Problem I have with calling this a feudal arrangement is a lot of serfs actually had family rights to their land/means of production under land tenure agreements. It’s more the notion of private ownership of land and production that has led to these private technology increasingly mediating more of our lives. I’ve seen the concept of technofeudalism used in good ways but the overall thing is capitalism and they are more elements of feudal type arrangement within that.

Adding the qualifier of “since 2022” seems to presume there’s an unspoken taboo between western liberal media that Putin shan’t be interviewed, rather than Putin being more restrictive than he already was and seeing an opportunity in Tucker. Lionel Barber is probably the closest a “real” US journalist could have been to Putin and writes about the increasing difficulty of this in 2020. This includes psychological tricks like being made to wait excessively long to weaken his cognition before the meeting. He has a good piece on Tucker’s interview about how Putin ran the show and used him.

The reason why Putin chose this interview is because Tucker is a locus of division in US politics. Tucker isn’t raising Putin’s platform, Putin is raising Tucker’s platform. This imbues Tucker’s reactionary politics with more legitimacy, which benefits Putin.

This line of critique is wrongheaded and empowers Tucker. Putin already commands a platform far above Tucker’s, a media figure cannot provide a bigger platform for Putin than the one he already has. Many liberal journalists have interviewed Putin without facing this critique, it’s applied here because Tucker is a reactionary shithead.

The better critique is that you have for-profit entertainment companies capitalizing on this, and how that affects the content.

Begs the question of how you’re substantiating any claims if you can’t trust any information to base it on. Use a critical US report on China’s economy if you want. A granular distribution of GDP by economic sector is the data you’re asking about, a legit resource will serve you better than a random internet commenter. You’ll find their service economy is where the percentage share of growth has been wherever you look.

In 1971 there was an oil crisis that put an end to the post-war consensus in the US, and the deindustrialization that followed was a shift to a more professional service financial economy. In China Mao had died and the Cultural Revolution was over. Deng opened up the country to capitalism through a Soviet-style manufacturing push and the creation of economic zones. So we have this relationship between the world’s largest consumer economy and the world’s largest manufacturing economy up to the present day. China’s economic growth currently is outpacing other developed countries post-covid, and they represent a greater percentage of worldwide economic growth than the US, they have the single largest share of the world’s economic growth.

People in the US who criticize China for polluting is incredibly ironic in this context. US capital interests are more than happy to exploit China’s manufacturing sector, and China takes the blame for all the things that brings with it.

Yeah and I’m pretty sure the issue with climate change isn’t a lack of awareness…

Here’s his approval rating over time that reflects this point perfectly. He’s supported in his actions during the war way more than he was as a politician, he was actually doing pretty badly before the war in his approvals. Interested to see how the prolonged conflict affects this, and what the regional differences are.

Politicians are actors of politics in a way. Reagan is the oft-cited example of a total himbo politician who acted a cultural identity people associated with.

Yeah he ran on corruption but his approval ratings weren’t doing the best before the war started.

Lua is so friendly, I’ve run in to it in a few instances in different contexts. Currently have a “sound computer” shield for rpi that uses Lua to run community scripts, which turn the thing in to anything from synths to sequencers to loopers and some really esoteric stuff. Lua is so intuitive I’m able to tweak stuff and even add functionality to existing scripts without much effort.

Blowback

We’re Not So Different

Chapo (Hell of Presidents and Hell on Earth)

It’s funny how sometimes people try to argue or debate when I say I use Windows to run Ableton or something, like I’m trying to use Windows and making up excuses. My gaming + media creation desktop is a stripped down Windows install cause it just works for that. I also run Linux on everything else and have been a mixed environment sysadmin for like 15 years. Windows Enterprise and massgravel, drivers, Chris Titus Tech’s tool, usable Winblows install in under an hour with active time maybe 20-30 minutes.

They’ve been rolling out similar stuff at my employer and I’m very mixed on it, but I try and participate and add input where I can since it’s an opportunity for that. It’s ultimately an HR initiative and meant to benefit the employer, sometimes in more nefarious ways than others. I’m in a union which I consider more important when it comes to my interests as an employee, as well as disability/discrimination law and your rights in that regard.

I read Neurotribes recently for a book club which is basically a book on autism from a very tech-industry point of view, the idea that autism is valuable and even sought out by tech employers is a big part of the thesis. We shared praise and concerns for this notion in the discussion, especially when it comes to the degree of exploitation involved, and the assumptions that someone being autistic would necessarily make them a good boss, or that they would be getting paid what they deserve (less adept at social skills and co-morbidities = less ability to negotiate fair compensation?)

The economic arrangement and inherent conflict of interest between employers and employees is always a wedge. Certain conditions are being commodified under the “neurodiverse” slogan, and often that allows the employer to contribute to their brand more than it benefits employees. I always separate the EDI-branded notions of these conditions and the topics from the actual meaning of them, because a lot of times they’re more appropriated by the diversity industry in ways that benefit employers more than employees. If it trickles down to employees in good ways then that’s the best case scenario, but given the current political climate I’m super skeptical this type of corporate EDI branding will last as long as I need to work to get my pension.

While US sponsored military committed atrocities in Afghanistan it served their overall goal to avoid it as much as possible. We have plenty of examples where that wasn’t the case, but generally the US prefers to arm counter-revolutionaries and fascists to do what they do.

Biden was hoping this would be one and done, but the longer it goes on the more it threatens the election. Sad that it has to work this way.

That said the sentiment that, “geez this is really bad for Palestinians Biden’s polling,” that dominates a lot of the US-centric media and political discourse is pretty disgusting. It always seems to be the case that now is always the worst time to act against war in any way.

I remember opening that sbemail not knowing what I was in for.

It’s like the weed version of Iceland’s sheep

Him and Reviewbrah

Enforcing the status of America as a hegemon has required the export of fascism since the 50s. The way it’s commodified is very similar to how “anti-capitalism” is commodified, it’s not the thing that causes fascism it’s like a cultural manifestation of this.

That’s why he does it too, “nobody is paying attention” when it’s the biggest thing helping to define his political brand.

I think they’re confusing “not paying attention” with “not doing anything.” If the fear is genuine why isn’t there a popular front against Trump? People talk online as though they’re very concerned but you don’t really see anything happening to mount a resistance. Are people signing up to campaign for the Democrats over this, or are they just posting memes about it? Is it that nothing can be done and people feel completely powerless? Maybe everyone is just dug in at this point and we just have to watch this happen. In any case it’s pathetic to constantly hear how worried everyone is about fascist Trump while nothing is done about it. It’s like everyone is just reacting to politics happening and have no political agency of their own.