An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Serious posts, news, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low quality!
0. Only post socialist memes
That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)
We require alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.
We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.
When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.
0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms
When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart
Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" (read: Dengists) (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't irrationally idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.
EASY WAY TO REMEMBER HOW TO USE YOUR SCREWDRIVER
[a screwdriver is unscrewing a screw by turning counter-clockwise]
The LEFT liberates the screw from its oppression
[a screwdriver is screwing a screw by turning clockwise]
The RIGHT tightens the screw's place in the social order imposed to it
Left and right to describe rotation is like the least helpful mnemonic ever.
Reposting this as a direct response to you in case it's helpful:
Try using your right hand directly to figure out which way to turn a screw. Make a loose thumbs up. Point your thumb in the direction you want the screw to go. The way your fingers are curling is the way you turn your screwdriver. If it helps, try to imagine there are arrows pointing out of your fingertips. Works just like the right hand rule in physics.
EDIT: here's a picture of what I mean:
I absolutely love this method. Whenever you're screwing anything (unless it's reverse threaded ofc), just point your thumb in the direction you want it to go and twist it in the direction or your fingers. Really helps when you're all turned around like lying on your back under the kitchen sink and need to tighten a nut.
It's such a godsend. I wish people would teach both methods. It's great that the "righty-tighty" thing works for so many people because it's probably much faster than using your hand, but I spent so many years thinking I was shit at mechanical stuff because I couldn't figure which way to turn a screw. I probably wouldn't have a fucking obnoxious complex about it nowadays if I had learned this when I was five.
CW and CCW (or anti-clockwise) don’t alliterate with loose or rhyme with tight though.
Plus there was a whole generation that never bothered to learn to read clocks…
I always say clock in, counter out.
For a screwdriver. Not really. If your body is in a different frame of reference then I really doubt the direction is the worst of your problems.
It's basically the same as the right hand rule in physics. The reference frame is not difficult to derive. The ease of the rhyme or "hand" to use is the point.
Or just use your right hand directly, just like some forms of the right hand rule. Make a loose thumbs up. Point your thumb in the direction you want the screw to go. The way your fingers are curling is the way you turn your screwdriver. If it helps, try to imagine there are arrows pointing out of your fingertips.
A few years ago, I learned that there are people who can distinguish left and right as easily as they can distinguish up and down. Righty-tighty lefty-loosey as a mnemonic device works for those people. I have never had, nor will I likely ever have, an intuitive understanding of which way to turn a screw. If one part of the screw is moving left, another part is moving right. My brain simply cannot keep it consistently straight. I have to use my right hand in the manner I described every so often. It's not a hindrance to me (I build stuff all the time and have a little hobby machine shop), and I sure as shit wish I had been taught this method as a child.
This is an interesting comment. I don't have an issue with left and right. They as easy are up and down to me. But I have this problem in my brain inverting something. It's hard to describe exactly. But say I need to fold something or do some set of steps in a 3D space in reverse from what I usually do. I "think" I can do it. I understand all of the operations. But when I actually perform the movements it feels like something doesn't connect.
Again, it's hard to describe what exactly breaks in my brain connected with my actions. But it's a consistently inaccurate operation no matter how many times I try.
You're describing your issue better. But I definitely understand it in a way.
Edit: I'm gonna leave my dyslexia typo in here. Since its probably related to dyslexia in some way. Actually, my typo probably explains it better as an example than I ever could.
And the picture above is a clear example why. The one saying left has an arrow pointing to the right and vice versa.
When you are asked to turn left or right, you instinctively know where to turn your body. Now, imagine you are looking at it from above, seeing yourself from the top. When you turn left or right, your head and the rest of your body turn in a specific direction, which should be easy to visualize. That's the same movement in which you'd turn a valve / turn a steering wheel / rotate a screwdriver when asked to turn it left or right.
Not everyone has this instinct. There are many people who are unable to differentiate left from right. For those people, this doesn't really work. I'm in my thirties and I still give shitass directions because I suck at telling left from right. I can do cardinal directions pretty well as long as I have a reference like some mountains, but like, I still have to think about left versus right.
I posted this elsewhere in this thread, but the only thing that's ever worked for me was the right hand rule, where you use your right hand to physically demonstrate to yourself which way a screw needs to go.
Also, TIL that there's a specific term for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-right_confusion
How about S-rotation and Z-rotation (imagine ends of letters being arrows)? Been thinking about this recently.