u/Commie_Bastard1917

Many in the West, especially Americans, view communism as a flawed, failed, and even malicious ideology. But the majority of its detractors seem not to grasp the key features of communism. The goals of communists generally include establishing a classless society, providing equality to all people, ending private ownership of the means of production (factories, farms, etc.), and using revolution to achieve these ends. To most people, these aims should be seen as admirable. But the ruling class is by definition our enemy, and the ruling class rules over the media consumed by the majority in any society. Therefore, the wealthy control the information the workers consume, and influence them to oppose solutions in their own material interest.

The capitalists profit by providing the laborers with a portion of the value of their work as a wage, while keeping the rest for themselves. The ruling class justifies this unfair arrangement by insisting that they organize businesses, provide the means of production, and provide opportunity. But they merely leverage past wealth to control who receives wealth in the future. Such an arrangement is definitionally exploitative, because one class profits from the labor of another. Communism uproots this system of exploitation and is therefore desirable.

Many communists have implemented regimes with repressive, highly centralized governance. This naturally creates a new ruling class, generally consisting of the vanguard party which led the revolution in the first place. Elections should soon follow a revolution, free speech should be permitted, criminals should be tried in court, not extrajudicially imprisoned or executed, and transition into a communist society should be gradual enough not to create economic instability. We should learn from the mistakes of Mao and Stalin, and create a society which provides freedom and equality.

To my understanding, if a user on social media threatens violence, the platform will very likely automatically flag their post and report them to law enforcement. But how do platforms and law enforcement agencies determine what is and isn’t worth investigating? The distinction between a direct threat of violence and a joke is usually pretty clear. If a social media user jokes about 9/11 and doesn’t threaten violence, most reasonable people would say that person is not worth investigating. But how does law enforcement handle violent jokes? Are people placed on a watchlist, or do they ever receive a visit from the authorities without a direct threat of violence? Thank you for your time.

As-salamu alaykum. I grew up Christian, I bounced between Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches, and now I've come to a realization; Many Christians in America have abandoned the core principles of their faith in favor of greed, sectarianism, and xenophobia. I observe people all around me, and they only seem to care about people they know, and people with whom they believe they share ethnic, religious, or cultural traits. The destruction of the third world is simply an abstraction to which they pay no heed. If the suffering of a far away nation can deliver cheaper resources, there is no Christian compassion to be found. The innocent victims of the West become collateral damage in a 'War on Terror'. The only people who seem to be willing to fight back are Muslims and some people on the 'far left' who like myself, concede nothing to Zionists. This reality made me reevaluate my views on Islam. So I asked myself, why have people of this faith which for so long has been maligned and derided been putting up so much resistance against the genocide of nations which are not their own? The Houthis have fought tooth and nail to stop the genocide of Gaza, as has Hezbollah. Both groups would be best served, geopolitically speaking, to avoid any military confrontation with Israel, thus giving the Zionists no excuse to expand their genocide. Not to mention the religious divide between the Shi'a Muslims and the Sunni Muslims. Yet they have shown selflessness and courage, putting up fierce resistance against imperialism. This caused me to begin reading about Islam. I have started reading the Qur'an, and I am very open to the idea that it is the word of God. But the belief that Jesus PBUH was not the son of God, that He was not crucified, and that belief in the Holy Trinity is heretical are fundamentally at odds with everything I've been taught. What is the argument against these core tenets of Christianity? I do believe that the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was the messenger of God, but I'm simply struggling to let go of beliefs long since ingrained.