Somehow I’m not surprised that the music genre attributable to poor rural white folk is heavy on boot licking, especially considering how many voted for Trump.

It is individual but its also cultural. Many in Europe and Canada look at work life balance in the US and see it as toxic, for example.

I was shocked to find out many women don’t get more than 3 months maternity leave (FMLA) in the US and it may be unpaid. That’s a dystopian work life balance compared to other high income countries.

In Canada, women get 9 months paid leave and most end up going back to their old job. In the US I find many women come back in 3 months because they have no choice (accepting the psychological burden that comes with this) or they switch to part time work which can put their health care coverage at risk (extremely problematic since they just had a baby).

I find the American system to be fundamentally misogynistic.

The real story here is Russia being so desperate they tried to coercively recruit a computer engineering student as a soldier.

As a PoC we kinda just go with the flow. Got a few scattered family members that support him for his regressive values but its very few and far between. For white people, I can only imagine, entire families must have had a schism put through them.

Spain and then briefly America exploited the Philippines for centuries. Spain made indentured servants of the local population and turned their economy into a cash crop resource extraction machine.

America took over around 1900 and continued that legacy, extracting sugar, coconut and hemp while stalling land reform laws for locals.

It makes sense to move to the nation where the fruits of your and your ancestors labor has been stolen to.

When the United States took over, it enacted the 1902 Public Land Act and the 1935 Commonwealth Agrarian Reform Act, but both were deliberately slowed and limited—public lands were sold only to wealthy buyers, and tenant‑farmers received scant compensation. Had those reforms been fully implemented, they would have ended Spain’s haciendas legacy, transferring titles to the actual cultivators, reduced tenancy obligations, and created a more equitable, productive agricultural sector—laying groundwork for broader rural development and lessening the chronic poverty that still haunts the Philippines today.

Spain’s most blatant exploitation was the hacienda system, which concentrated vast tracts of fertile land in the hands of a few Spanish friars and colonial elites. This was essentially modernized version of medieval fiefdom where Filipinos had no claim to the land they worked on or to the surplus value their labor produced.

Polo y Servicio (forced labor) was a corvée system requiring able‑bodied men to render a set number of days (typically 40–60 per year) of unpaid labor on public works, hacienda fields, or military projects. Non‑compliance could lead to corporal punishment or imprisonment.

Tributo was cash or in‑kind levy imposed on every male household head (and sometimes on whole families). It was meant to fund the colonial administration, the church, and the military. Failure to pay could result in fines, confiscation of property, or forced labor.

America brought an end to the some of the Spanish exploitation but land ownership concentration among the wealthy persisted and the exploitative relationship continued, though in a less formalized framework.

This is the devastating legacy of European and American colonialism.

Finally, there were 4 years of Japanese occupation during WW2 that resulted in significant infrastructure loss.

Tl;Dr: Fuck imperialism.

This sounds like a consequence of coming from money. Some rich parents are slave drivers and others are just happy having their kids live off the trust fund. Wealth makes being a good parent more challenging.

That being said, most kids want to vet away from their parents and establish themselves at that age.

Before 1950: Colonizer. Cool, badass, likely about to commit crimes against humanity to enrich themselves

After 1950: Expat.

People like this never see themselves as immigrants. They believe immigrants extract value while they are value generators that are a benefit to anywhere they may grace with their presence.

Immigrant = Bad. Steals jobs from locals

Expat = Good. Stimulates local economy with capital.

Add a garnish of good old race science (used to justify crimes against humanity for 200 years) and I think you can tell where I’m going with this. Are non-Europeans and their descendants even like, you know, people?

How did the expat get capital you ask? The guy in line one is their daddy’s daddy’s daddy. Or brought that stolen wealth back to their daddy’s daddy’s daddy’s country.

But is that wealth really stolen if its taken from non-people? - the sophistication of moral philosphical quandaries of the European colonial era lmao.

