On June 27th, a plane ferrying a “specialized” team of “highly trained search and rescue specialists” flew into Venezuela from Damascus. Dispatched at putative Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa’s direct order, the 15-strong group is assisting disaster efforts launched by Caracas in response to devastating twin earthquakes. Among them are members of the notorious White Helmets. A bogus humanitarian group constructed by MI6, they played a central role in Britain’s protracted coup of Bashar Assad. Are the White Helmets similarly in Venezuela to assist regime change?

State news agency Sana enthusiastically promoted the White Helmets’ arrival, celebrating “Syria’s first overseas humanitarian search-and-rescue deployment in modern history.” The expedition reportedly represents a “significant step” in the country’s “evolving humanitarian role” globally, underscoring “its growing capacity to contribute to international disaster response efforts.” The deployment is explicitly intended to “position” Damascus “as a contributor to international humanitarian operations,” capable of dispatching “search-and-rescue expertise” overseas to support “other nations in times of crisis.”

Sana highlighted the “exceptional field experience” of the White Helmets sent to Caracas, who reportedly acquired “advanced expertise in dealing with complex rubble and the extraction of trapped survivors” throughout the West’s dirty war against the now “deposed regime” of Assad. This “accumulated experience” has reportedly “enabled Syrian rescue specialists to participate in international emergency response missions,” with Venezuela being their debut. While Damascus provides “experienced rescue personnel,” key dirty war sponsor Qatar supplies “heavy machinery and specialized equipment required for field operations.”

The White Helmets will “work in close coordination” with international rescue units in shattered Caracas for up to 10 days, “with the possibility of extending the mission depending on operational requirements and developments on the ground.” An “operational requirement” of the rescuers may be assisting in the construction of quasi-state structures in Venezuela, ala Syria, ensuring Western powers have the requisite people, organisations and structures in place locally to take over when the embattled interim government of Delcy Rodríguez finally collapses.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/49649273

This is what I see in the procession of diplomats & world leaders to the funeral. The part of the world that is growing is mostly there, the part of the world that is dying, mostly not. Which do you prefer?

[2026-07-04] Dhaka Papers

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was not simply the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He became a global symbol of resistance against imperialism, colonial domination and foreign aggression. His voice reached far beyond the borders of Iran and resonated throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya (Marxist), Booker Omole, has issued a lengthy political statement of condolence following the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Titled “Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s Legacy Will Outlive US Imperialism,” the statement presents the party’s perspective on Khamenei’s political legacy, his anti-imperialist stance, the question of Palestine, recent developments in West Asia, and various issues in international politics. For the readers of Dhaka Papers, the statement is published below in its entirety and without alteration.

The statement:

The Central Committee of the Communist Party Marxist Kenya extends its deepest condolences to the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the family of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and all progressive, anti imperialist and freedom loving peoples across the world as they bid farewell to one of the defining political figures of our time.

His passing comes at a decisive moment in world history. The imperialist system is entering a deeper period of crisis. The contradictions of global capitalism continue to sharpen. The peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America are asserting their sovereign right to determine their own future, while the unipolar order imposed by United States imperialism faces mounting resistance across the globe. It is within this historical context that the life and legacy of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei must be understood.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was not simply the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He became a global symbol of resistance against imperialism, colonial domination and foreign aggression. His voice reached far beyond the borders of Iran and resonated throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. To countless oppressed peoples, he represented steadfastness in the face of overwhelming pressure and unwavering commitment to national sovereignty.

He was a true friend of the oppressed world. At a time when many governments capitulated before imperialist intimidation, Ayatollah Khamenei stood firm. His political legacy cannot be confined within the borders of Iran nor reduced merely to his religious office. He emerged as one of the foremost voices of the Global South’s resistance against imperialist hegemony, inspiring nations to defend their dignity, independence and sovereign right to determine their own future.

The Communist Party Marxist Kenya is a Marxist Leninist party. We do not share Ayatollah Khamenei’s religious worldview, nor do we approach society from the standpoint of political theology. Yet revolutionary honesty demands that we recognise those who consistently stood against imperialism and defended the sovereignty of oppressed nations. Our admiration for Ayatollah Khamenei was never based upon religion. It was based upon his uncompromising opposition to imperialism, Zionism, colonial domination and the arrogance of the powerful states that continue to exploit the peoples of the world.

