this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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the_dunk_tank

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It's the dunk tank.

This is where you come to post big-brained hot takes by chuds, libs, or even fellow leftists, and tear them to itty-bitty pieces with precision dunkstrikes.

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"scheming assholes at the local club have stopped inviting me to club events after i left the club".

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The EU is a neoliberal abomination. Leaving the EU to get blue passports and do more racism is not going to improve things though. European countries are too small to be on their own against the powers of capital as the rapid dismantling of living standards for common people in Terf Island post-Brexit shows. It seems like the viable alternative to the EU is some kind of pro-worker European community that doesn't exist yet.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Leaving the EU to get blue passports and do more racism is not going to improve things though. European countries are too small to be on their own against the powers of capital as the rapid dismantling of living standards for common people in Terf Island post-Brexit shows.

That's not the only thing leaving the EU allows for, anything that happens in the UK now is entirely the fault of UK politicians, there's not the EU scapegoat (which is a real scapegoat) anymore which means brits are in a better position to actually change things politically and exercise their sovereignty than any EU country, and that dismantling of standards that is happening in the UK is happening elsewhere in the EU too, except here in EU countries politics can't actually be about changing that since it explicitly means going against european institutions.

It seems like the viable alternative to the EU is some kind of pro-worker European community that doesn't exist yet.

Yeah, which is not the EU. I'm just being facetious when I say I hope everybody leaves I know it's more complicated than leaving and staying, but what the comments here told me is that some, hopefully not european, leftists really think the european working class is better off with the EU than they would be if they fought it. SAD!!!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

I grant that there is an argument to be made for the accelerationist potential of Brexit. We have seen some really impressive strikes and I wouldn't be surprised if more and more Brits are losing faith in the Westminster parties being able and willing to improve things.

Good things could come from this but declining standards of living, a sclerotic and undemocratic political system combined with emboldened racism also has the potential to lead to fascism.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

there's not the EU scapegoat (which is a real scapegoat) anymore

Yeah, it's a scapegoat, and it will continue to be a scapegoat for the exact same reasons - see article above

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Doesn't disprove my point, the government can still blame the EU all it wants it won't work as well as it does in EU countries

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

anything that happens in the UK now is entirely the fault of UK politicians, there's not the EU scapegoat

huh?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If in, say, Portugal you want to invest more in healthcare (or apply any radical policy) the government can say "the european comission won't approve this budget so we can't do this!", and that's true, the budget would get rejected by the EC and you'd have to come up with a new one, and since "the EU is always right" in countries like these everyone will just bow their heads and go "ok guess the government can't do this thing everyone wants them to do" this is how european politics actually work

Now if you remove the EU, which is an untouchable far-away institution, you have your national government, which is a closer less-untouchable institution.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Now if you remove the EU, which is an untouchable far-away institution, you have your national government, which is a closer less-untouchable institution.

Which can still blame things on those darned eurocrats and their disdain for the island of albion, as seen above and in other examples. Do we have different definitions of what a scapegoat is? I understand it as an entity that isn't at fault for whatever bad thing but is made to look like one

If in, say, Portugal you want to invest more in healthcare (or apply any radical policy) the government can say "the european comission won't approve this budget so we can't do this!", and that's true, the budget would get rejected by the EC and you'd have to come up with a new one, and since "the EU is always right" in countries like these everyone will just bow their heads and go "ok guess the government can't do this thing everyone wants them to do" this is how european politics actually work

The EU has pretty much zilch enforcement mechanisms for anything. Any they do have is political power, not bureaucratic power.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Any they do have is political power

YES THAT'S WHY IT'S INSANE FOR COMMUNISTS TO BE DEFENDING IT LIKE THIS.

If it shoots down the budget a pro-eu government will always respect that decision because the pro-eu population (which is the majority in EVERY EU country) will agree with that, and if they don't they'll blame the EU and not their governments, so it's always a useful scapegoat.

Political power matters and that "any power" is doing a lot, you haven't dealt with this people, the EU is the chief obstacle for there to be a working class political movement in europe, and defending it because you're an "antifascist" is insane.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

I was thinking that last paragraph was unfair misrepresentation, then I read two more comments…