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Cowbee [he/they]

@ Cowbee @lemmy.ml

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Joined
3 yr. ago

Actually, this town has more than enough room for the two of us

He/him or they/them, doesn't matter too much

Marxist-Leninist ☭

Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don't know where to start? Check out my Read Theory, Darn it! introductory reading list!

  • Trump announces that the USA has bombed Iranian nuclear sites.

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  • May the US Empire crumble to dust, its only vestiges a dark stain on human existence for future historians to look on with disgust.

  • N. Korea calls Israel 'cancer-like entity', blames US and West for Iran war

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  • Nah, you can keep it, it's good context! Plus it ended up being funny.

  • N. Korea calls Israel 'cancer-like entity', blames US and West for Iran war

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  • Lmao, same.

  • N. Korea calls Israel 'cancer-like entity', blames US and West for Iran war

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  • N. Korea calls Israel 'cancer-like entity', blames US and West for Iran war

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  • Complaining about "tankies" and picking fights as soon as you could isn't nuanced at all, which is why you weren't responded to with nuance.

  • N. Korea calls Israel 'cancer-like entity', blames US and West for Iran war

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  • Even the harshest critics of the DPRK acknowledge that it has universal healthcare, housing, pretty much no unemployment (if any), and at this point, food. The Arduous March is over. That doesn't mean the DPRK is a magical paradise or anything, but that's in a state that was bombed into oblivion and was the target of genocide. If the US adopted more DPRK economic policies, then it would indeed see the improvements Yogthos listed.

    I don't really think you're owning anyone here, it's just coming across as you jumping to insults when you've been confronted with an alternate viewpoint instead of trying to do any research or understanding. You just jump to "Marxism bad, Marxists unintelligent."

  • Israel Is Running Low on Defensive Interceptors, Official Says

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  • The creation of a single, secular state with minority protections. Former Israelis could stay, but the people of Palestine that were oppressed for a century will be, at least for a time, the driving factor of reconstruction. Any terrorist cells made up of former IDF would be rooted out, but former Israelis that comply with the demands of Palestinians would not need to be deported, most likely.

  • North Korea to send military personnel to Russia – senior official

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  • Ah fair, maybe pile in some execution vans and Stalin's copiously large spoon

  • North Korea to send military personnel to Russia – senior official

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  • In this case, it makes sense. The DPRK has minesweepers, a strong relationship with the Russian Federation, and a desire for on-the-ground experience for its soldiers. There's absolutely no reason for them to send prisoners, especially as it would be less effective and more costly.

  • North Korea to send military personnel to Russia – senior official

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  • Anything is possible if you just make shit up and assume anything the DPRK does is cartoonishly evil, rather than taking Occam's Razor and having any attachment to reality.

  • North Korea to send military personnel to Russia – senior official

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  • Probably mine clearing specialists. Mines were heavily used during the Korean War, the DPRK certainly has had experience with clearing them out.

  • Israel Is Running Low on Defensive Interceptors, Official Says

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  • Yep, 100%! The only solution has always been a single, secular Palestine, with minority protections. That's what the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and many Palestinian liberation groups have advocated for for many decades.

  • Israel Is Running Low on Defensive Interceptors, Official Says

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  • Israel has been a genocidal settler-colonial project since its inception, and will continue to be even if Netanyahu was publicly hanged. Israel has never truly been defensible since its inception a century ago.

  • Musk says USAID to be shut down, ‘beyond repair’

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  • Genuinely curious why Trump is getting rid of historically the US's most reliable source for regime change. For those who don't know, the vast majority of USAID goes strictly to opposition groups in countries the US is on bad terms with, and to the ruling govrnments and millitaries of those we are on good terms with. It's how the US maintains hegemony. Some USAID went to good people and projects, of course, but never for a second think that that was its primary purpose.

    One theory I saw is that the US Imperialists have noticed many of their typical regime change attempts, such as in Bolivia and Venezuela, are failing, therefore it isn't any longer an efficient use of funds. Now the US is pivoting to more open-faced aggression via tariffs and other forms of economic warfare, sanctions, and so forth. The reason, is because US hegemony is weakening, and other countries like the PRC are becoming much better alternatives to deal with.

  • Kim Jong-un bans hotdogs for North Koreans, cooking them an act of treason

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  • I didn't merely link a single source with respect to the "defector storytelling industry," but an entire documentary on the subject. I can find more sources if you prefer, it's quite well-documented. Yeonmi Park is a famous "celebrity defector" and her claims are often contradictory.

    As for this particular article? The source appears to be The Sun, citing a tangential article from Radio Free Asia, with a final source appearing to be... nothing. The RFA article was on tteokbokki and budae-jjigae, not hot dogs, and the RFA source for that article? "Residents in the country." In short, there is no hard proof, neither in this article nor the original RFA article.