This distinction is politically important. Marxism Leninism and the political philosophy of the Islamic Republic arise from different ideological traditions and rest upon different philosophical foundations. Our solidarity therefore does not arise from agreement on every question of philosophy, religion or social organisation. It arises from a concrete analysis of the principal contradiction confronting oppressed nations in the present epoch. Wherever peoples resist imperialist domination, defend their sovereignty and oppose colonial aggression, objective conditions create the possibility for common struggle despite ideological differences. This reflects not tactical convenience but the dialectics of the international anti imperialist movement.

Throughout decades of sanctions, threats, sabotage, assassinations and relentless propaganda, the United States and its allies sought to isolate and demonise him. Yet no campaign by the imperialist powers succeeded in separating him from the millions who regarded him as a principled defender of national independence. His moral and political authority among many oppressed peoples endured because it rested upon consistency rather than expediency.

One of the defining features of his international legacy was his unwavering position on Palestine. Long before it became widely acknowledged in international discourse, Ayatollah Khamenei consistently maintained that the Palestinian question was fundamentally one of settler colonialism, occupation and the denial of an entire people’s right to self determination. His steadfast support for the Palestinian people made him a source of hope for millions who continue to resist colonial domination and dispossession.

For decades, while many governments normalized relations with the Zionist entity or remained silent before the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, Ayatollah Khamenei insisted that Palestine remained the central question of justice in West Asia. He understood that the struggle of Palestine was not an isolated national question but one expression of the wider struggle against colonial domination, racial oppression and imperialist intervention. In doing so, he gave political expression to the aspirations of millions across the Global South who refused to accept the legitimacy of occupation and apartheid.

His words continue to inspire those who refuse to surrender before imperialist domination.

“Resistance is the only way that can reduce the enemy’s acts of aggression.”

“The Iranian nation has shown that it will never surrender to bullying and coercion.”

These were not merely political slogans. They reflected a lifetime of commitment to the principle that no people should bow before foreign domination regardless of the balance of military power.

As Marxist Leninists, we know that history advances through the struggle of peoples against oppression. While our philosophical foundations differ, we also recognize that objective contradictions often unite diverse political forces against a common enemy. The international anti imperialist movement has never been ideologically uniform. Throughout history it has brought together workers, peasants, national liberation movements, progressive governments and patriotic forces whose immediate unity arose from the necessity of defeating colonialism and imperial domination. In that historic struggle against imperialism, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei occupied an important place.

The Dialectics of Imperial Decline

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s political thought was distinguished by his ability to analyses power not as something static but as something shaped by contradiction. In one of his notable observations, he argued that the extensive network of United States military installations in West Asia would ultimately become a source of weakness rather than strength for the United States. This was not merely a military assessment. It reflected a dialectical understanding that every apparent strength carries within itself contradictions that can, under changing conditions, become a source of vulnerability.

The recent military confrontation in West Asia has once again brought this proposition into sharp focus. Rather than guaranteeing stability or unquestioned dominance, the extensive military footprint of the United States has itself become deeply entangled in the region’s escalating contradictions, exposing its forces and strategic assets to heightened risks while further intensifying anti imperialist sentiment across the region. From a dialectical standpoint, this illustrates that imperial expansion inevitably generates the very conditions that undermine its own permanence.

The recent war demonstrated once more that imperialism possesses enormous destructive power but diminishing political legitimacy. Military superiority can destroy cities, assassinate leaders and devastate infrastructure, but it cannot manufacture consent among peoples determined to defend their sovereignty. This contradiction between overwhelming military force and declining political legitimacy increasingly defines the present stage of imperialism.

