👀

This is effectively saying, “This article is correct but for the wrong reasons”. People aren’t angry about why hundreds of migrants dying isn’t newsworthy. They’re angry that it’s not newsworthy.

I’m frankly surprised that not enough people find it disgusting that the EU passively killing hundreds of refugees is less interesting because the EU does so regularly.

Great. I don’t know enough to use either but I think I’m going to try lean on podman from the get go. In any case, I know that all podman commands are exactly identical to Docker, such that you can replace, say, docker compose with podman compose and move on with ease.

Do you think Podman is ready to take over Docker? My understanding is that Podman is Docker without the root requirement.

Relieved to hear. I was just ticked off by a good number of people online coming to the Prince’s defence.

Hello!

My two cents: “being” vegan is overrated and subtly shifts the goalposts from reflecting and acting upon serious ethical questions to policing each others’ adherence to an imaginary pure ideal. I say this as a vegan btw.

So for example, I reject the idea of veganism as “avoiding animal-derived products as far as practicable” (paraphrasing the exact definition). I.e. if I’m stuck on an island with zero plant foraging skills, and I then catch some fish out of our necessity, I’m not vegan. It’s just that simple.

But I’m not going to feel bad about that fact and guilt-trip myself into inertia. Maybe the fish help me survive long enough to learn to identify edible plants, learn to climb trees to get coconuts etc. Over time, I’m able to completely eliminate my fish intake and rely on plants. So the initial fish helped keep me alive long enough…to protect scores of their fellow fish!

If I’d obsessed over being vegan everywhere and at all times, I’d ignore the ethical possibilities right before my own eyes, and possibly even conclude that the most ethical thing was to starve to death – all in the name of being recognized as “vegan”.

If you solely focus on individual acts of killing, you tend to forget that death is a part of life. It’s impossible not to kill, to be honest – just as it’s impossible not to be killed. We often forget that latter part. It goes both ways.

One notorious example I’ve encountered is when people go vegan for the “wrong reasons”. Say someone learns about the extremely morbid effects of meat & dairy, and then chooses to go vegan. I’ve heard people say that these people have no right to be “vegan” and should call themselves “plant-based”. In either case, the ethical effects on animals are basically the same, except that maybe the “plant-based” folk have a couple of animal-based non-food products around the house.

I’ll skip a few steps here to share my own broader position, which is that it’s consequently possible to have relations with animals that are reciprocal and not merely exploitative. People have practiced such relations all around the world for millennia.

Nothing’s easier than porridge! Just water, oats and fruits of your choice. Then chop up some dates and them to the mix. Microwave 2 min and top with cinnamon, nuts and seeds. Healthy, easy and delicious.

Also smoothies. Just get a banana, apple, nuts, chia seeds, flax seeds and blitz. Then add some water and a generous amount of frozen berries. Takes 10 min at the most.

For mains? Just set some rice to boil on the side. In the meantime, chop onions, garlic and tomatoes, fry 'em up and add your choice of spices. Then throw in a can of lentils/beans, maybe some chopped broccoli and sweet potatoes if you want. Let the whole thing simmer for 10-15 minutes. Ideally your rice and stew are ready at the same time!

For something truly quick – chop some broccoli and blanch for a minute. Transfer to a pan with olive oil, stir fry with some chopped garlic and chilli flakes. Meanwhile, use the blanching water to boil your spaghetti. Add the spaghetti (with some of the pasta water) to your pan and mix it all up good. Serve as you like! (Optionally you can top it off with grated vegan cheese, but I like to avoid processed foods as much as I can. Instead, you could chop up some nuts and sprinkle a generous amount of nutritional yeast).

If it’s my own book then yes – I’ll underline and make notes (but always with pencils, never pens!)

I also use dog ears, that’s just how I roll!

What’s the evidence that Lemmy’s developers are tankies?

Just to be very clear by the way, a “tankie” is, at the very least, someone who sincerely and unironically believes that Stalin was a heroic do-gooder, that North Korea’s “Juche” ideology will soon unleash utopia, and that China under the CCP is the very model of a communist society.

Furthermore, a tankie is someone whose gospel is Marxism-Leninism, i.e. Lenin’s extremely conservative spin on communism. A tankie will claim supreme knowledge about what Marc “really” said and boldly proclaim that dialectical materialism is pure science.

Organisationally, tankies tend to insist that all activist groups must be strictly hierarchical, with all decisions made by a Central Committee. “Activists” are merely the minions who’ll do the Committee’s bidding (btw, now how this is basically how Reddit is run). They’ll normally try to monopolize social movements into the banner of the local Communist Party of their region.

Socially, tankies also tend to actually be conservative, because their dialectical materialism dictates class reductionism. This means that, strictly speaking, queer issues are secondary to class issues (for example). There are definitive tropes of toxic masculinity, militarism, possibly even nationalism, in tankie discourses.

Now, in my opinion, a tankie is not someone who “merely” defends, say, the success of public health in Cuba, the fact that China has seen dramatic reductions in poverty since the 60s, or that India’s most literate state (which, btw, just announced free wi-fi for those in poverty) happens to be under Communist rule for a few decades now.

I’d also say (and this as someone who personally knows people involved with XJ) that “merely” questioning whether there’s an ongoing genocide in Xinjiang also doesn’t make you’re a tankie. Jeff Sachs, whatever else you think of him, has this position, and yet he’s as far from a tankie as you can get (the guy literally enforced hardcore capitalist “Washington Consensus” policies in Latin America).

Furthermore, a “tankie” is also not someone who talks about NATO’s role in the ongoing Ukrainian War. In fact, even the best Ukrainian scholars (e.g. Volodymyr Ishchenko) agree on this point, and again, they’re as far as you can get from tankies.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that these views aren’t problematic. China is obviously a totalitarian state (as is Cuba) and the situation in Xinjiang is obviously hideous, but this is nowhere near saying that China/DPRK/USSR are/were communist utopias. These are individual claims that many people hold.

Lately, the “tankie” label has been a gift for chiefly Western hawks who’ve used it to silence anyone who speaks of Western and non-Western war crimes in the same breath. They do so because it’s in their interest to paint themselves as honest, freedom-loving liberals.

I think it’s best if we wise up to this sleight of hand, and don’t do Western overlords’ biddings for them, for free.

And while we’re on the topic, I personally don’t think a Dev’s political beliefs matter when it comes to their platform, unless there’s clear evidence that they’re using their platform as a tool to attack those who don’t hold the same views. This is why I ask: could you share evidence that 1) Lemmy’s Devs are tankies and 2) Even if they are, that they’re throttling non/anti-tankie discourse on Lemmy?

To take another example, Alexandra Elbakyan is the creator of Sci-Hub, perhaps the single biggest gift to scholarship worldwidein the 21st century. She’s also a hardcore Stalinist. That doesn’t stop me from using her platform, since her platform benefits me everyday. I find her views loathsome, but I’m also grateful for her work.