Hey,

I just thought I'd drop in to say thank you for being here. I'm not participating much or reading everyday, but I've been lurking for quite some time - registered on Lemmygrad around 3+ years ago (?) using different account. It was not the first, but still one of the first spaces (online or not) that encouraged me progress past that pseudo-anarchist vibe-based mindset I had, get some more interest in reading and challenge my worldview as a whole.

I find it a bit funny that that simple "stupid" registration question was probably the first time that I had to sit down with my own thoughts and ask myself "what REALLY is gender"? And now, couple years later and a lot of personal stuff behind me - here I am, transitioning in full force and finally feeling alive. It's rather tough but I don't feel dead inside anymore. I believe it would inevitably happen anyway but it probably made things "click" a bit earlier.

Just finished my workout and getting ready to copy that book about Stalin

So excited. Vijay Prashad will march with us tomorrow, really cool

So like...idk I'm not sure how to explain this.

I can enjoy art, and I can appreciate and respect art. But like...I don't know how to enjoy things "abstractly" per se?

What i mean is that I like reading and movies and paintings and such. But I can't enjoy "classics" per se. Nor can I enjoy Avant-garde art. But I can respect both. I want to enjoy both too. I've tried reading both Le Miserables and dream of the red chamber but both times ive put them down fairly quickly (although the dream of the red chamber book I was reading was a fairly old translation, so maybe that was it). Ive also tried reading some poems out of Vladimir Mayakovsky's "the backbone flute" but they havent ellicted and reaction from me. And I really, really respect avant-garde work. I would rather someone like Yoko Ono be successful over Blake Shelton, because Blake Shelton makes the most generic crap, while Yoko Ono actually tries to make things different and interesting.

But I kinda would rather listen to Bla

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4742235

Democratization of Capitalist Values

Democratization is a word often used with technological advancement and the proliferation of open-source software. Even here, the platform under which this discussion is unfolding, we are participating in a form of "democratization" of the means of "communication". This process of "democratization" is often one framed as a kind of universal or near universal access for the masses to engage in building and protecting their own means of communication. I've talked at length in the past about the nature of the federated, decentralized, communications movement. One of the striking aspects of this movement is how much of the shape and structure this democratization of communication shares with the undemocratic and corporate owned means of communication. Despite being presented with the underlying protocols necessary to create a communication experience that fosters true community, the choice i

Media is reporting on this all of a sudden and I'm a bit out of the loop. What's happening?

Currently watching the new Handmaid's Tale season and on top of only having ONE FUCKING EPISODE PER WEEK the libs over at the subreddit might be even more annoying. Seriously. They are so scared of Gilead but the only thing they type out is 'vooooote and call your senator!!!!'

Like fuck no voting won't help you man fucking organise for once in your life

Still waiting on the outcome of my disability benefit appeal.

I am posting this on mutual aid but due to the volume of requests on there it can sometimes be difficult to get a response.

I am still in need of help accessing food, if anyone is able to help me out with a supermarket gift card I would really appreciate it. They can be bought online and sent to my email address DisabledAceSocialist@hotmail.com

This one takes credit card, debit card and google pay:

https://www.sainsburysgiftcard.co.uk/

This one takes debit, credit card and paypal:

https://www.prezzee.uk/store/sainsburys-uk-gift-card/

This one takes crypto:

https://www.bitrefill.com/gb/en/gift-cards/sainsburys-in-store-digital-uk/

The other thing I need help accessing is a medical item. I have regular physiotherapy due to having had a stroke. The disabilities caused by the stroke give me problems walking and at my last appointment the physiotherapist recommended I get inserts to reduce the pain and hopefully improve

AI has become as a deeply polarizing issue on the left, with many people having concerns regarding its reliance on unauthorized training data, displacement of workers, lack of creativity, and environmental costs. I'm going to argue that while these critiques warrant attention, they overlook the broader systemic context. As Marxists, our focus should not be on rejecting technological advancement but on challenging the capitalist framework that shapes its use. By reframing the debate, we can recognize AI’s potential as a tool for democratizing creativity and accelerating the contradictions inherent in capitalism.

Marxists have never opposed technological progress in principle. From the Industrial Revolution to the digital age, we have understood that technological shifts necessarily proletarianize labor by reshaping modes of production. AI is no exception. What distinguishes it is its capacity to automate aspects of cognitive and creative tasks such as writing, coding, and illustration

In Brazil there'll be massive marches for the reduction of the workweek. I think this year it'll the biggest First of May since the turn of the century.

How's it gonna go in your countries?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4747084

I love the feeling that comes with just like, having some money on your card—being able to afford a coffee, shit like that.

I used to get by fairly well just by posting; I met a lot of people on Twitter who just thought I was cool and would send me money if I ever needed it. Then it all just fell apart somehow.

I’m trying to rebuild that online presence btw; DM me and I’ll send you my Mastodon and/or Bluesky @‘s.

What's a way to get SSDI (I think that's the acronym)?

I thought I had it. I put in 10 disabilities which I had and I wasn't lying about any of them. I would honestly never commit fraud, despite my circumstances, and never intend to.