Marxists recognize this as a fundamental law of historical development. Every social system contains internal contradictions that drive its transformation. Capitalism itself generated monopoly. Monopoly generated imperialism. Imperialism has generated a world increasingly divided between oppressor and oppressed nations while simultaneously producing the conditions for its own historical negation. In this respect, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei demonstrated an important capacity for dialectical analysis by recognizing that imperial overextension can transform strategic assets into strategic liabilities. Whether expressed through the language of revolutionary theory or through his own political tradition, his analysis converged with a central insight of dialectical materialism that quantitative expansion, when pushed beyond its limits, gives rise to qualitative change.

Lenin demonstrated that imperialism represents the highest stage of capitalism, characterized by monopoly, the domination of finance capital, the export of capital, the division of the world among monopolies and the territorial partition of the globe among the great powers. These characteristics are not temporary policies. They arise from the objective laws governing monopoly capitalism itself. Imperialism therefore cannot abandon aggression without ceasing to be imperialism. War, sanctions, regime change operations, military encirclement and economic coercion are not accidents of policy. They are structural expressions of the imperialist system.

The strategic assessments advanced by Ayatollah Khamenei repeatedly exposed these same contradictions as they unfolded within the concrete realities of West Asia. His analysis recognized that imperialism cannot indefinitely sustain global domination because the very methods through which it seeks to preserve its supremacy deepen the contradictions that undermine it. Every military intervention creates new resistance. Every sanction accelerates the search for alternative economic arrangements. Every attempt to isolate sovereign nations encourages new forms of international cooperation outside imperialist control. Thus the mechanisms of domination increasingly become the mechanisms through which imperialism accelerates its own historical decline.

The contradictions of imperialism are also expressed through the law of uneven development. Lenin demonstrated that capitalist development proceeds unevenly, producing continual shifts in the balance of economic, political and military power. No imperialist order remains permanently stable because the very dynamics of monopoly capitalism generate new centers of production, new political alignments and new forms of resistance. The contemporary world increasingly reflects this reality. The unipolar moment that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union is steadily giving way to a more complex international order in which the peoples and nations of the Global South are asserting a greater degree of political and economic independence.

Within this changing historical landscape, the Islamic Republic of Iran emerged as one of the principal centers of resistance against imperialist domination in West Asia. Despite decades of sanctions, military threats, sabotage, assassinations and diplomatic isolation, Iran refused to surrender its sovereignty or abandon its support for the Palestinian people and other oppressed nations. This demonstrated that the capacity of imperialism to dictate the course of history is neither absolute nor irreversible. Every act of coercion generated new contradictions. Every attempt at isolation strengthened new forms of cooperation among states seeking greater strategic autonomy. Every military escalation exposed the declining ability of imperialism to impose unquestioned political authority.

The emergence of a more multipolar international order should therefore not be understood as the disappearance of imperialism. United States imperialism remains the principal aggressive force in the contemporary world and continues to possess immense military, financial, technological and ideological power. Yet Marxism teaches that historical strength must never be confused with historical permanence. The growing crisis of imperialism is measured not only by economic indicators or military expenditure but also by its diminishing capacity to secure political legitimacy, its increasing reliance upon coercion, the sharpening rivalry among imperialist powers themselves and the growing confidence of oppressed peoples to determine their own destinies. These are not isolated developments. They are expressions of a historical transition driven by contradictions that no ruling class can permanently suppress.

It is within this broader movement of history that Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s political legacy should be situated. Whatever differences exist between Marxists and the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic, his consistent opposition to imperialist domination formed part of the wider international struggle through which oppressed nations continue to reshape the global balance of forces. His political life became one expression of a larger historical tendency in which the era of uncontested imperial hegemony is steadily giving way to an era of intensified resistance, national sovereignty and the growing assertion of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

For the Communist Party Marxist Kenya, the lessons of the recent war extend far beyond military developments. They confirm once again that no imperial power, however formidable its arsenal, can indefinitely impose its will upon peoples determined to defend their sovereignty. Imperialism may delay history through violence, but it cannot arrest history altogether. The contradictions that define the imperialist epoch continue to deepen, while the capacity of oppressed peoples to organize, resist and shape the future continues to expand. History therefore remains on the side of those who struggle for liberation rather than domination.