Removed by mod

It seems like ordinary citizens can nominate local delegates that are then screened by a commission run by the party. The elected (party approved) delegates then vote on policy. This system can certainly give an illusion of democracy but ultimately the party is curating all political discourse by only allowing for party approved delegates to become electable in addition to exerting absolute control over local media.

In more ideal circumstances, delegates would not be screened for party loyalty, such that if other (less ruling party favorable) perspectives became popular, a new coalition could eventually accumulate the political power to form an opposition party to the ruling one.

In other words, I think we should be skeptical towards the notion that a one party state can be ‘democratic’.

Cuba is more democratic than the US? By what metric? It has been a one party state since 1959.

Edit: Just read a little history and shame on the US for trying to turn entire nations and their peoples into their vassals. Colonialism never ended, it just got rebranded and communism/socialism has been the only way for people to take power back, particularly when the (predominantly Western) gaze of extractionary greed, dehumanization and exploitation is upon them.

Sanae Takaichi has served in the House of Representatives almost continuously since 1993, representing the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). After early stints as an independent, she joined the LDP in 1996 and rose through its ranks, holding several cabinet posts under Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Fumio Kishida.

In 2025 she won the LDP leadership contest, positioning herself to become Japan’s first female prime.

Takaichi has repeatedly invoked Margaret Thatcher as a personal role model, describing herself as Japan’s “Iron Lady” and citing Thatcher’s strong‑hand approach as inspiration for a “strong and prosperous” Japan.

Political analysts place Takaichi on the right‑wing side of the LDP, and several reputable sources describe her as “far‑right” or “ultraconservative.” Deutsche Welle, the South China Morning Post, and Time magazine have all characterized her as far‑right, noting her frequent visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, her revisionist stance on Japan’s wartime history, and her advocacy for stricter penalties against critics of the government. She also promotes socially conservative policies such as opposing separate surnames for married couples and rejecting female succession to the imperial throne.

The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan’s war dead, including convicted war criminals from World War II. Its Shinto rites celebrate militaristic sacrifice, and official visits by politicians are viewed by China, South Korea and others as denial of wartime aggression

Probably good that the Archbishop who failed to act on an abuse scandal left.

The church moved him to Zimbabwe where he continued to abuse boys for decades. He even killed a 16 year old boy in 1992.

So while this is a “progressive” move, we should remember the big picture.

Let’s not forget that institutions have a tendency to put women on a glass cliff. They put women in leadership positions during difficult times so they can quietly fix underlying issues while also acting as a scapegoat, then they replace her with a man once back on track. They also get the try and distract from bad publicity by extolling “progressive values”.

Many cultures adapt for the better / become more humanist with open migration. Think of it as enhancing your identity (which is likely just mid at best in its current form if we’re being real)

It helps that he starts as a normal guy / kid, not ridiculously rich or an alien. And that he’s not overpowered.

Marvel has been following a dry formula since Avengers Infinity War, arguably before that.

The old testament is essentially Judaism which is an ethnic religion. There is no marketing needed because it is a religion for a specific group of people from a theoretical single lineage. There is no need for God to be accepting or patient since the goal appears to be unify and keep people under control during times of great strife.

Christianity is a universal religion ie. it tries to create new followers. If you’re a religion that is trying to grow your following, you need to have a message of openness and acceptance.

They absolute can whitewash it. There’s a historical precedent for white washing war crimes over millennia. Generally you just have to dangle shiny objects in front of enough of the younger generation and they’ll carry the worldview you feed them for a lifetime. Social media just makes it all the more easier.

https://streamable.com/m9dshd

The reason is Western support. Most of the rest of the world is familiar with Western “morality” but within Western society there is constant messaging along the lines of “we are the freest, openest, most accepting” yadda yadda while also supporting/bankrolling genocide and facing no moral accountability for it.

Don’t get me wrong, this happens everywhere but it is particularly impactful when it’s perpetuated by the most disproportionately wealthy part of the world (due to colonial exploitation).

Its a profound two facedness but most non Westerners are used to it by now.

One of many voices of reason. Many nom Western countries are on the right side of history on this one.