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i think democrats should rebrand themselves "queer commies for abundant housing, free health care, amazing education, and silly dance parties".

personally i like it, and it's unlikely to be worse branding than "democrats".

Lorraine Lee reshared this.

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Lorraine Lee
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Lorraine Lee
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The luxury space communism thing still appeals to me for some reason. Optimism that technology still has a future, perhaps. The idea that technological advancement is the driver of abundance is more palatable to me than the idea that economic growth is its main driver, as the latter can be used to justify trickle down economics.

n8chz 🩎 reshared this.

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Lorraine Lee
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Lorraine Lee
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The former, I suppose, could be used to justify technocracy, but I'll take that chance, for now.
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Brian Marick
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Brian Marick
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@lori One of the most appealing things about Banks’ Culture was that the Minds thought humans were amusing not-exactly-pets. Technocracy, really, but with a real affection for silly dance parties.
@Lorraine Lee
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Brian Marick
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Brian Marick
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I’m with you, though there’s plenty of room for non-silly non-commies.

Also, the manifesto should emphasize that it’s only that society *encourage* silly dance parties – you don’t have to personally *attend*. <shudders>

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Steve Randy Waldman
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Steve Randy Waldman
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@marick absolutely. silly dance parties, abundant housing, amazing education, free health care should exist as options, but there should be no compulsion. except for kids, some compulsion, it’s the juvenile condition under any system. people who don’t identify as queer or commie are great and always welcome! (i think all the humans are queer and ‘commie’ is just a free-floating epithet to reappropriate. i’d describe myself as a social democrat, but if they wanna call us that why not embrace it!)
@Brian Marick
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Lorraine Lee
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Lorraine Lee
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I'm tactically a social democrat, but my dream for humanity is cooperation overtaking competition quite decisively. Almost certain not to happen during my lifetime, but I simply have to believe it can eventually happen, as that belief keeps me going.

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Steve Randy Waldman
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Steve Randy Waldman
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@lori @marick i’m for cooperative competition, a la good sportsmanship. if you win the competition, you get a trophy and some real honor, but we all retire to the pub together, celebrate and lament, all eat well. competition as a mutual spur to excellence, not an existential struggle.
@Lorraine Lee @Brian Marick

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Brian Marick
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Brian Marick
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@lori Something that anthropology of gift economies (judging from Graeber) points out is that gift economies are all about maintaining social relationships.

In contrast to transactions (like buying a candy bar from a clerk), where the transaction is an end to the relationship, gifts work to spur continued relationships.

@Lorraine Lee
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Brian Marick
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Brian Marick
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Re: commies. In his /An Anthropological Theory of Value/, Graeber claimed societies are a blend of three economic systems: transactional, gift, and <adjective> communism. <Adjective> communism’s exemplar is the family, where it really is “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

I’ve thought that’s a nice spin: communism as the extension of the family to larger in-groups.

I forget what <adjective> was. It was a softening term.

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Wilfried Klaebe
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Wilfried Klaebe
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Maybe hot take: I think "amazing education" should be compulsory for every person at least until they are educated enough to see where allowing bad education leads.

@marick

@Brian Marick

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NOS 🅰️ ®️ ✝️ U
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NOS 🅰️ ®️ ✝️ U
• •

I always thought "democrats" sounds a bit like those insane claims on products that they don't contain something that clearly should not be in there. You know, in the way "if the one party is the democrats, are the others not democratic?", just like "oh hey these cookies are asbestos free, are other cookies with asbestos?".

Well, hm, by what i hear my joke has been overtaken by reality and reps want to lift asbestos bans, right?

Enjoy your cookies, i guess.

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