History Will Deliver Its Verdict

History teaches that no empire is eternal. Every imperial order, however mighty it may appear, carries within itself the contradictions that ultimately produce its decline. Empires rise. Empires expand. Empires imagine themselves invincible. Yet the same contradictions that fuel their expansion eventually become the conditions of their decay. The oppressed endure, organize and struggle until they transform history in their favor.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei understood that genuine independence cannot be granted by imperialism. It must be defended through steadfastness, sacrifice and the confidence of a people determined to shape their own destiny. His unwavering defense of national sovereignty, his uncompromising solidarity with the Palestinian people and his consistent opposition to imperialist aggression have secured him a place among the enduring figures of the international anti imperialist movement.

Military aggression may destroy infrastructure. Economic sanctions may inflict suffering. Assassinations may remove individual leaders. Propaganda may distort reality.

Yet none of these can extinguish ideas that have taken root among millions of oppressed people.

Individuals die.

Ideas endure.

The principles for which Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei stood cannot be buried by bombs, sanctions, siege or threats because they have become part of the collective political consciousness of peoples struggling against domination. Once an idea is embraced by the masses and translated into organized struggle, it acquires a historical force that no army can permanently defeat.

The Communist Party Marxist Kenya believes that Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s political legacy will continue to inspire future generations across Asia, Africa, Latin America and every part of the world where peoples continue to resist imperialism, colonialism, Zionism and national oppression. His legacy now belongs not only to Iran but also to the broader history of humanity’s struggle for sovereignty, dignity and liberation.

History remembers leaders not simply because they occupied high office, commanded armies or exercised state power. It remembers those who, in decisive moments, gave political expression to the aspirations of their people and stood firm when surrender appeared easier than resistance. Whether future generations agree with every aspect of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s political philosophy is a question history itself will continue to examine. What cannot be denied is that he became one of the defining symbols of resistance to imperial domination during the opening decades of the twenty first century.

The struggle against imperialism has never depended upon one individual. It began long before Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and it will continue long after all of today’s leaders have passed into history. The movement of history is driven not by great personalities alone but by the organized activity of millions of workers, peasants, youth, women, intellectuals and oppressed nations determined to secure their liberation. It is the masses who ultimately make history, and it is through their struggles that every empire is brought to an end.

For this reason, mourning must never become political resignation. The greatest tribute that can be paid to those who resisted imperialism is not simply to remember them but to continue the struggle to which they devoted their lives. Every generation inherits unfinished tasks from those who came before it. Our generation has inherited the task of defeating imperialism, ending colonial domination, securing the liberation of Palestine, defending national sovereignty and advancing a world founded upon justice, equality, peace and genuine international solidarity.

History will deliver its own verdict.

Empires will decline.

Nations will liberate themselves.

The peoples of the world will continue to resist.

Palestine will be free.

Imperialism will be defeated.

In that historical process, the legacy of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei will outlive United States imperialism because ideas rooted in the aspirations of oppressed peoples cannot be destroyed by force. States may wage war against nations. Armies may occupy territories. Economies may be subjected to sanctions. Leaders may pass away. But no power can permanently extinguish a people determined to be free.

Today we stand in solidarity with the people of Iran during this period of mourning. We honor a leader who refused to kneel before imperialism, who remained steadfast in defense of Palestine, who inspired millions to believe that sovereignty is worth defending and that resistance against domination is both legitimate and necessary.

May the people of Iran continue to defend their independence.

May the Palestinian people achieve complete national liberation.

May the peoples of the world deepen their unity against imperialism.

Long live international solidarity.

Long live the struggle against imperialism.

Long live the liberation of Palestine.

Issued by the General Secretary, Central Organizing Committee

Communist Party Marxist Kenya

4 July 2026

they cannot be taken to the hague. countries they are stationed in have agreements with their governments with free reign to r*pe and no legal consequences. they face no consequences at home for that they do.

would you trust any group of people legally allowed to r*pe with no consequences? why would you trust US soldiers then when thats de facto their status?

thoughts empty

head tingling

A while back, I asked about Ed Bernays' work with Empire. Looks like I'm being introduced.

From the article:

The 12,000-year-old Hambach forest has lived through many eras, but perhaps none as consequential as the last half-century.

