• TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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    12 days ago

    That is a mere insult disguised as political analysis. “Liberal” is not a personality trait, and you are showing little evidence you know anything about what a liberal is other than “someone I don’t like”.

    It is actually a very common critique in socialist circles. You would recognize it had you ever participated with any principled organization. Heck, Mao wrote a funny little memo that included this critique several times.

    As a reminder, liberalism is a political philosophy that arose out of the enlightenment and is characterised by individualism, a devotion to private property, etc etc.

    Congratulations on skimming Wikipedia and the like.

    Really? You mean this:

    Yes except you left out the sentence after. It’s a question.

    That’s not a response. That’s an acknowledgement.

    It’s both, though again you missed the next sentence. The only other sentence after it. I did actually explicitly repeat myself, you have no reason to be this confused except that you didn’t read my comment before starting replying.

    Which, oddly enough, was, in the words of someone, was “like pulling teeth” to get.

    Not at all. I have consistently offered acknowledgement the moment a seemingly clear answer has been given. I took “emphatic no” and you complained when I ran with it immediately, remember? And now I’ve said, “Okay so you’re giving a yes” and have proceeded to return to the point I was making in trying to get you to answer.

    Like I said earlier in this comment, what I’m looking for is an actual response. It’s nice to know “we agree”, but it’s clear to me there’s something else you want to say but are waiting for me to say the right words or something, but I’m not playing that game.

    The last 30 or so comments have not had much more going for them in my mind than, “I wonder if this person can just answer a yes or no question” and “wow that sure is a lot of bullshitting to correct”. Having acknowledged the “yes”, I did already try to go in a direction to drive home my point but unfortunately you decided to ignore my question. If you want more than that, or expected more than that, you are mistaken. If there’s something more you’d like to talk about than the point I’m trying to emphasize, you’ll have to ask me. Like a reasonable person.

    I am currently not waiting for you to say any particular words. You have, apparently, provided a “yes” answer to my question. Right now we are spending most of our time on your false statements about what you had previously said to me and how you have been oh-so-clear despite the obvious reality of confusion and not even knowing what question I had asked.

    What part of “I don’t care” didn’t you get? I wasn’t trying to hide anything.

    The pattern is that you ignore and skip over my specific explanations and evidenced callouts of your confusion. You’re welcome for my patience on this topic.

    Nope, not taking that bait.

    You think it is bait for me to tell you that I have given you opportunities to stop digging holes? Huh? The mind boggles.

    I did ask: “Are you ready yet to actually respond to my answer?”

    Your answer: “yes”. Who knows what kind of further response you expected to get, but I did respond in asking you a question. I think I need to remind you of exactly how petty this conversation has had to be. There is not a grand lecture I’ve been hiding in my back pocket, trying to prevent you from seeing. I’ve been trying to get you to answer a straightforward yes or no question and you’ve been playing games. Now that your games are (maybe?) winding down, it seems like you thought there would be more to it than that. The only “more” there is: why did you fight so hard against answering a simple yes or no? I have, of course, already answered this question: it is because dissembling on this topic prevents cognitive dissonance for liberals. I am trying to get you to actually confront it. That is my response. Funny that I need to not only explain it but bring your attention to it, I have in no way been unclear as to my point.

    Your “criticisms” are just your hurt feelings that I wouldn’t play your game. No, I will not apologise for not following your script.

    I don’t have hurt feelings. As you can see, I am very patient. But you have quite a bit of self-crit to do if you ever want to be useful for a struggle against capitalism.

    The fact you keep using “liberal” as a mere insult instead of an actual estimation of someone’s political beliefs says multitudes more than anything else you’ve said, here.

    The liberalism here is the elevation of one’s own ego and political journey over emphasizing truth, self-crit, and moving forward for the betterment of a project. We are spending all of our time on things like questions you invented on my behalf and talking about “loaded” questions that are not really loaded and pretenses that you said “no” when you went on long-winded rants saying everything except “yes” or “no” oh but actually your answer to my question was “yes and no” but wait no it’s actually “yes”. This is because you are failing to accept your errors and move on.

    For one, it tells me that you’re viewing this as some kind of team sport with a good side and a bad side, which are defined not by morality but by their philosophical proximity to your current beliefs.

