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Dude, the git master branch is divisive, somehow. There will never be an end to it, it's an entertainment/outrage complex with billions in funding. Ignoring c

Dude, the git master branch is divisive, somehow. There will never be an end to it, it's an entertainment/outrage complex with billions in funding. Ignoring class divisions and real-world material conditions while we get rich and kibbitz about trivialities is the whole point, you can't run out of trivialities.

iammisc 5y ago
> you can't run out of trivialities. Spot on. I'd add... you can't run out of irrelevant trivialities.
- Izikiel43 5y ago
  aren't trivialities irrelevant by definition?
  - iammisc 5y ago
    To be trivial means to be unimportant, but there is a difference between unimportant and irrelevant. For example, if we found that factor X led to minorities making y% less, but y was 0.00000001, then factor X is trivial, but depending on what you're doing, it may be relevant t the discussion at hand. Often though today, the things mentioned are not only trivial (not having any meaningful effect) but also irrelevant (in that the causal relationship hypothesized is extremely strained if not non-existent).
tehjoker 5y ago
You're right about that, there will never be an end to trivialities, but I think that if movements focus on material issues (some of which are cultural) we can find ways to knit together a stronger coalition. I struggle with this too, what's the right emphasis to focus on? Right now the US is so divided and there's no strong left coalition to make demands. I feel we are in a nascent rebuilding phase where we have to knit together groups and build groups from unorganized elements. My current thinking is that these are issues people care about, so we should help them and explicitly link them into economic class struggle so that the nascent coalitions build towards something. People that engage in the movements in any capacity AND talk with class conscious activists become more radical over time. Participation in solely liberal movements can do it too, but mostly to the point where the people participate feel something is missing as the liberal demands always undershoot the problem. They need to read and talk to socialists, and socialists need to listen more than they talk in those conversations.
- refenestrator 5y ago
  If you're talking about actually being involved in the community, I'm all for that, although it's hard in the age of social media even before covid. My ire is for the tech 'activists' who spend their time deciding which innocent turns of phrase should be banned or which marvel movies needed more representation.
  - tehjoker 5y ago
    Yea I can't even force myself to care about the git branch name issue or which propaganda film needs different coats of paint. I've been slacking recently because of my fear of COVID-19, but previously I'd been doing community and workplace organizing. The real world is the only place that will actually improve things. The pandemic is a real bummer.
    - refenestrator 5y ago
      Even without covid it's hard. We're in an atomized society where everyone's earning to their ability and then consuming services/goods from global corps, it's hard to build community. I don't have an answer here.. maybe we need religion again minus the homophobia.

iammisc 5y ago

> you can't run out of trivialities. Spot on. I'd add... you can't run out of irrelevant trivialities.

Izikiel43 5y ago
aren't trivialities irrelevant by definition?
- iammisc 5y ago
  To be trivial means to be unimportant, but there is a difference between unimportant and irrelevant. For example, if we found that factor X led to minorities making y% less, but y was 0.00000001, then factor X is trivial, but depending on what you're doing, it may be relevant t the discussion at hand. Often though today, the things mentioned are not only trivial (not having any meaningful effect) but also irrelevant (in that the causal relationship hypothesized is extremely strained if not non-existent).

tehjoker 5y ago

You're right about that, there will never be an end to trivialities, but I think that if movements focus on material issues (some of which are cultural) we can find ways to knit together a stronger coalition. I struggle with this too, what's the right emphasis to focus on? Right now the US is so divided and there's no strong left coalition to make demands. I feel we are in a nascent rebuilding phase where we have to knit together groups and build groups from unorganized elements. My current thinking is that these are issues people care about, so we should help them and explicitly link them into economic class struggle so that the nascent coalitions build towards something. People that engage in the movements in any capacity AND talk with class conscious activists become more radical over time. Participation in solely liberal movements can do it too, but mostly to the point where the people participate feel something is missing as the liberal demands always undershoot the problem. They need to read and talk to socialists, and socialists need to listen more than they talk in those conversations.

refenestrator 5y ago
If you're talking about actually being involved in the community, I'm all for that, although it's hard in the age of social media even before covid. My ire is for the tech 'activists' who spend their time deciding which innocent turns of phrase should be banned or which marvel movies needed more representation.
- tehjoker 5y ago
  Yea I can't even force myself to care about the git branch name issue or which propaganda film needs different coats of paint. I've been slacking recently because of my fear of COVID-19, but previously I'd been doing community and workplace organizing. The real world is the only place that will actually improve things. The pandemic is a real bummer.
  - refenestrator 5y ago
    Even without covid it's hard. We're in an atomized society where everyone's earning to their ability and then consuming services/goods from global corps, it's hard to build community. I don't have an answer here.. maybe we need religion again minus the homophobia.