Locals and environmentalists have been fighting for 50 years to keep the woodland — which sits between the western German towns of Aachen and Cologne — from becoming an open-pit coal mine. At times, protesters occupied the area, living in treehouses among the towering canopies to protect against the threat of chainsaws.

Now the fight is finally coming to a close, with about 14% of the original forest still intact. In June, the local government announced the remaining woods will be protected permanently and turned into a nature conservation area.

"The climate movement has won the battle," said Dirk Jansen, of BUND, the German branch of the Friends of the Earth environmental group. He spent decades fighting for the forest.

Hambach is one chapter in a much bigger story, as similar clashes between governments, private developers and citizens are playing out around the world — including in the US. There, public lands are being clawed back at an unprecedented rate for oil and gas extraction.

"We seem to be moving aggressively in the opposite direction," Lincoln Larson, who studies outdoor recreation and public lands at North Carolina State University, told DW.

This thread is SPECIFICALLY (and ONLY) for people that grew up in the 2000s (so I guess people that are nowadays in their early to mid 30s, ig? Idk dawg don't look at me I can't math for the life of me..). If you have never, idk, lived even one year in the 2000s then click the Lemmygrad symbol at the top left hand corner of the screen (look, I know, it's hard to find, but don't worry, you can't miss it!) so you can get to the main page. No exceptions * (oho, an asterisk (*) next to that last sentence? What could it mean? Chat, what did Makan mean by this?! Scroll down to find out...(Look, it's not what you think it is))

Anyway

You may NOT join and / or participate and / or comment underneath and / or in any way, shape, or form interact or reference this thread outside of the actually, err, thread.*

Well, with that said...

Uhh

Fuck it, I'll just ask it:

Who here remembers the 2000s?

And who here grew up or maybe even hit the age of 18 in said decade?

Perhaps you vaguely remember the 1990s or even the year 2000.

Well, I have honestly been wondering about that decade now.

Such a WEIRD decade.

Arguably the apex of the "end of history"-type thinking that was basically inculcated into most of us at an early age.

I would even venture to say that it may very well be one of the darkest decades in human history (and may have in the end fucked up many of whatever generation lived through it in the long run, even those that weren't Gen Xers or Millennial or whatever Zoomer was born around the year 2000).

It was honestly a BIZARRE time when I look back on it.

Now, disclaimer:

My childhood was not fun AT ALL.

You can even see the mental effects of that right now.

I have had an extreme form of OCD that has survived due to this day, partly due to religious trauma (and usually in the form of, say, cross-posting multiple times for some reason or another).

My father was honestly a brutal narcissist and abuser. Abused my Mom for thirty or so years. Abused me for twenty or so years.

Didn't help that I got into another abusive situation from around very late 2019 which ended about five years from then (not that people would in real life and especially online would notice or at least not immediately notice).

So I guess I may be biased or whatever.

Idk.

You can stop me if you think that I may be going too far in some of my observations.

But there are things that, when looking back, make the 2000s decade very surreal. I remember someone (who was basically a GenXer, was born around the late 1980s, I think) going like "You know, that decade was pretty weird when you think about it, huh?" (I'm probably butchering what was said, though I don't think so; some of my recollections, even from the 2020s, are kinda crystal clear)

And the surreality and weirdness and - I would argue - sinister feeling or the atmosphere of the decade is certainly... Interesting to me since I never really cognisized it in my head when I lived through it but it certainly seems downright palpable to me even compared to the 2010s (for me personally, mind you).

(BTW, I use "sinister" to kinda mean "darkly weird, menacing, and surreal")

First off, the movies were definitely different and arguably a bit... Innocent? I would even say innocent in a somewhat good way that I missed, not that we would appreciate it when we live in an era where art has to be "subverted" or "taken apart" or whatever. Also, a lot of "life-y" movies. Not sure what else to call those types of film. It's not like it was really it's own genre.

Also, I remember people really being kinda stupid and oblivious to stuff that they were ensnared in.

