During the Iraq war I let people gaslight me into thinking I didn't know enough about "foreign policy" and "global politics" to say the war was a bad idea.
I would hesitate because, I'm not an expert on those things.
But I was right then and I'm right now.
You don't need to be an expert, it's not "so complex and best left to high level people." You know enough to see this makes no sense.
like this
reshared this
ergo
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to ergo • • •@ergo
Why did this post make you ask if I'm really Black?
2something likes this.
ergo
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist
in reply to ergo • • •@ergo
What are you assuming my answer is?
This reminds me of this guy who thought there was no way I could really be Black on twitter once because I was talking about teaching calc III.
I was gushing about how I love how dedicated my students were, at the time I taught a calc III class. At that time none of my students were white.
This dude is like "that is impossible you aren't really Black"
Is this what you are doing?
2something likes this.
reshared this
myrmepropagandist, Furbland's Very Cool Mastodon™, Eowyn, Mab_813 and Jackie โญ reshared this.
Poloniousmonk
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •That's one of the most racist things I've ever heard.
You might like this guy's story. It's horrible, but he's a really funny storyteller.
youtube.com/watch?v=Oomlb9xm-Yโฆ
Most Racist Field Trip Ever
gestalt (YouTube)myrmepropagandist
in reply to Poloniousmonk • • •@Uair
It was so racist I wasn't even angry just stunned and kind of amused.
The guy really couldn't imagine it. I couldn't possibly exist. Wild stuff.
Steve Leach reshared this.
Poloniousmonk
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •My mom was a math teacher.
She just barely got through...I think it was called "Differential Equations" at the time. The class you take after calc3.
And she wasn't a dumb woman.
Respect.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to Poloniousmonk • • •@Uair
This class was at a community collage and it met at 7:00am many of my students would show up dressed for work: home depot, starbucks, a few in suits as they had an office job. They impressed me so much.
Eowyn reshared this.
spiegelmama
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Lien Rag
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I remember a fascist trying to infiltrate a comics website a while ago (as it's the FN - very effective, alas - strategy to send people to infiltrate every corner of the web).
He was drawing his own (fascist) comic, so he wasn't expelled from the group (though many clearly condemned the fascist tones of his comic).
When someone else mentioned Moroccan comics, he was genuinely shocked and didn't believe it; he sincerely couldn't imagine Arabs being able to draw comics...
@Uair
myrmepropagandist
in reply to Lien Rag • • •@lienrag @Uair
I will do something about this domain but I was really hoping this person would explain what about my initial post set them off on "this isn't a real Black person" I'm sincerely confused and would just like to know.
Poloniousmonk
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@lienrag
That was here? I guess I just assumed it was on Twitter.
Half of my people here are working scientists. Plus, in the autistic spaces, you meet a lot of sexual minorities. There seems to be a lot of overlap between those two groups. I've encountered no bigotry at all. People willing to punch nazis, yes. Not bigots.
I'm sorry you had to go through that.
If you give me the link to the account, I'll preemptively block it.
Lien Rag
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •We know form repentant fascists that genuine conversations with racists aren't useless, but also that most of them are absolutely not ready to engage in genuine conversations with the objects of their ire, and that most of their "just asking questions" interactions are in bad faith and destined to score points, not to exchange ideas.
So I understand your curiosity, but doubt that it will be rewarded by a honest answer.
@Uair
Poloniousmonk
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Also, in my experience, there's no benefit to figuring that kind of asshole out.
The reason is hate, plain and simple. And all hate starts at home. It's themselves that person hates. Not you. They're just projecting.
Moss Wizard
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Sensitive content
Ms. Que Banh reshared this.
George B
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@lienrag @Uair
It is really confusing, especially since I think Black women have consistently been the most anti-war demographic in the US
spia.princeton.edu/news/researโฆ
Research Reveals Persistent Racial Gap in Americansโ Support of War | Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Princeton School of Public and International Affairsrainynight65
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Shannon Prickett reshared this.
Acin โ
in reply to Lien Rag • • •Lien Rag
in reply to Acin โ • • •@shadowfals
No, alas.
The comics in this discussion were amateur ones.
I've read Abdelaziz Mouride's "Le coiffeur" and at least some of "On affame bien les rats" but though he was a great human being, I can't say that he's a great comic artist.
Also, arab comics in general are a different tradition and I have trouble coping with their conventions (since they're quite different from US or franco-belgian ones).
Light
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I previously blocked that guy after he followed me, I looked through his posts, and found one saying that "the Japanese are truly a subhuman race".
I left "dark fedi" to get away from that bullshit.
Not saying you shouldn't debate him. Just fyi.
A lot of people assume *I* am a far-rightoid engaging in bad faith. But in actual fact I really am asking questions because I am curious. It's sad that the world hates curious people but there we are.