But they said that I "didn't work enough hours."

I'm not sure how to make it go to my credit (Social Security credits, that is).

How many jobs or hours should you work?

I can also give you all the full message through a DM, perhaps.

I've worked, I think, eight jobs in total in the last decade with one year that I wasn't working (during the pandemic). Frankly, I could use the money; I'm trying to get into nursing school, though am getting my CNA first. And I need a car now. I have a Bachelor's degree in Communications, but want to change my career path for the time being.

To be fair, I didn't put all my work experience and there's more that I could put.

Is there a way to keep track of all the credits you have? Or "input" them or however you're suppo

Some people interpret their dreams as an exercise in self-discovery. Some let their dreams inspire them in the waking world. Others regard them more simply as a novelty of the human mind. Still more do a fourth or even a fifth thing I can’t think of (my list felt incomplete). Whatever your experience or opinions of dreams are, I think dreams are neat. We go to sleep and our brains hallucinate for a while and sometimes we remember it. I think we often forget how incredible that is. 

If you’d be willing to share, I’d like to know about your recurring dreams.

::: spoiler Here’s mine: 

I started having this dream in college. It used to happen more frequently, every couple of months. Lately it’s an annual affair. 

I resolve into the dream, with naked understanding of how I got there and what I’m doing without ever being able to recall. Dreams are like that. I’m in a car. The car is full of other people. They could be my friends or family. I’m much younger than I am now, or I feel much y

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4713461

Transparency hour: the PayPal account belongs to my “roommate,” who also posts here; I can’t access my own PayPal account.

I miss being able to sort of pretend like I’m just another person, who just happens to be homeless. But I haven’t shaven in two weeks and my plans of getting back on HRT (specifically the estrogen shot) have dried and desiccated in the sunshine and I just feel like shit. I’ve felt like shit all day. I didn’t sleep last night because I felt like shit.

Thanks.

So, a while ago it came out that my uncle（who's from outside the family and married in) cheated on my aunt (mom's sister).

They're still married. Honestly not sure what they'll do since he is the one with the job and our family doesn't have enough to support her and her children.

But I just don't get it. I get falling out of love or even finding other people besides your spouse attractive, but cheating is just such a layered lasagna of shit.

1.You want to eat your cake and have it too. (There's an entire community of people who cheat on their spouses called "cake eaters."). I don't understand what you get out of that though unless you're just really lustful (and even I wouldn't do that and I'm a lustful removed). If you want to break up/divorce that's fine but you can't just have emotional/physical relationships without changing anything. Which leads to point 2

2.How little fucking respect do you have for your wife and family? Because the thing is that youre denying your par

I was supposed to post on my birthday but I was very busy and exhausted yesterday.

Today, my first $500 ko-fi funds are complete.

I was deciding to finalize my purchase of my next phone.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4704483

The epub file I have for A People's History is awful on my Kobo, no real margins anywhere, just a mess. The epub I have of Inventing Reality is full of awful OCR errors because its the Archive.org edition (they do zero editing of the OCR output from what I can tell.)

Are there better copies of these books somewhere?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4679061

Breakfast, some new bedding, and a toothbrush

Because I’m confined to the back seat of the Scion for at least 90 days (license suspended, curiously even though I don’t have a valid license to begin with), with my roommates taking turns chauffeuring me, I have an actual bed now. I can lay across the seats and it’s cozy. Or would be if I had pillows and a proper blanket. I’d acclimated to a life where I legit considered it comfortable sitting up in my driver’s seat, with just like a sleeping bag as a blanket.

And I guess replacing the sleeping bag is a symbolic kind of thing. I’m really only technically homeless, it feels like.

I also need to brush my teeth, and eat breakfast—and maybe, as a treat, hit up Goodwill? I still don’t have the courage to shoplift.

CashApp/Venmo: allthetimesivedied

Trying to notice schemas within my own mind and even relationships, to a point.

I'm also thinking of doing Internal Family Systems with my new therapist.

So far, we've done CBT techniques and the like.

What do you recommend in terms of healing from trauma?

I'm on Zoloft (which is replacing Lexapro and is directly responsible for dealing with trauma or PTSD or C-PTSD) and it's done away with my traumatic flashbacks (which were daily).

Hope you all are doing well, comrades!

NOTICE:

I realise now that the main problem here was my post on Hexbear, It was shitty and failed to get across my actual views. I still wish I could've been allowed to properly discuss it, but I understand the decision to ban me. Looking at my original post, I can very much get why that is ban worthy, even though that wouldn't be my decision. What happened happened, as much as I'd like to further expand upon my views, I'll try not to waste your time by trying to explain my views that I fully do not understand, that I've developed throughout the process of arguing with people in the comments. I feel silly for making this such a big deal, sorry. You could look through my replies here to see a further expounded on version of this post here. It really boils down to misunderstanding and semantics, I agree with most of the substance of the comments on this post on their face, it is just that often argued in favour of things I didn't mean to. My view of anti-Semitism boils down to, yes