Tiota Sram

Since it's the 4th of July and also the 250th anniversary of the founding of the USA, a great occasion to remind people that this country has been an especially bad one from start to the present day. Worst atrocities you can imagine, throughout history? The US has participated in all of them. Slavery, genocide and colonialism, systematic war crimes, mass incarceration and concentration camps; you name it the US has done it not just once but multiple times. Now is a great time to rid yourself of patriotism and nationalism if you still have any remaining. That whole spiel about "striving for a more perfect Union"? It's a trap designed to keep you complacent and loyal-enough. Anything good you think was achieved was achieved by *people*, in spite of the nation, not because of it, and *way* too much of that shit is being knocked right back down again at the moment.

#July4th

@davidgerard you missed the chance to mention that "planting trees" is itself a scam.

Know what happens if you take a field of dirt and wait, in most regions of the world? Grasses grow, then shrubs, and finally trees. In some places depending on soil nutrients, fire regimes, water availability, etc., you might find that grasses or shrubs dominate long-term, but they often store just as much carbon as a forest would.

So if someone says they're "planting trees" to help the environment, you should always ask "how, specifically, is that supposed to help the environment?" What trees are you planting, on what land, and what's going to happen to those trees in 50 or 100 years?

Here's a article that digs into more details:

https://www.ecoenclose.com/blog/tree-planting-initiatives-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

Is true that in some very specific situations planting trees can be a useful part of a restoration program, but in general programs that count the number of trees planted or which donate money towards "planting trees" should be viewed with suspicion.

Kinda a subtoot, but I'm begging people to stop using the "civilization/barbarism" dichotomy, even if you're somehow applying it "in reverse."

From day 1, the notion of "civilized" nations contrasted against "barbarians" was propaganda for empire, and it still is.

When you observe that those who called themselves "civilized" were more violent and destructive than those they called "barbarians", or that the standard of living for their poor was much worse, or whatever other glimpse through the lies you want to share, if you do that by calling empires "barbarians" or their victims "civilized" you're demonstrating that you haven't yet moved beyond the idea of that distinction: that some folks are "civilized" and this superior to others in light of their "civility". But it's not civility that makes a society better; it's justice, happiness, peace, etc., and civility is often the enemy of those things, both in the "access to luxuries (without regard to their cost)" and the "avoiding strenuous disagreement (and thus shushing those attempting to hold power to account)" senses. The things that make empires bad are also easy to denounce: violence, oppression, corruption, etc.