What the fuck are you talking about? In actual reality it was a product of capitalism. Specifically British imperialist capitalism in China. It took until the mid 80’s (40 years after the Communists came to power) for the British to allow China to have control over the area and it was turned in to a park less than a decade later, clearly indicating that the Communists were in no way interested in continuing the existence of the dystopian walled city.

For real, who seriously had the thought “you know what, we need another adaptation of that one book from decades ago. We could try adapting some of that guy’s other work, but why bother? I know we tried the goofy, fun spin and the dark, gritty spin, but I’m sure we missed an angle on that one kid’s book.”

More importantly how did the guy who had that thought not get kicked out of the pitch meeting immediately?

“Who controls the past now controls the future. Who controls the present now controls the past.” - “Testify”, Rage Against the Machine (also Orwell in 1984, but I wanted to mention the RATM song since it slaps so hard)

I think part of the problem is that most people (including self-professed socialists and communists) don’t read any theory.

AES isn’t communism, that’s kind of the point. Socialism is the next stage on the road to the theorized end stage that is communism. Communism will never sustainably be the organization of society 5 minutes (or even 5 years or probably 5 decades) after the revolution. That shit takes time and a lot of work, and AES systems were/are the attempts at doing the necessary work to reorganize society and eliminate the bourgeoise and their influence through socialist (as opposed to capitalist) proletarianization.

I for one am shocked.

The only Tesla owner I know is a Musk-loving, ancap, STEM-bro who probably makes around $160k.

As an engineer, I often find being surrounded by engineers to be exhausting lol

Saying that these places are socialist isn’t gonna work because these people don’t know what that word means either.

True. Exactly why these people need to shut up until they read more (or any) theory lol

Anyway, you can argue that these countries are communist because they’re working to build communism, the same way that a communist party is communist.

Indeed, good point. I do think it ought to be an educational priority to get people to understand and more commonly use this definition of "communist" as opposed to the "classless, moneyless" definition.

It's more accurate to say that the British prevented either themselves (through inaction) or China (by treaty/law) from having any practical control. If you'd bother to read the wiki article OP linked you'd know. China should have had jurisdication, but Britain techincally had (imperialist) jurisdication. The result was a no-man's land until Britain finally gave up.

EDIT: missed a word

True, fair points. When I see the "real communism has never been tried" type statements, my head tends to get stuck on the definition being used by the person making the statement (i.e. as the classless, moneyless society). I do, however, recognize and stand behind the definition you're pointing out.

The quotes you've provided illustrate perfectly the value of reading theory.

That seems….unlikely.

Same boat here. The thing is, though, that I think being a Marxist communist is (in a way) just as punk as being an anarchist. I think it comes down to different interpretations of what the punk ethos even is. Anarchists tend to cling strongly to anti-authority as a universal, but I’m with them in being anti bourgeois authority. However, I do believe in the authority of the proletariat. That is, of freeing workers from our chains and allowing ourselves to organize society for the benefit of the masses. I think collective organization of the disenfranchised and oppressed is punk, and I think it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of Marxism/communism that scares away a lot of my fellow punks.

Great album, way to choose something even older than my pick lmao

I do have to say, though, that Milo Goes to College always struck me as more of a pure hardcore punk album and less of a pop punk album. No doubt that later Descendents stuff leans heavy in to pop punk and they were a big part of creating the subgenre in the first place (along with Buzzcocks), but I personally think that started more with I Don't Want to Grow Up

Probably Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Could also put the subreddit in restricted mode so that anyone who wanted to continue posting would have to either move or create an alternate sub.

I've done VIP in the past and can only recommend it with caveats. It's probably not worth the price unless you're really going to use the in/out privileges or consider AC bathrooms a must (as opposed to port-a-potties in GA). There's not necessarily a ton in the area, so I've never personally used the in/out privileges. The AC bathrooms are great, but I've never really been bothered by using the port-a-potties (although they can get very hot if it's a hot day). The other main perk of VIP is that there is a large tent set up for extra shade. There's some shade in GA, but it's limited and tends to get crowded if it's a hot day. The VIP bars/food booths aren't really worth it imo (I got food faster in GA last year and the best bar is a beer tent in GA imo).

That being said, highly recommend going to Riot Fest. This will be my fourth or fifth year and I always have a great time. I especially love that it's a music-first festival as opposed to the more social media influencer or drug/rave culture festivals.

The problem isn’t that anyone can sue anyone, the problem is that these laws give legal standing for anyone to sue anyone. Normal lawsuits have to pass a certain bar to establish legal standing, and if you don’t pass that bar your case gets thrown out. These laws essentially skip that part by giving blanket legal standing. I don’t know if that would stand up in a higher court, but it’s a dangerous precedent that they’re establishing.

Try working out to the Gimp version. I imagine the experience will be significantly different lol

I thought I replied to this message, but it doesn't appear to have posted.

I'm thrilled that the worker's got sick time and credit where it's due to anyone in the admin who helped make that happen. It doesn't change the fact that the admin, with the help of AOC and others in Congress broke a strike. That's a terrible, dangerous, anti-worker precedent to set, and shame on anyone who voted for it and Biden for signing it.

If I ask someone for $20 bucks for lunch and they kick me in the shin before giving me the money, am I supposed to be thankful and forget the fact that they just kicked me in the shin? Congress kicked workers in the proverbial, collective shin by blocking them from their right to strike.

Here's a decent article from Jacobin written by an RWU representative making exactly that point: https://jacobin.com/2023/04/railroad-workers-united-aoc-strike-vote-rank-and-file

And here's a decent rundown of the situation from a decent socialist source (even if it is Trot): https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/04/19/jaco-a19.html

Both great choices. Enema is obviously a classic. I'd personally put Take Off Your Pants and Jacket over the self-titled though.

lol yeah there aren't many of us at the moment, but my hope is that by posting regularly the community will get noticed more broadly and eventually there will be more of us....maybe even dozens of us!

I've been impressed over the years with how consistently great the lineup is. This year is definitely a standout for me, but I'm not sure it's even as good as 2017 or 2019 were. There's been a few times I've gone where it wasn't as much my speed, but even their off years still have enough to keep me satisified.