    You are having trouble understanding my meaning on this topic because you are completely unfamiliar with the social context. Remember, you told me that you are not liberal. And yet when I make references that socialists and anarchists would understand, you start coming to conclusions exclusive to a liberal framing. Such as this one. And when you don’t understand, what is your knee-jerk reaction? You begin making things up and provide bad faith assumptions, then accept them as answers. Guess what political tendency teaches these behaviors? Guess which tendencies recognize them and fight hard against them in their own organizations?

    The only way for you to move past this is to self-crit and have a touch of humility. It is obvious that you are extremely new to this topic. Instead of trying to pretend, why not just say, “what do you mean?” Would that kill you?

    And combined with the fact that you have yet to say anything even remotely politically relevant to the subject we’re discussing, and are instead focusing on pedantic semantic minutiae

    It’s not minutiae to say “I need a yes or no answer to my yes or no question that is the entire point” and then press you to directly answer it while you hem and haw. It is, in fact, the point I was making. At the meta level you have already demonstrated my point, lol. It’s not like I have hidden that point, either. I have stated it outright several times.

    If I were being pedantic I would sound very different.

    completely ignoring the existence of equivalent statements (such as “I do not” equating to “no”)

    “I do not” is something you have only said in response to a question I simply did not ask. The genocide deniers thing.

    and nuance (acknowledging that binary morality does not apply here)

    I don’t think I could have been any clearer that I had no interest at all in your further rationalizations so long as you could not answer the question directly. That is the entirety of what I have said about this. If you would like to discuss your moral fretting you can ask a question or present something and I can decide whether I will indulge you. You are not entitled to my indulgence, only my honesty, and I have been very clear about this.

    tells me you’re either just a stubborn troll or are deluded about your own beliefs.

    Regarding this conversation, I am simply patient, honest, correct, and focused. I don’t think that’s a very high bar to clear, to be honest.

    Of the two of us here, the one who seems most philosophically liberal is you. You are the only one out of the two of us that actually has faith in liberal democracy.

    Who said I had faith in liberal democracy? I am simply agitating liberals.

    And if I’m wrong on that, you’ve given me no reason to believe otherwise - your dogged insistence on this question, and the weight you’ve put on it, tells me you think “voting correctly” to be a very powerful act, capable of actually stopping the genocide.

    Liberals believe that politics is electoralism. To agitate among them, you must sometimes frame challenges in their language. None of them are going to become principled socialists with a single sentence. They must be knocked off balance where they are.

    I already answered this - it wasn’t hard to say. I already said it ages ago. Look:

    “I do not support genocide, or support genocide deniers.”

    A true cherry on top to repeat the answer to a question I didn’t ask, lmao.

    So anyways, why did it take you so long to answer my question, liberal? Why not just answer it right away? Why say the question was loaded? Why say it was “not so simple” instead of answering despite you apparently being able to just say “yes” the entire time? Why provide 3 distinct answers? Why answer questions I didn’t ask and then present them as if I had?

    These questions are all rhetorical, of course. They only have one point and it’s related to my original one: liberals with dissemble rather than deal with the harsh truths of what they support because it helps them avoid cognitive dissonance. They will imply a “no” through their attempts to justify voting for genocidal candidates, but are too afraid to just say “no” because they would have to see a harsh truth about themselves and their political obligations. They use the same rationalizations you provided rather than give a “yes” or “no”. Now, of course, having answered “yes”, you will believe yourself to be in a different position than them. I’m sure you will think, “but that doesn’t describe me! I don’t vote for genocidal candidates!” But there you were, avoiding the question and using the same form of cognitive escape hatch (“complexity” lmao). What was the impetus?

    • irmoz@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      why did you fight so hard against answering a simple yes or no?

      Already told you that in my very first response to you. Because this election isn’t as simple as voting for or against genocide.

      And then I quite quickly actually answered, but it wasn’t in the precise format you expected, so you ignored it (and even admitted ignoring it).

      • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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        12 days ago

        Already told you that in my very first response to you. Because this election isn’t as simple as voting for or against genocide.

        Do you not know what a rhetorical question is? I even spelled out the meaning for you lmao.

