1d ago

Liberals are just stochastic parrots

Engage a liberal on Marxism and witness pure ideological autocomplete when they start flawlessly regurgitating anti-communist talking points with zero cognitive friction. No material analysis, no historical engagement, just the frictionless recall of a language model trained on Cold War tropes.

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"Vuvuzela no iphone 100 gorillion dead" is a meme because what you describe is such a pervasive phenomenon. Really, as Roderic Day asserts, people just want a license to believe that the system that they believe benefits them is morally just. The way out is showing that a better world is indeed possible.
- We might just have to wait for China to definitively surpass the west, and act as an example of what could be.
My favorite is “I lived through the Cold War”, as though being a veteran of propaganda saturation makes them an authority.
- the other alternate version "i lived through communism" is just as dumb if not dumber.
- I lived through the Cold War
  I hate this too. "I luved through the Cold War" So did every human being alive right now over the age of like 40, who cares? You literally didn't do anything during that time but be alive. You have no special insight
- I lived through the cold war and believed most of the propaganda. The layers of the propaganda onion are seemingly infinite. It took about 20 years to peel them all.
If you want to understand the itch that tinyman square scratches for some people online, and why they’re hostile toward attempts at dispelling those myths, read False Witness from the “Brainwashing” series.
- Oh thanks, I love me some Red Sails. :)
start flawlessly regurgitating anti-communist talking points with zero cognitive friction.
My dad, the ultimate lib, is like this. You can’t even interrupt him since the program’s still running in his brain.
‘Yeah, it’s great if the country could climb out of poverty like China, but having democracy and freedom is important’
- The freedom to starve if you can't find a job fast enough in "insert any capitalist country" and never see any real improvement in your life is a foundamental part of democracy that we must defend!
Look, I get it can be hard to engage with tankies due to their views which it can make it very tiring, but just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean they don't have an internal reason that makes sense to them why they think a thing. If you treat people's opinions with respect, even MLs', they're much more likely to take you seriously and consider your point of view - which is a precondition to changing their minds - if you recognise that they believe what they believe for a reason that seems logical to them. Very few people actually want to harm others or cause suffering. Usually they're just mislead - and I could be too on some things - about what actually causes harm and not.
Open conversations, as opposed to insults that only serve to drive people apart, are more constructive.
- Open conversations, as opposed to insults that only serve to drive people apart, are more constructive.
  You say, having used an insult in your first sentence
  
  the most self aware liberal

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