• amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml
    6·
    11 hours ago

    The ongoing genocide and some people’s denial of it has taught me that some people are never going to recognize something as a genocide unless 1) they are literally experiencing it themselves or 2) an institution that they trust tells them to believe something is one.

    Granted, I was watching firsthand account info come in early, among other things, so that made it easier for me to discern and I guess some have probably not seen that part. But still, the confidence with which some people are in denial about it is enough to stagger me. I think some of it is just good ole western chauvinism liberal arrogance because it’s one thing to be uninformed and skeptical, it’s another thing to confidently believe to the contrary; to be a denier. And I’m not talking about from the sort of person who would tend to be a neo-nazi or the like, but somebody who obviously means well and yet is so stubbornly wrong about something so important.

    • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
      3·
      5 hours ago

      I think some of it is just good ole western chauvinism liberal arrogance

      Another part of it is that most westerners alive today have spent their whole lives saying and being told that all that bad stuff happened in the past and that everyone’s more civilised now. Slavery, colonialism, genocide, these aren’t core aspects of capitalism, they’re things that people used to do before ‘everyone’ suddenly realised that they’re wrong.

      So when looking for ‘an institution that they trust’, the list is very short because (a) believing the institution means revaluating everything and (b) they’ve also been told not to trust many institutions or any institution that requires point (a) to happen. It’s easier to take names off the list than add them.

  • KrupskayaPraxis@lemmygrad.ml
    3·
    10 hours ago

    In the Netherlands we have a famous nonstop radio program of the 2000 best songs of all time from christmas to the beginning of the new year, voted by the public. I like listening to it, but I’m always bothered by how little diversity there is in the list. It’s all mostly old rock, and there’s almost no people of colour in it. Most of the songs are in english as well and just a few in dutch. We have a large north African population in the Netherlands so where is Cheb Khaled? And we have a large Turkish population so where is Tarkan? And there’s not enough hiphop. Kendrick and De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig need to have more songs in there.

    But at least Hind’s Hall by Macklemore got in, at place 822, and it’s being played tonight between 10 and 11 o’clock local time. You can listen at nporadio2.nl

    • DankZedong @lemmygrad.ml
      3·
      6 hours ago

      They censored the webcam lobby lol. Pathetic.

      I try to get people like Hef or Fresku or Winne & Feis in there every year but it doesn’t work. It’s a white people’s list.

  • Anarcho-Bolshevik@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    7·
    2 days ago

    Should I feel guilty for refusing to donate to Wikipedia?

    The regular contributors tend to be jerks and the quality of content is notoriously variable, but the main reason that I keep ignoring their begging is that I suspect that Wikipedia already receives substantial donations from government agencies, since they’ve meddled in it before. There is no way that they’d let it go without a fight. So I think that the Wikimedia Foundation is only begging for donations so that government agencies don’t have to bail it out.

      • Anarcho-Bolshevik@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        9·
        2 days ago

        I had forgotten just how severe the government interference was. (Somewhat odd, too, given Wales’s propertarianism.)

        In 2020, it was discovered that the Scots language Wikipedia was almost solely edited and managed by a 19-year-old US citizen who did not speak a word of Scots from the time he was 12. He also used his administrative powers to block others from correcting his vandalism.[18]

        Holy cow, that is almost upsetting to me since I think that Scots is a very interesting language.

        a group of committed Wikipedia editors on the English instancce have been promoting a skewed version of the history of the Holocaust that is touted by right-wing Polish nationalists, whitewashes the role of Polish society in the Holocaust, and bolsters stereotypes about Jews.

        This is a sad reminder that my work on informing others about Fascism remains necessary, as very few people in general talk about the Polish anticommunists’ collaboration with the Fascist empires. I can understand why many of us are uncomfortable approaching a topic where the subject is simultaneously a victim as well as a victimizer (like the Jewish Kapos), but this sort of evasion is motivated by something less innocent than that.

        Wikipedia blocks the IP addresses of VPNs and other proxies, preventing users from mainland China from editing. […] Wikipedia often deletes articles about topics outside of the West. For example, Chinese Wikipedia deleted an article about the Xuzhou urban expressway while keeping an article about a 200-meter-long street in Hong Kong.

        The hypocrisy is almost palpable.

        The Wikimedia Foundation collects over $100 million per year even though only $10 million is needed to keep Wikipedia running. It raises money by lying that Wikipedia needs more money to avoid shutting down.[10]

        Okay, now I definitely don’t feel guilty about ignoring their begging. These paskudnyaks are almost as disgusting as common scammers.

        • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
          12·
          1 day ago

          I always assumed they asked for donations so aggressively as an act of propaganda, to reinforce the idea that it’s a ‘grassroots’ outfit. I wonder how much of that $100 million is from ordinary people.

  • ☭CommieWolf☆@lemmygrad.ml
    7·
    2 days ago

    I have been trying to stop drinking for a while now, and I was going fairly steady on. But on Christmas eve, I fell to the overbearing peer pressure and felt like shit all Christmas. I’ve grown to hate how ingrained alcohol is to this holiday in so many places, you can’t get away from it unless you have the restraint of a saint.

    • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      2·
      9 hours ago

      I specially struggle with the social pressure and anxiety, if you dont pick up a drink people start treating you like a weird bug. Also doesn’t help that being sober makes you realize how boring and shallow the people around you are, which leads me to either drink or leave reunions early.

  • pinguinu [any]@lemmygrad.ml
    3·
    2 days ago

    To noone’s surprise, after the GDF yt channel made much coverage around Israel and its influence over the US, you constantly see antisemitic conspiracy theories being pushed in the comments, unopposed. So fucking disappointing, you would think he would at least engage a little bit with BadEmpanada’s critique but no

  • albigu@lemmygrad.ml
    4·
    3 days ago

    I’ve been desperate for a break for two months now, but now that Christmas break has arrived I’m bored out of my mind. Or maybe I’m just overwhelmed by options on what to do. I’ll try taking a full pause on computers and read a book or two.

    Anyways, I wish joyful celebrations to all here.

  • sevenapples@lemmygrad.ml
    10·
    4 days ago

    The holidays got me feeling lonely again. I try not to dwell on it too much and keep doing things I enjoy, but they feel empty without someone to share them with.

  • KrupskayaPraxis@lemmygrad.ml
    15·
    6 days ago

    An Arab travel youtuber I follow posted a picture with Jolani in Syria on Instagram and the comments are all Iraqis flaming him for posing with a murderer of Iraqis lol