They’re some of that forced slave labor making the goods that the Americans are wage slaves to consume.

No you don't. We, individually, don't have control of the collective. You might as well judge us for what our aristocrats are doing. Or what the wind is doing.

Judge us now, and you leave your own people to be judged when they capitulate to far-right movements supported and bankrolled by aristocracy. We're already seeing signs of this now. Elon Musk and associates can afford to buy a lot of elections. And they intend to do so.

All of our societies been softened up by neoliberalism. We all thought we could regulate the capitalist class, and how they intend to drive humanity to extinction. It's our last chance to assure they are reduced out of existence, or their war boys and propaganda will come back twice as strong.

I hope we can navigate our way out of this, but individuals are infinitesimal compared to the masses. Humanity might just be too stupid to survive.

At least one of those shots is behind a permanent spiked perimeter fence that you get arrested or shot for crossing. Also Trump keeps moving the White House temporary perimeter fence back further from the White House. I need to check if the Capitol Building is currently fenced off

If you get shot in the face with a beanbag round you don't discover you are un-insured now half way through hospital intake

If you bothered to read the comment you responded to, the other commentor pointed out that some of the people doing this are your own fucking countrymen.

Do we get to blame Canada for their hand in this? Or are we smart enough to see that the rich are making us fight amongst ourselves because it's easier for people like you to rail against the bad outsider than to realize that this is being driven by a multinational group of the ultra wealthy bent on enacting techno-feudalism via attacks on the elections of any country needed?

I think you might be misunderstanding my comments or maybe I'm misunderstanding yours because I am very lost.

I added the "protests aren't totally useless" thing as a way to combat defensiveness after I replied to the top level comment comparing recent US protests (such as No Kings) to the protests shown in the meme. It's absurd to compare the two, and not because of the violence that occurs at them. The reason the type of action shown in the image can be impactful is because there have specific goals and targets in contrast to what amount to an awareness campaign or parade.

Oh, I see.

I don't think the US can be said to be exerting imperialist power over the Chinese though. China is probably the place least vulnerable to the US trade sanctions, for example.

Imperialism is the export of capital and the import of resources, profit from capital and labour.

I think that's a pretty universal opinion.

There is absolutely benefit to countering the false rhetoric that nobody is doing anything.

That's my point though. The rhetoric isn't nobody is doing anything. I didn't make this meme but I can't imagine a way to make a meme that also says "this doesn't apply to you if you are doing something, carry on".

Nobody believes an anti-hierarchical grassroots movement could form in a rural town,

People who believe that are foolish, and aren't interested in hearing from rural towns because they have already made up their mind.

(I'm rural btw)

Anyways, I'm not trying to tell you what to do, just trying to share things I think are helpful. I don't take offence to being told I'm wrong and it's not useful. Good luck, I hope you are successful with your initiative..

I'm not french

The rhetoric isn’t nobody is doing anything.

So when you said "Why is cooperation and mutual aid so invisible to americans", what did you mean? I understood it to mean that you didn't think anybody was doing anything.

People who believe that are foolish, and aren’t interested in hearing from rural towns because they have already made up their mind.

But I've literally experienced the opposite, lol. I hear from the people themselves that they've just never thought that it could happen out here until they saw it happening out here. Propaganda affects us all.

It's also not a current picture since you know, a 3rd of the white house isn't rubble

So, no acknowledgement of anything in their message that might be agreeable or correct? Just a denial of a tangential assumption, as if your "French nationality" were the core of that comment.

[US protestors] are doing the same as [French protestors], which is everything legally and procedurally possible, and protesting, too. A little empathy, and understanding the limits of [the US] system would be nice.

Was a pretty cogent request and the final of only 2 "paragraphs", so confused on how you might have misplaced it.

"Of course I have a valid reason for inaction, but what about the 330 million other people? Surely everyone else's lives are disposable?"

And there's still a lawn, instead of a parking lot

Because the protests Americans do is never good enough

We had a similar per capita rate of participation in No Kings as France has had in its recent demonstrations. But the US has a much lower population density over a much larger land area, so the protests appeared smaller despite having millions more people in the streets.

So when you said "Why is cooperation and mutual aid so invisible to americans", what did you mean? I understood it to mean that you didn't think anybody was doing anything.

I think there are clearly linguistic and cultural differences between us. It's fine that you're asking. I'll explain. But first I want to tell you truly that when someone makes a generalization about a group I belong to, I don't take it personally. It's a short cut. If I had to list every single man who isn't sexist when I complained about systemic sexism I wouldn't get to say anything at all!