@Uair
Misuse Case
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Joakim Fors
in reply to Misuse Case • • •Marcel
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •C++ Wage Slave
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •What the hell? I'm sorry you had to put up with that.
@ergo
Linus Gasser
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@ergo the things you do with your students seems to be way more involving than 90% of the teachers I know.
So the question should be:
Are you real?
Tongue in cheek: As most of the teachers I know are white, I might be biased though. Perhaps most black teachers are just outstanding? And you're merely a mediocre black teacher, which looks outstanding to poor white people like me?
Steve Gisselbrecht
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@ergo@akkoma.neoeden.org
Oh nice! "Account suspended."
Akshay
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •C++ Wage Slave
in reply to Akshay • • •@Akshay
Will do. Overt racism here:
akkoma.neoeden.org/objects/3ccโฆ
That alone is reportable and blockable.
@futurebird
Akkoma
akkoma.neoeden.orgJanne Moren
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •J.L.1285
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Lynn D ๐จ๐ฆ
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •John Cormier ๐จ๐ฆ
in reply to Lynn D ๐จ๐ฆ • • •Curioso ๐ ๐บ๐ฆ (jgg)
in reply to ergo • • •Of all the irrelevant and out of place questions you could make...
cuan_knaggs
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Mark likes this.
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Mark
in reply to David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*) • •like this
Jackie โญ and Willem Van den Ende - Writing like this.
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)
in reply to Mark • • •You seem to be replying to something largely unrelated to anything I said.
Zeb Larson
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •reshared this
Ms. Que Banh, sport of sacred spherical cows, Claudius Link and UkeleleEric reshared this.
Charlie Stross
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •What turned *me* against the Iraq war was that I'd read Shirer's history of the Third Reich at an early age, and the Bush admin press releases were following Goebbel's propaganda playbook beat by beat. If it looks identical to manufactured justification for an illegal war, then that's probably what it is โฆ
(Every time Powell stood up to show "evidence" of Iraqi chemical weapons and was challenged, he changed the subject. No corroboration, just more and wilder acusations.)
reshared this
Momgoth, UkeleleEric, Shannon Prickett, Susan Calvin, sleet01, Debbie Goldsmith ๐ณ๏ธโง๏ธโพ๏ธ๐บ๐ฆ, Lazarou Monkey Terror ๐๐๐ and Ponder Stibbons ๐ง๐ท๐ฉ๐ช reshared this.
Phosphenes
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •The big tell for us was that the war urgently needed to happen but Bush couldn't show us proof *why* because it was too classified. Dude you're the president, if you can't declassify then it doesn't exist.
Charlie Stross
in reply to Phosphenes • • •@Phosphenes Yup! They periodically tried to claim revealing the truth would endanger sources (spies), but if all they wanted was evidence to justify a war, why not simply extract your agents? They've already given you what you wanted!
Conclusion: there were no spies, there was no evidence.
Mitigating factor: we now know Saddam was bluffing about having WMDsโat Iran! Who he'd just fought an 8 year long bloodbath with: he wanted to deter them from coming back for more.
Lazarou Monkey Terror ๐๐๐ reshared this.
Phosphenes
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •@cstross
So what's next? My bingo card:
* US billionaires privatize all remaining Venezuelan public assets and services. (See Bolivian water war against Bechtel.)
* Crypto becomes official Venezuelan currency.
* Price of gas goes up as Trump gouges his majority control of world oil.
* Underage sex tourism.
* Venezuelan Trump resorts.
* After brief joy of losing Maduro, Venezuelans start disappearing under a Pinochet-style blood and markets dictatorship.
reshared this
Lazarou Monkey Terror ๐๐๐, Charlie Stross, Andrea, Everyday Cyborg, Debbie Goldsmith ๐ณ๏ธโง๏ธโพ๏ธ๐บ๐ฆ, random thoughts, ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐™, victorvonvortex and Ponder Stibbons ๐ง๐ท๐ฉ๐ช reshared this.
Lazarou Monkey Terror ๐๐๐
in reply to Phosphenes • • •@Phosphenes @cstross and Keir Starmer will be silent about it all...
(Other centrist leaders may apply in your region)
Matthew Malthouse
in reply to Phosphenes • • •Is there some implied connection between the Venezuelan Trump resorts and the underage sex tourism?
quello che perde i pezzi
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •Pete Alex Harris๐ฆก๐ธ๏ธ๐ฒ/โ๐ชโซ
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Ben Royce ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •ah yes
the "stay in your lane" condescension
as if it is their lane to gatekeep what you can and cannot talk about?
there may be something wrong with me because i always find this kind of patronization way more amusing than the scenario should suggest. but there is the bonus that just sitting there laughing at them and nothing else after the condescending remark does repel them efficiently
Anti. ๐
Unknown parent • • •Stumpy The Mutt
Unknown parent • • •bituur esztreym
Unknown parent • • •just done too.
