I definitely can’t argue with the world’s constant decline towards fascism and authoritarianism. Though that doesn’t discount the authoritarian tendencies that existed in the Soviet Union that stop it from qualifying as a true democracy.
Additional context located under Leading Role of Communist Party. I would argue that one party/the federal government having full constitutional control over who’s on the ballet leans more Authoritarian than Democratic.
There is no justification for the shooting. Failure to follow orders and shouting obscenities, even while carrying a weapon, doesn’t justify murder by police. This is another case of their blatant incompetence/malice when dealing with any tense situation.
In a just society, a cops job would be able to de-escalate and resolve the problem as cleanly as possible and with as little use of violence as possible. We don’t live in a just society though, so the cops just shot him and lied saying he aimed a gun at them to justify their murder. Meanwhile, white mass shooters are taken alive and given Burger King for their effort if they hurt the right people.
Hey look, you’re being a purposely-obtuse ass again. I’d say you’re just this stupid, but since you’re all over these comments you clearly have an agenda to push. Luckily no one here is buying your bullshit lmao
The fact that you don’t even care about the Palestinian apartheid, and now genocide, speaks volumes enough about you honestly. Have fun defending genocide.
Popularity =/= Democratically elected.
And of course Hamas is seen as popular. Anyone would be popular when the opposition (Israel) is indiscriminately bombing civilian targets en masses. Or even massacring them just for running up to collect food aid. Food that Palestinians in Gaza are utterly desperate for due to famine like conditions in the region caused by Israel.
Aid that Israel has been purposely and continuously shutting off from the civilian population.
People of Gaza elected Hamas
There hasn’t been an election in Gaza since 2006 and your purposely-obtuse ass knows it.
If Israel wasn’t committed to upholding an apartheid state, and now genocide, maybe groups like Hamas wouldn’t exist. Which again, is a group that Israel itself propped up and allowed to take power in Gaza.
Hamas likely wouldn’t even exist right now if not for the failure of Israeli leadership. Specifically Netanyahu’s repeated moves to prop up Hamas in order to sabotage a two state solution. The issue of Hamas is almost entirely Israel’s own fault.
YouTube and Instagram have features that are in direct competition with TikTok. YouTube has even been more aggressive in promoting themselves as the TikTok alternative. On top of that the US government has an incentive to keep them (Google and Meta) happy; since the US routinely spies on its own (and other countries) citizens through these companies.
I’d love to see any evidence of TikTok acting on behalf of any country (especially China) as a hostile actor, or even any evidence of legitimate election interference. If anything banning TikTok is a significantly more hostile response from the US since it silences another forum for free speech.
Social media is a cancer, but this ban is such obvious propaganda. The only reason TikTok was banned because the US government doesn’t have free reign to spy on its users like it does with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
If the US government truly cared about social media and it’s affects they would be regulating all of it. Instead they’re trying to ban TikTok while screaming their heads off about China every chance they get. And that’s before mentioning the extremely shady way they passed this; attaching it as a rider through a government ‘aid’ bill.
Its because the company literally paid shills to stump for them in person, call Congress, etc.
The way it was presented was that they paid average users to call Congress which is disingenuous. I’ll admit I was wrong when I came to the influencers being paid for in person events, but that’s only a smaller group of people and events. The vast majority were not paid and did so of their own volition.
Edit: Didn’t realize OP and the replier were different people. That’s also on me.
literally paid shills
No *one outside of some influencers were paid lmao. People contacted Congress but they weren’t paid, and a quick Google search brought up zero result of people being paid *outside of the influencers. So I’d love to see where you’re sourcing this from.
Edit: Correction - about 30 influencers were paid to visit events for Tik Tok. I’ll rescind saying that literally no one was paid: that’s point is wrong. My main point was that average users weren’t paid to call into Congress. And the vast majority that called in or have talked out against the ban did so of their own volition rather than being paid as implied by OP’s comment
The replacement drugs only work with someone inside the system. There are a lot of people outside of or at odds with the system because of how it levies criminality against addicts. And again: criminality that is automatically assumed acts as a positive feedback loop leading to addicts committing legitimate crime.
I’m not familiar with Finnish prisons. I’ve been told that they’re better than US prisons and I definitely believe that much. But still, someone with an issue of addiction shouldn’t be going to prison at all in the first place. That was the main point I was trying to make there.
And I’m not advocating for anything like free drugs. What I’m advocating for is a more psychological approach to handing addiction. Addiction itself is a psychological disease, and it needs to be treated like that. Not like it’s some sort of moral failure: like the system insists upon.
I do not think we will find consensus on this, so this is where I’ll take my leave.
Except it literally is life or death in the case of withdrawal. Those who are addicted things like like heroin, or even have a severe enough addiction to alcohol can die once they’re in a certain part of the withdrawal process.
And just because prison was the rock bottom that some addicts needed to reform doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Honestly prison is one of the worst possible options because it leads to a positive feedback loop of criminality. Addicts are automatically labeled as criminals on arrest and then have to fight against that stigma for the rest of their life. So of course they’d do things like turn back to crime, because their options are automatically limited on arrest.
I won’t sit here and act like I have all of the solutions. I don’t have all of the solutions and I’m just some guy. But so long as addiction is seen as a criminal offense we will fail addicts every single time. We need the large scale social programs Finland has currently along with a strong re-evaluation of how to handle drug related crimes.
Drugs in general are still illegal to possess and use under Finnish law. You need to decriminalize drug use before you can actually tackle it since it’s a health/psychology issue when it comes to the individual.
It’s hard to seek out proper help when you’re worried that you’ll be arrested/fined just for being an addict.
Grocery stores dump hundred of pound of still edible food into the garbage each and every day. And no one is eating less because of thefts from the grocery store. The main reason people are starving right now is because their grocery bill spiked and extra $100-200 for absolutely no reason other than pure greed that they were able to blame on “inflation”.
Your problem isn’t with the addicts, its with the system that is ever antagonistic towards its people. Addicts can be hard people to deal with, but they’re still people. Now obviously if they’re acting violently there’s no excuse for action like that. But if they’re just taking food why should I care?
If people are stealing for drugs then it means that the system in place isn’t meeting their current needs. The problem for a lot of addicts is that they either steal and cheat for drugs or die. Withdrawals literally have the capability to kill addicts. I don’t believe in any circumstance we should be holding money ahead of human lives.
It’s a shame when people are stolen from, but it’s a tragedy when people die. And a system that doesn’t allow an avenue for actual recovery is a failed system.
junkies
What a disgusting dehumanizing term. Drug addiction is a much greater issue that needs more than reactionary remarks and actions to solve. A good number are literally that desperate for money because they’ll literally die from withdrawals without whatever it is they’re addicted to. And so long as they’re being non-violent then I empathize with their struggle.
Again, I don’t at all care about some large corporate store getting stolen from. Actions like banning bags and whatnot mean little in the face of human suffering.
It’s because they’re trying to escape to Monkey Island.