Even the George Lucas hatred seems almost astroturfed (it was definitely genuine though lol). The "George Lucas raped my childhood" phrase or meme, which I do remember people not only saying jokinngly but saying unjokingly and even dead-ass defending their usage of that meme in a very un-ironic way on Internet message boards whenever they were questioned for using it sometimes (with people even genuinely coming to such-and-such forumite's defense, mind you). What interests me is that I enjoyed the prequels... But immediately started to hate them almost immediately after 2005. Why? Because everyone, especially the Gen Xers, kinda just said we just "didn't understand" and we "were kids" and so couldn't tell what was true cinema or whatever. And I believed it. They were older than me. The worst part is:

Looking back, it seemed other people around my age (say, 10 years old to 15 years old) wanted desperately to be accepted by Gen Xers, a generation that is arguably VERY cynical and even packages a lot of their cynicistic beliefs as, well, humor or "they're just jokes, bro, get over it"

(Also, it's not lost on me that Jon Stewart, the comedian that famously got booted from Comedy Central for questioning a NYT columnist or whatever on her trying to downplay the lies that led to the Iraq War, used that very same defense with Cramer and a few others too; now Stewart drumbeats for whatever war is popular now, go figure...)

But yeah, when you look at Gen Alphas now, they don't even act like the previous generation before them "knows it all"

It's a bit sad because I think that there definitely needs to be more respect for what came before and to build off of what came before (including from Gen Xers, boomers, the generation before boomers, whatever).

But is understandable and I really don't blame them.

It's also not lost on me that YouTubers nowadays, big YouTube channels even, seem to have that "white cishet male in their 40s, maybe 50s, with a beard or even just a neck beard that has really toxic, rightwing, and/or really contrarian opinions that are also somewhat popular because 'they're true but nobody wants to admit it'"-social type to them.

...Zamn, in a world where individualism rules, especially in the West, do we even know what a "social type" is? We barely even speak of personality types anymore!

It should be noted that the "cult of youth" -phenomenon or whatever one even calls it ("millennials are here to SAVE THE WORLD") was definitely drilled in our heads during the 2000s and even 2010s.

We literally sang songs about it.

Even during DARE class, I think.

And looking back, it is essentially just boomers saying:

"Look, we fucked up, but hey, we're retiring now so we'll pass the buck to you, okay? You can DO IT. You can WIN. YOU. GOT. THIS." (I'm honestly getting TFS Piccolo vibes here as I type this)

That... was something, even then, I kinda thought was putting way too much on my own abused shoulders lol

Speaking of Comedy Central...

Anyone remember this?

I 'member when the Libertarian Party folks at the High School debate club used to have shirts with this very same image on it (look, a lot of us had that phase, okay?! Yeesh, don't @ me)

...The Libertarian Party folks in Virginia were also kinda weird.

They literally got arrested by police (and sometimes got into what would essentially be straight-up police brutality cases against, well, white folks). There were a lot of such clips of this happening on YouTube.

Honestly, at least the Libertarians then (as far as I remember, to be clear) actually were against Black people being murdered by jack-booted state troopers

The Libertarian folks in Virginia now are basically just round-about fascists (with an emphasis on being crypto bros, ironic humor, centrist-y bullshit, but also affinity for MAGAts or Donald Trump in various corners, at least depending on where you are, afaik). It's not lost on me that many of them, like someone I knew in college, turned into neo-liberals ("the state is indeed a necessary evil to perpetuate capitalism" ) and then basically into MAGAts or outright fascists.

Even the ancaps look better compared to the ex-libertarians, ngl (also, am I the only one that keeps seeing them on social media and whenever I chance upon them in real life in, well, funny hats and headgear? No? Just me? Okay...)

Oh, btw, Libertarianism was definitely popular during the 2000s and early 2010s and not just capital-L libertarianism ahahaha

I really think that the Gary Johnson gaffe, the "What is Alleppo?" thing, actually hurt the libertarian cause at the time (because, as time went on, the Libertarians were kinda trying to paint themselves in a "dorky and weird but ultimately respectible" image; I wouldn't even know how to exactly describe the aesthetic or imagery that they were going for back then or even now to a degree). My old college friend literally griped about that bit. He said that it didn't make sense or it was very stupid. I... actually liked it? Especially since Gary Johnson was kinda making a point there, regardless of whether he even really knew anything about Alleppo or not (which, again, would be besides the point).

