an American anarchist exiled to Russia for her beliefs) but became deeply disillusioned with how it played out.

We really don’t need to dig up dead guys to give them accolades. We can think of a better system that the USSR or USA.

Could always be a leftist and experience splintering without victory.

A local grocery store had self check out lanes and removed them and replaced them with 5 express check outs. I feel conflicted about it.

Apparently if you want to do that you have to buy Twitter

Lol eat shit loser. Should have thought of that before you got in bed with a fascist.

Lego my egg-o

If you keep returning to this argument rather than uniting to fight fascism, aren’t you doing the same thing as people that didn’t vote/voted for a 3rd party?

You’re intentionally shifting the argument back to blaming leftists to justify your own morality rather than addressing the current situation, which is dealing with the immediate threat of full blown fascism.

Holy shit if these people get anymore cult like they’re going to move to South America and kill themselves.

Lol what a clown show

Who would want to buy toilet paper that already has shit on it?

Oooooo so we’re just going to act like millennials were mad for no reason all these years?

Were the oligarchs not a concern during occupy Wall Street? Or did everyone just fall for the propaganda?

Inner darkness + whimsy = witch/warlock Keep the inner darkness.

“Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something”

Jake the Dog, Adventure Time

If the main way rich people get their news is through network TV, doesn’t that give protesters an advantage? If the movement is larger than rich people expect it to be, they’ll dismiss it until it’s too big to ignore.

They’re cosplaying femininity, the same way their husbands are cosplaying masculinity with big trucks.

They’re basically drag queens but ugly and mean.

1 big mack please.

Comrade pretzel almost took out that one guy a few years back, anything is possible.

Damn, dudes will turn things they already respect into women before they’ll respect women.

Arrived? Was the journalist in a coma since 9/11? Just slept through Snowden? Ignored all the police brutality protests?