So for this specific comment, I didn't want to criticise the individual making the comments. My response isn't about them as an individual. So I can't say "why are they so invisible to you". I also have observed this sentiment (americans can't afford to do anything but comply because they are dependent on the state and pro-state structures) quite a bit, so I knew it wasn't just this one person's thoughts. It's a systemic problem. So I chose the generalization.

The only reason I replied to you is because you asked a question. Otherwise I would ignore it because I'm not really in the habit of telling people they are "one of the good ones". I think that concept is fundamentally dangerous. We should all be open to criticism, we just need to decide if the criticism is useful or not.

But I've literally experienced the opposite, lol. I hear from the people themselves that they've just never thought that it could happen out here until they saw it happening out here. Propaganda affects us all

Yes, I hear these things too. I spent my first 35 years in my country's biggest city. My spouse is from a rural community and he wanted to go back to that way of life. So we did. Rural people also talk a lot of trash about city folk too. Some of it deserved.

It benefits people who hold power to sow discord. I'm sure we can all think of a time we lashed out in a way we regret. So I try and save my energy for people who actually know me. Or if someone who doesn't know me at all says something and I get super defensive about it I'll try and sit with why I'm getting so mad. Maybe they are on to something. Maybe I'm just hungry lol

What in tarnation

So, no acknowledgement of anything in their message that might be agreeable or correct?

I replied to them to call out some ignorant remarks they made. They started talking about something else. Why would I continue the conversation?

Just a denial of a tangential assumption, as if your "French nationality" were the core of that comment.

I was correcting another incorrect remark. I don't think they read what I wrote if they think I am french.

Was a pretty cogent request and the final of only 2 "paragraphs", so confused on how you might have misplaced it.

Why am I expected to respond to this person's request?

Yeah, and the freedom people who once frothed at the mouth about wanting to fight tyrants are now probably the ones shooting protestors happily now.

All for the tribe.

To be fair, its like a 2 day drive for me to get to the Capitol, and gas alone would cost like $1k.

Yep, one of my favorite comparisons is that Germany is about the same size as Montana

Hi. American here who uses a mobility scooter because an autoimmune disease took my ability to walk. Thanks for using my plight for some zinger that I'm sure you thought sounded really cool. Really appreciate it.

Last time you could feasibly organise a protest in that suspiciously white area was 2019. The guy who did it was tortured to death in prison. In 2022 I was exiting the metro station about a kilometer away from a known protest area in Moscow, got detained by police, and beaten so hard I couldn't walk for a week, just because I attended said protests in 2019, and the camera network remembered my face.
That might also be the reason for OP picture I assume

Maybe that's good they're getting angry, this could help them organise some resistance.

Yeah, that's the thing about a protest, it doesn't help unless you have a structure to harness this energy. When police started shooting at protesters in Ukraine in 2014, several political and activist organisations banded together with people, and together they used this fear and anger to resist and ultimately win.

"Damn, I would resist the tyranical government, but not if it takes me more than couple of hours to get there. My hands are tied, I could never get to the government building in time." But then again, you guys didn't vote that one time because you didn't know how to buy stamps and googling it was the whole thing, so I get it.

If it's that much of a 50 different countries, why one of those "countries" didn't organize the "country"-wide strike even once?

US is what, 320 million people? And you point one protest and two people killed and use that as an excuse? More kids are being shot at schools daily, it doesn't stop them from going to school.

No monster trucks, fighting cages, or trailer parks to be seen. Definitely an old pic.

Export to US is 11% of Chineese foreign market. Not nothing, but incredibly far from "control"

I'm so angry that I have spent many hours researching various synonyms in other languages and attempting to convey the frothing bloodrage that pulses through me at all moments.

A lack of well maintained, massive lawns apparently causes nationwide riots ...

Well political activist organizations were already banded together going to No Kings protests when those citizens were shot, for some reason we're not winning yet

Even people inside the US have a poor concept of just how big it is.

Like, only India, Russia, and to a lesser degree China compare to the US in terms of livable land area. After that is Brazil at less than half.

I honestly don't think it's a coincidence that the four countries with the largest liveable area have a serious authoritarian leadership problem right now.

And then Reagan started the gun control laws

Your words have no effect on me. Familiar isn't it?

These threads are full of useful idiots and propagandists shitting on Americans.

I'm so bored by this nonsense. At least get more clever if you're going to try to divide all of us.

The way I see it, we're all in this together. Even the Russian people are my ally if they oppose fascism and corruption. These are my people... All people who want a better world.

But sure, enjoy your indulgences if this thread is your thing. May your lives be as short as Trump's should be.

BS Americans were getting shot execution style protesting ice. Do we need more. YES but this is garbage