    As for RFA, they have been called out on sharing misleading or fabricated information regarding geopolitical enemies of the US, such as anti-vaccine misinformation about Chinese vaccines. The RFA's speciality is reporting on United States Geopolitical adversaries, and given that the United States government has a dedicated interest in drumming up negative opinion on them, you have means (no listed source beyond "residents") and motive. The track record isn't "sterling," but "mixed," I'd say, considering issues like the anti-vaxx misinfo, unless you back that as well (I certainly hope not). The reporter for the tteokbokki article is Moon Sung Whui, who appears to have only been reporting since a few months back in late 2024, so either this is a pseudonym for a reporter who wishes to remain anyonymous, a brand-new reporter, or a ficticious one, even if searching in Hangol as 문성휘 (which they go by in the Korean version of the article).

    Even if you accept the RFA article as 100% accurate, that's not what this article is, as this article originates from The Sun. We don't even need to discredit the RFA, but understand that this is a completely unverified report from a tabloid being uncritically passed around. Clickbait makes money, and everyone believes anything about the DPRK. That was the point about the haircut video, anyways: misinfo isn't always entirely inaccurate, it usually relies on subversion based on kernals of truth, or uncritical reporting of dubious sources, ie the source may be "true" in that someone did claim such and such claim, but the validity of the claim is left unquestioned.

    The RFA article was dubious, but this is just a copy pasted Sun article as a clickbait based on the first RFA article.

  • Kim Jong-un bans hotdogs for North Koreans, cooking them an act of treason

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  • The problem with reporting on the DPRK is that information is extremely limited on what is actually going on there. Most reports come from defectors, and said defectors are notoriously dubious in their accounts, something the WikiPedia page on Media Coverage of North Korea spells out quite clearly. These defectors are also held in confined cells for around 6 months before being released to the public in the ROK, in... unkind conditions, and pressured into divulging information. Additionally, defectors are paid for giving testemonials, and these testimonials are paid more the more severe they are. From the Wiki page:

    Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who lived in the DPRK, argues that defectors are inherently biased. He says that 70 percent of defectors in South Korea are unemployed, and selling sensationalist stories is a way for them to make a living.

    Side note: there is a great documentary on the treatment of North Korean defectors titled Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul, which interviews North Korean defectors and laywers legally defending them, if you're curious.

    Because of these issues, there is a long history of what we consider legitimate news sources of reporting and then walking back stories. Even the famous "120 dogs" execution ended up to have been a fabrication originating in a Chinese satirical column, reported entirely seriously and later walked back by some news outlets. The famous "unicorn lair" story ended up being a misunderstanding:

    In fact, the report is a propaganda piece likely geared at shoring up the rule of Kim Jong Eun, North Korea's young and relatively new leader, said Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Most likely, North Koreans don't take the report literally, Lee told LiveScience.

    "It's more symbolic," Lee said, adding, "My take is North Koreans don't believe all of that, but they bring certain symbolic value to celebrating your own identify, maybe even notions of cultural exceptionalism and superiority. It boosts morale."

    These aren't tabloids, these are mainstream news sources. NBC News reported the 120 dogs story. Same with USA Today. The frequently reported concept of "state-mandated haircut styles", as an example, also ended up being bogus sensationalism. People have made entire videos going over this long-running sensationalist misinformation, why it exists, and debunking some of the more absurd articles.

    As for Radio Free Asia, it is US-government founded and funded. There is good reason to be skeptical of reports sourced entirely from RFA about geopolitical enemies of the US, especially concerning a hermit country with very little accurate information coming out of it due to its secluded nature. Until we see hard evidence, I don't see why we should trust it, considering the track record of reporting on North Korea.

    This does not mean the subject of this article is necessarily false, but it does mean that uncritically accepting it as true when there is a proven track record of outlandish and absurd stories being reported about the DPRK that we should question its validity until proof is provided beyond heresay from a US-government funded media outlet. People are right to distrust the article, and I don't think this is a good hill to die on and ban people over. I don't generally believe anything about the DPRK unless there's hard proof for it because of how notoriously unreliable reporting on it is. You don't have to support the DPRK to question absurd sensationalist articles.

  • Leading US imams and scholars urge Muslim voters to snub Kamala Harris over Gaza

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  • Both are genocidal, letting the DNC get away with genocide solidifies their position. That's the logic, that the DNC can get away with literal genocide as long as they aren't the GOP, and in the eyes of Liberals, that's correct.

  • Leading US imams and scholars urge Muslim voters to snub Kamala Harris over Gaza

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  • Incoming anti-Muslim hatred from Liberals in 3...2...1...