There were honestly a lot of mistakes and blunders made over the course of the Libertarian ascendence in popularity in places like Ohio, Virginia, Michigan even, etc. that honestly probably really did undermine their cause, looking back, though it was a bit hard to know it at the time.

Keep in mind "Internet tough guys" were especially rife in those days.

I actually feel that people were perhaps even more toxic than they are now (though I think that people are more depressed now and sometimes don't know why and sometimes have "hidden depression" or even anhedonia, which can seep into their entire belief systems or worldviews). Keep in mind that the word "toxic" (at least how it is typically used now) wasn't really used to describe, well, what we may have now in some Internet communities what was also the case back then for a lot of the Internet.

Also, I miss Web 1.0

I'm literally making an Internet forum (even kinda have it ready right now but haven't really launched it yet) to revive some of that culture, you know?

I don't like the infinite scroll feature (invented in 2007 but has definitely hit critical mass now)

I don't like the lack of web pages on my websites or social media (and, thus, no boundaries)

Oh yeah, and web novels don't end.

Web sites (especially socials) also don't end now.

Coincidence?

Heh. I think not (gottem).

No, but seriously, I remember in the 2000s we wanted "more of it" but didn't really know why and we kinda got "more of it" in the worst way possible (literally the web page in front of you going on and on into infinity; web novels never ending or having really any "break-off" point where the initial story ends and, if you want to come back some other time a decade later to see the sequel, you can; the 1980s films and cinema were kinda prized above all else and modern-day television was "trash" and so now we literally have sequels to them that don't have anything really new; also, lots of nostalgia-bait referencing the 70s, 80s in particular, and 90s nowadays; etc.)

Now we literally don't want more, at least some of us.

I do to some degree but it's not more Star Wars at this time LMAO

I'm pretty sure we're already doing 2000s nostalgia-bait but I am not going to look it up on DuckDuckGo now because seeing it confirmed would honestly depress me at this time lol

What else, what else can I mention in my stream of consciousness...

Ah yes

So, I'm Turkish.

People knew it. I knew it.

And I was bullied in school for being "Muslim."

Didn't help that I was also Latina.

The Islamophobia was honestly pretty rife back then.

When a new terrorist attack happened in Spain or France or Germany or what have you, every one in school talked about it.

A white supremacist who later joined the National Guard right after High School threatened to snap my neck and kill me and was very racist toward me.

But I also remember it being before 2014 (there was a big and much-talked about police shooting when it happened somewhere in the Midwest, I think, and you all probably know about it, but I remember it really kicking things off in regard to the Black Lives Matter and accountability movement for police officers and later the "Defund the Police" movement as well). The closest thing we had to that was the Trayvon Martin. I remember vividly on CNN and CBS them at first giving Trayvon the benefit of doubt but then, at one point, almost immediately shifting the blame to him and castigating him and his behavior before the murder. And I remember people even in my school going "I don't get why the mainstream media is talking about this, Trayvon was a punk and / or a murderer"

The worst part is that, in the 2000s, you had people like Bill Cosby going on and on about "When are Black people going to fix their own problems and do some soul-searching about the violence they do" or whatever.

And it must have indeed been a gruesome thing to grow up with the media telling Black people over and over and over again "When are Black people going to have fathers in their families" or whatever.

Really abhorrent example of gaslighting there.

They just acted like "nobody is TALKING ABOUT THIS" and use the constant enforcement of social amnesia (now even worse than before in 2026) to your advantage.

An absolutely rancid and awful display of narcissistic abuse and gaslighting in action, folks.

I also remember Black folks and a lot of Latine or Latino folks talking about "rejecting violence" and "cleaning up their own neighborhood" or acting like they (or at least the punks in their community) were the major problem, not anyone else or any outside forces.

Honestly a bad thing to grow up with.

I felt less than others.

I felt like I had to perform more and more.

It was never enough.

That kinda changed in 2014, I remember (although the media seems to be making a big retreat on that front in regards to the topic). It was somewhat changing since Trayvon too and people remembered the Los Angeles uprising in the early 1990s.

