Those scholars are blowhards. Trump is basically the same as any other time. As you state the US is unipolar in how it treats Others. Aka authoritarian.
While one could scrutinize the accuracy the of the west being a dictatorship (which will likely devolve into a discussion of semantics), I prefer to call attention to the fact that calling North Korea a dictatorship does not require to speak well of the west. Likewise, one can simultaneously criticize the west without protecting its "enemies". Such a binary, poorly critical, way of thinking is ill-suited in pursuing better material conditions for all.
I don’t get what you’re saying. There is a paused civil war due to outsiders (whites, UN, etc) interfering and still occupying half the country.
Not sure what you mean what crime did the current outsider occupiers commit after they did a genocide (and not using this lightly. There aren’t that many genocides)?
Sob stories are available against/for every major human conflict. The story you linked isn’t really relevant even to the severity of what we are talking about.
None of the sides are occupied, though, neither by UN, "white" people, etc. That's literally just propaganda. At best, by a large stretch too, one could say NK is occupied by Russia and China, the only countries currently vouching for NK, and, as previously stated, that's a stretch given their reluctance towards Kim' personal kingdom. It is more accurate to say NK serves as a buffer state to them.
What genocide are you referring to? The Shichon Massacre? The one only NK sources claim outsiders commit, for the sole purpose of promoting xenophobia and ultranationalism?
Finally, I think you straight up didn't read the reference. How exactly kidnapping 2 movie directors just to produce propaganda pieces are justifiably helpful to the war effort? I hope you have the decency to realize that this isn't a war tragedy, where innocents are killed/multilated despite best efforts. This is a large private corporation kidnapping 2 civilians from the other side for strictly private purposes.
If the relevance to the discussion isn't clear, the point is that North Korea, even as a Stalinist-inspired socialist country, doesn't need to commit the crimes it does to survive. You are just trying to dismiss NK's particularly rogue behavior under the excuse that "west"(which, in this context, is just a propaganda term, could've used just USA instead) oppresses them, ignoring even other socialist countries that do not have to stoop so low.
The US has been authoritarian for a long time. What else do you call a society that keeps on humming along while doing various genocides via a culturally embedded Monroe Doctrine mentality.
It is slavery. Chattel slavery is much more severe than what we normally consider slavery. Yet “slavery” and chattel slavery are both still slavery. The reason what you’re saying is so accepted is because we are currently living under a universal liberal world order that says wage slavery id freedom.
I hope you notice I didn't mention chattel slavery. Even prior to it, all forms of slavery were about removing the agency of person and subjugating the will of the slave to the owner. That requires an active action.
Not hiring someone is a passive action. As said by many, you are not entitled to a wage. In fact, suggesting otherwise would actually require slavery. Wage slavery, instead, is a description of a particular material condition of destitution, not necessarily connected to the ethical evaluation to proper slavery.
No one says "wage slavery is freedom". What the "universal liberal world", that is, the pro-free market side says is that people should be free to associate with each other as they see fit. Being hired to provide labor in exchange for wage, the basis for wage work, is merely an extension of this. While wage work is a requirement for wage slavery, at no point economic liberals said that everyone should live under wage slavery conditions.
The common, orthodixical, sociological/economical meaning of the word "wage slavery" is about being paid, on average, barely enough to make a living, i.e. destitution in the conventional sense.
I suppose you are referring to the Marxist meaning, technically (at least as far as I know) original, meaning. First, Marxist economics are considered heterodoxical nowadays. Second, it is still about "destitution", in the sense that the working class is formally destitute of the means of production, requiring to sell their labor to have access to it. If that's the case, I hope you notice that weakens your point of "wage slavery being a form of slavery", as you lose the analogy of proper material conditions.
I have the opposite problem. Spending time with people is difficult for a few years now. Even though I was born in the west and have only known this world. Now I will be leaving the west soon.
Something I’ve wanted to do for reasons for 1-2 years. I will usually say it’s because of my finances/possible recession. That is a helpful practical benefit. Reasons due to a series of life events that “broke” my worldview during and right after the pandemic causing this [purposeful] loner situation are the actual reasons.
I wish I didn’t feel this way. It sucks never wanting to talk or hang out with the remaining people I am in touch with.
Not sure what that letter said but open source^ isn’t good and I’m what people would incorrectly stereotype as someone who would love open source as a Marxist [sympathizer].
^outside of specific scenarios where it fights back against the status quo like open source AI models.