        • irmoz@lemmy.world
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          12 days ago

          Of course I know what one is. That’s kinda the problem here. A rhetorical question, among other things, is intended to make a point. The obvious point concluded from answering this question in the morally correct way is that it is always wrong to support genocide or vote for genocidal candidates, in a sort of Kantian categorical imperative.

          • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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            12 days ago

            If you know what one is why did you answer it? lol

            Buddy you gotta take a break you just aren’t making sense anymore

            • irmoz@lemmy.world
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              12 days ago

              If you know what one is why did you answer it? lol

              Damn you are literal-minded. The idea of “it doesn’t need an answer” isn’t like… a law. It’s a poetic description of the fact it makes you think. The discussion isn’t supposed to just, like… stop there, is it? After the question has prompted the thought you’re supposed to re-engage, enlightened by the knowledge the rhetorical question gave you.

              Also… you asked me to…?

              I’m just trying to get on the same page man, you’re not making it easy

              • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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                12 days ago

                It’s not overly literal to know that rhetorical questions are for making a point, not asking you a question. Yet again the basixa taught to children are something you think is just doo dang literal.

                Anyways, the purpose of my rhetorical quest3 is for you to take a little time, do some self-crit, and think about the similarities between your behavior and those of genocide apologetic liberals, and then come back and talk about that if you would want to continue.

                I am not seeing any accounting of my blatant point in your responses. You have missed it all, apparently. So I will wait for you to engage with it and I will be dismissing your attempts to steer this in your various confused directions.

                • irmoz@lemmy.world
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                  12 days ago

                  It’s not overly literal to know that rhetorical questions are for making a point, not asking you a question.

                  Yes - and then?

                  Yet again the basixa taught to children are something you think is just doo dang literal.

                  Sticking to the basics is taking it too literal, yes.

                  Anyways, the purpose of my rhetorical quest3 is for you to take a little time, do some self-crit,

                  I admit I haven’t communicated very well, but perhaps you also need to reflect on your own ability to listen. Communication is two-way, and I have not made it impossible for you, despite you gesturing in that direction.

                  the similarities between your behavior and those of genocide apologetic liberals

                  I think you’re projecting that. I have not once ever provided genocide apologia and nor do I ever even remotely condone it. I think you’re assuming intentions I don’t have, and I would prefer for you to not do that. My only point I wanted to make is that the coming US election is very unlikely to result in anyone other than the two imperialist, genocidal parties winning. I interpreted your rhetorical question as shaming anyone who votes for either of the two obvious potential winners.

                  Maybe this appears to you as me “defending” the Democrat party. They don’t deserve defending. The only positive I can offer is that their domestic policy is less dystopic than the Republicans - but that’s not a high bar. It’s still more capitalism. No, I do not actually condone them. I just think it’s naive to think anyone other than the Ds or Rs would win.

                  I am not seeing any accounting of my blatant point in your responses.

                  What blatant point is that? That you think I’m a liberal? There’s no need to “account for” that. It’s just false. You might as well call be a Martian.

                  You have missed it all, apparently.

                  That’s nice of you to say.

                  So I will wait for you to engage with it and I will be dismissing your attempts to steer this in your various confused directions.

                  I’m not “steering”. I’m answering and trying to actually engage in a dialogue with you. “Dismissing” that just means you’re dismissing understanding.

                  • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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                    12 days ago

                    Yes - and then?

                    And then you can choose whether to engage and address the point that was made or to not do so and either disengage or act in bad faith. Guess which option you chose.

                    Sticking to the basics is taking it too literal, yes.

                    Rather than attempt conversation in good faith you have decided to reject the basics of language taught to children.

                    I admit I haven’t communicated very well, but perhaps you also need to reflect on your own ability to listen. Communication is two-way, and I have not made it impossible for you, despite you gesturing in that direction.

                    Nope I’ve done a great job. Seeking fault in others when you’ve been called out, trying to “level the field”, is textbook defensive behavior BTW. It is okay for you to be wrong and for me to be right and cool. That is a thing that is actually the case and you should make peace with it.

                    I think you’re projecting that.

                    I don’t think you know what projection is. I have the antithesis of these sentiments both inside and out.