Deb Nam-Krane
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I shame spiral when I think of the one conversation I had with a friend who was radicalized by 9/11 and fangirled the Iraq War. I backed down, mouthed something about how bad Hussein was--and he was--but that memory is burned into my skull.
The Trump administrations have been so clarifying. I don't get bs'ed anymore. Using the lens of corruption and...no, that's really it--you can explain almost everything now. All of the rest, as we say on Shabbat, is just commentary.
Shannon Prickett reshared this.
Jรผrgen Hubert
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •CM Thiede
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •people wanted a "businessman" in the office. A CEO running the show. And that's what America got, someone that cares about money above all else. Everything that's going on is blatantly obvious, so much so, it seems illogical, because there's so much more to life on earth than ๐ฐ Not for a CEO.
"Power erodes compassion when emotional maturity reaches a robotic level."
cmthiede.vivaldi.net/2025/12/1โฆ
(Are you pro getting along?)
cmthiede (Folkified Poprageousness)zed
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •MinmiTheDino
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I remember the huge marches against that idiotic war and then a decade later people just acting like โno one could have known this wouldnโt work outโ. Yes we did. Just like we do now.
I also remember Barbara Lee was the only one in Congress with the guts to say it.
And fuuuuck that guy on here being racist.
Andrew Benedict-Nelson
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •ColesStreetPothole
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •ยทJ Mopp
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Tricot Feelya
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Ghazi
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •theguardian.com/world/live/202โฆ
Explosions and low-flying aircraft reported in Venezuelan capital Caracas โ live
Hamish Mackay (the Guardian)Eric Lawton
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I was in California both shortly before and shortly after the invasion.
In the bar after work, people before were anti-war and anti-Bush. People after were saying "support our troops" and "back the President".
Schroedinger
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I remember being told that "We have information that we cannot reveal". And I accepted it. They didn't of course, they had motives they didn't want to reveal.
The same now - the motives and reasons are obvious and clear. Any claims otherwise is deliberate gaslighting - not more.
Sean Lynch
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •myrmepropagandist reshared this.
myrmepropagandist
in reply to Sean Lynch • • •(((Cindy Weinstein)))
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •@SeanPLynch
exactly.
Guillotine Jones, Flรขneur
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Florian 'floe' Echtler
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Wokebloke for Democracy
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Jessie Kirk โข ๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ ๐๏ธ
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Veronica Olsen
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Epic Null
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Space Catitude ๐
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Seems to me they've barely even gone through the motions of making a case for this violence. Of course it's wrong. The whole thing is illegal.
And yet we can't seem to make that matter enough to stop it.
Poloniousmonk
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •"A yellow ribbon, instead of a swastika"--Zach de la Rocha.
Check out the movie "Three Kings" if you haven't yet.
Or are you such a young 'un that you're talking about Iraq War2? We blew the shit out of Iraq in 1991 as well. We dropped a lot of leaflets encouraging them to rise up against Saddam and then abandoned them. They got slaughtered.
There were so many awesome movies that came out in 1999.
RinostarGames
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •zenkat
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •You didn't need to be an expert, just let them soeak for themselves ...
nytimes.com/2025/11/20/us/poliโฆ
Greg
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Lisa Melton
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •David Mitchell
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •๐จ๐ฆ McRocker reshared this.
spiegelmama
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Nazo
in reply to spiegelmama • • •@spiegelmama And at a time when we most need to be getting rid of our over-reliance on oil anyway...
But then the people in power now were funded in no small part by oil...
Just think of how useless the whole "killing a bunch of people to take their oil" thing would be today if we were already divesting of it as we should have been 30 years ago when they first realized what it was doing...
utopiArte
in reply to spiegelmama • • •@spiegelmama
Right or wrong wars?
It's the right war if you put yourself in the front row, other wise send your own children.
full stop
Or maybe, just maybe refuse to support the killing poeple all over the world by your kind by the millions because you are so exceptional.
@myrmepropagandist
spiegelmama
in reply to utopiArte • • •@futurebird
KrazyKat
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •Justin Macleod
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •WhichOne'sPink ๐ซ๐ฎ
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •They've been the bad guys all along.
And while I've given the general population the benefit of the doubt, those days are over.
They've grown fat and ignorant off American imperialism, they revere the perpetrators of international crimes, and bleat "why do they hate us?" when they get the tiniest taste of their own medicine (9/11).
It's not up to people outside the US to change them. It's their own karma.
Fuck. Them.
chestas reshared this.
wauz ใฏใฆใบ
in reply to myrmepropagandist • • •I started in 1981 learning about 'foreign policy' and 'defense'. As a West German, I struggled against the deployment of more nuclear carrier rockets and cruise missile.
Unfortunately, we couldn't stop NATO's further integration into US colonialism.