But when I was threatened by that National Guardsman (he is probably still in there, or moved up, or somewhere else in the military, idk), I didn't really have the language or even cognitive formulation to know what was happening and why it was happening.

People thought that racism was literally just saying the n-word.

People said all sorts of racist jokes to each other back then.

The very students or classmates in my school said that shit.

To each other.

And dared each other.

I was horrified each time but I kept a "mask" so nobody would notice (I am Autistic after all)

Didn't help that people called me the r-word and others the r-word (I hated it and knew exactly who it was meant to refer to).

And you were expected to kinda do the same.

I never used it, thank fuck

Such bile would've over-stimulated me back then, not that I knew what it was.

I also never hated LGBTQ+ people AT ALL. Not even the "removed." Especially not them. I had constant thoughts about being a girl.

But didn't have the vocabulary or mental rubric to understand what was happening.

Also, the word "f***ot" was also rife then.

When it comes down to it, becoming an atheist was nothing to me in the end. Not even then. I was already an atheist by around age 10 and had those thoughts.

The Four Horsemen and New Atheism and "edgy atheists" were rife, by the way.

It means nothing to me now. I hated the Islamophobia from the New Atheists (which has only grown since then) but again kept a social "mask" and moved on.

I secretly hated Autism Speaks and what they did to other children, including children I knew or people in my own family or children of family friends.

I really did not like the "debate culture" which basically started then (and it makes sense that it would hit the ground running with social media and the Internet because, think about it, the West basically tells you that "if you debate with someone else, you will eventually arrive to a good enough conclusion on the matter and maybe convince other people" of stuff, idk).

I hope that I can now leave behind all that baggage.

(Also, I hated the fact that so many of the Muslims, Latine folks, etc. in my area (remember: Virginia) were in the CIA, FBI, NSA, some other alphabet-soup agency, etc. but whatever, it's fucking Virginia, what are you going to do? Just really made it hard to sometimes relate to them considering that I knew back then what had happened to the Dominican Republic and Juan Bosch and all the others after that madman Trujillo was gone...)

Uhhh...

...This basically turned into a stream of consciousness, sorry :/

So, erm

1. What do you remember from the 2000s? What sticks out to you the most?

2. I guess what were your favorite movies or television shows from that era? Bonus points if you can name any "life-y" ones like Big Fish or whatever lol (or, what movies / television did you not like lol)

3. What stuff from the 2000s do you actually want to see come back?

Okay, I would still argue that the 2000s were a VERY DARK decade that people basically slept-walked through and didn't realize it

But I also genuinely like a lot of the ideas behind Web 1.0

The culture was still bad then

But honestly?

The bad culture and discourse is kinda amplified now by the socials of today (Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, whatever)

4. Favorite memes?

(Lol whatever, it's 2026, we reference memes now, get with the program for now lol)

5. What are the least talked about things in the decade that you are genuinely interested in?

6. Idk, maybe pose a question to yourself and answer it, idk

• Sooooo... Okay, it was probably what you thought it was.

Yes, you absolutely can comment down below or talk about the topic in this OP (the 2000s; look, don't be fooled by some of the trauma-dumping and venting and all that, it is basically about the 2000s and you can even kinda loop it back to how everyone was affected by it, even if they didn't realize it at the time, but it is basically just talking about the 2000s)

Uh...

Yeah.

(I really should do stuff other than a parenthesis sometimes, smdh)

Discuss.

(Disclaimer: If you're looking for the *, the one you should specifically be looking at (not the one you see in this disclaimer, don't be fooled you chump!) is right after the bisecting line that I put up there (look, I know you have GAD and / or some undiagnosed panic disorder now, but look, you can't miss it, stop freaking out on me (common it's right THERE (I'm not panicking, you're panicking!!)

I wrote an article describing the dialectic of the "Anti-Deutsche" German left zionist current, among other topics. Free Palestine. Fight revisionism.

The West claims they are. But let's hear what African representatives have to say about this.

Damn...

This person wrote for Philosophy 101...

...yet already has the words of a modern-day Marx

Or shall we say...

...Super Marx?

Chortles and guffaws to self

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