                    I have not once ever provided genocide apologia and nor do I ever even remotely condone it.

                    Rather than doing any self-reflection you are simply doing a defense - with the expected lashing out.

                    Take as much time as you need. Can you really see zero similarities in your initial responses to me and those of the genocidal apologetic liberals I was responding to? Do you really see zero similarity between your reticence to answer my question and liberals’ reticence? I mean, it is right there, plain as day. You just have to do actual self-criticism.

                    And sure it isn’t fun to do self-crit, but I will provide a tip: it is much easier if you do it earlier rather than after you have already become petty and dug yourself a thousand holes.

                    I think you’re assuming intentions I don’t have, and I would prefer for you to not do that.

                    I think your responses here indicate that you generally do not have cognizant intentions whatsoever and are purely reactive. Guess who else is like that, even using your exact same initial framing and reticence to answer a simple question. Do you see any similarities yet?

                    My only point I wanted to make is that the coming US election is very unlikely to result in anyone other than the two imperialist, genocidal parties winning.

                    Remove the “imperialist, genocidal” part and you are literally doing the main genocide apologetic talking point that is every liberals attempt to deflect from agitation. How do you not see the similarities?

                    You were hardly informing me of anything. The only effect is to run interference and undermine my point, which you initially did so in an insulting way that did not have that talking point in it whatsoever. You are giving yourself far too much credit.

                    I interpreted your rhetorical question as shaming anyone who votes for either of the two obvious potential winners.

                    Which rhetorical question? My agitational questions are usually non-rhetorixal, but they do challenge.

                    Maybe this appears to you as me “defending” the Democrat party. They don’t deserve defending.

                    Nope. I saw your reply as internalized liberalism, as attempting to draw attention to your own patronizing point that tried to make voting for genociders into a “complex” issue as if half-remembered high school civics is such a revelation. Really, this is an escape hatch for those facing cognitive dissonance. Based on that suspicion, I treated you as a fellow liberal attempting to deflect and posed the direct question to you, expecting the same evasive behavior of other liberals.

                    And, hey, guess what you did for something like 30 comments.

                    The only positive I can offer is that their domestic policy is less dystopic than the Republicans - but that’s not a high bar. It’s still more capitalism. No, I do not actually condone them. I just think it’s naive to think anyone other than the Ds or Rs would win.

                    Tell me who, by username, is this naive person. Tell me who thinks that. Show your evidence.

                    If you cannot find them, then tell me, what is the real meaning of your point? What does it serve if your opponent is a straw man? What was your actual thought process, because it 100% was not, “TheOubliette just said a third party was gonna win the election”.

                    What blatant point is that? That you think I’m a liberal? There’s no need to “account for” that. It’s just false. You might as well call be a Martian.

                    That you did the liberal song and dance and your actions speak much louder than your current rationalizations. The parallels are pretty obvious. I suggested that you actually spend time looking for them. That you actually do some self-crit to look at the answer to the rhetorical question of why you deflected from my question over and over, called it a loaded question, presented 3 different answers, invented entire questions I never asked, and then belabored the false premise that it had all been above board and you had clearly answered ages ago. You should do self-crit on why you maintain that the dishonest bullshitting described above is just you doing your bestest as a smol bean leftist. And then take a wider view to look at the emotional content and why it parallels liberals, which is to say, you felt scratched and took a turn to rightward patterns of bad faith engagement.

                    I have been relatively patient and nice, all things considered.

                    That’s nice of you to say.

                    It isn’t it? Like I said, I am very patient. Very few people would have done anything other than insult you and move on. Remember that.

                    I’m not “steering”. I’m answering and trying to actually engage in a dialogue with you. “Dismissing” that just means you’re dismissing understanding.

                    Looks like I was too nice, really. I indulged your responses.

                    Anyways, take time to self-crit. You are not taking the needed time or doing the reflection. You are not pointing out the specific failures, let alone the parallels I have repeatedly highlighted and that you have wholesale ignored. I shouldn’t have needed to highlight them. You should have taken time to find them yourself by doing some honest self-crit. You are very reactive to criticism, including vakid criticism, and should do it yourself rather than relying on me to describe it because you are too defensive to actually take a step back and recognize basic facts about this interaction.