u/Some-Ad7901

Hi, hope you're all doing well, are safe, and in a good place!

Sorry for the long incoherent rant, feel free to just read the bold parts :)

Over the past couple years I've started getting educated on the dangers of capitalism, specifically in the cancerous, harmful, late stage we've gotten to now.

Thanks to the information provided by this community to a large extent, as well as a few other left leaning channels, and my own personal experience, it's become clear to me that the worst drivers of this cancerous growth -other than big oil and the military industrial complexes- are big tech.

Companies like X (twitter), Meta (FB, IG), and other social media juggernauts (the worst one might be TikTok) have undermined the social fabric, and over the last decade at an accelerating pace (now with an AI driven adrenaline shot) have perpetuated inconceivable amounts of disinformation, propaganda, lies, and brain rot inducing content. They along with other big tech enterprises have monetized disinformation and surveillance to a horrific extent.

I can go on forever ranting about these companies, and I haven't even started with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon, Palantir, Microslop...etc Which might be even worse than the ones I mentioned.

I would like to hear and see your book recommendations to help me further sharpen my criticisms, offer better understanding of the history of these companies, and how the genie can be put back in the box.

I'd also love books than deal and discuss with the social reprecussions of AI slop, short form content, social media corprorations and misinformation run amok.

I have seen a mind boggling rise in brain rot all around me, people on their asses all day just watching AI generated fruit videos, or AI generated primal crafting videos...etc. I also live in a war torn country and have seen first hand the amount of sectarianism Facebook/Twitter actively push into my country, the vile poison that everyone around me consumes for "entertainment and education". I've seen teachers use AI slop as educational material for students, which goes unchallenged cause America big tech compromised our ministry of education. It's also not hard seeing the parallels with 1984 around me, ministry of truths holding a monopoly over the dissemination of information, perpetual surveilence, people being render so artificially stupid that they could hold two contradictory thoughts at once and beleive both and argue both in the same sentence (THANKS TWITTER!).

Books recommendations with economical, social, and political themes are all highly welcome, and so are any suggestions from the fiction genre, as I found 1984 to be one of the my most formative reading experiences (it made me as paranoid and uneasy of everything that's happening around me today). Really anything that can help me make sense of how the world is so rapidly decending into surveilence capitalism enable fascism. Graphic novel suggestions are also welcome but keep it grounded please!

Books I've read and love so far that can be related to what I just mentioned:

> Techbofeudalism What Killed Capitalism (Varoufakis)

> Empires of AI (Hao)

> Enshittification (Doctorow)

> Radicalized (Doctorow)

> Blood In The Machine (Merchant)

> Shock Doctrine (Klein)

> 1984 (Orwell)

Thank you in advance, take care.

Hi, hope you're all doing well! Recently I've read V for Vendetta, and my eyes have been opened to the beauty of graphic novels as an artistic medium (I love painting and making 3d art myself). I've sort of already developed an obsession and I'm only one book in...

I would love to read loads more graphic novels, but I'm not in a country that has good comic book stores, so I have to order from abroad in bulk, and I prefer to buy fully complete series or anthologies compiled in one or a few large volumes in total.

So far I've decided on getting:

Low : g**orgeous artstyle and direction, and feels like bioshock

Black Science : a**ppealing concept

Bone : I have no idea what I'm getting into

Invinicble : it just seems like a must have

But I think I still have the budget for a few more books.

I want books with world class storytelling and amazing powerful art direction, I also prefer colored books with lots of eye cande (I can only read a few books a year, and again I love illustration and art, and seeing vibrant characters)

Ideally, I would like something visceral and cold with some grandeur, something that evokes the feelings of playing Bloodborne for instance. Or maybe something more fairy tale oriented like Alice in Wonderland or Arabian Nights.

Something more cyberpunk could also be very appreciated, as I'm a huge fan of the stories and themes of Blade Runner/Neuromancer.

Even if the cyberpunk asthetics aren't there, the themes of lost humanity, invasive technology, and class conflict (wealth, genetic, social...etc inequality) are all up my alley. So feel free to recommend any family drama, civil rights works...etc

Recently I heard a story about a child being abused and used by their parents to get charity. It's horrific how any human can use another human as a prop, let alone their own daughter.

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And it seems that the daughter goes untreated: if she looks sick she gets more money I guess.

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I tried looking online for numbers, specifically government websites but the websites seem to be down or aren't loading for me. UNICEF seems like the only organization I can contact, but I'm not sure how much power they'd have. If I can get the details of the family, is there hope of investigating whether the children are being abused or are actuallt safe?

It's worth stating that I am far too young to remember any of the events of this period. So any input, essays, resources, and comments would be greatly appreciated and are encouraged: I want to hear what you guys have to say. The more elaborate the better.

Here's a very breif summary as far as I understand:

>On the 7th of March 2008 the Lebanese Regime at the time had taken the decision to get rid of Hezbollah's communications network. It happened to be at the same time public workers were protesting anf on strike to have their wages improved (coincidence? maybe...). The executive branch had taken this decision unilateraly, and without asking the army or any of the dominant powers in the country.

>Anyways protests erupted, which evolved into riots, and then shortly into clashes in the streets of most major Lebanese cities by various militias, namely Jumblatt's PSP and the Future movement again Hezbollah and their allies in SSNP and Amal movement as well as Arab Nationalist parties.

>TV stations were attacked, hostage taking, and it put Lebanon on the brink of Civil war.

What were the mistakes that lead to this explosion in the country? I doubt it all started then and there, and was escalating over time.

I understand Jumblatt would later admit he started the 7th of May with American encouragement as retaliation for the post 2006 conditions, but I don't see how this fits into the whole narrative.

What are the lessons that you took from these events?

As the title would suggest, many Lebanese homes still rely on a lot of firewood every year to keep warm.

Where is this wood sourced? Are they illegally chopped down forests? Legally licensed businesses? Imported from Turkey/Syria/elsewhere?

It could be a mix of all the above, but what would be the dominant source?