Debian's documentation can be pretty awful. The Nvidia Driver install guide in particular could use a revamp.

No worries, and will do! :)

I mean, if things descend into civil war, I would hope that some country out there is willing to throw their hat in the ring like that, like Canada or some countries in the EU, but I get the vibe that they'd be afraid to take a side in case the left lost.

But if they want to actually jump in, I'd certainly welcome the help!

God, I wish anarchist actually had a successful revolution to point to so us MLs could pick apart every little failure of its post revolution society too. But, alas, they have never lasted long enough to actually be able to defend themselves.

I actually mentioned in my long comment you didn't want to read there were no successful Anarchist revolutions due to ML's betraying them each and every time to quash any chance of them succeeding.

If I suggested to you that a died in the wool capitalist and white supremacist wrote the best treatise on a particular historical event, I think you would be highly rational to be extremely skeptical of that claim, and not give it much time, if any (I certainly wouldn't), due to how likely it is that the material is extremely biased and likely to misrepresent reality, rendering its use as a lens of historical analysis useless.

I see Marxist-Leninists as similarly biased, and in some ways cult-like, as it requires an inordinate amount of cognitive dissonance to give an earnest look at it today and truly believe it to be the best path forward (In my opinion, anyway, and that ultimately matters very little). I would say the same to someone trying to convert me to become religious, and they too would likely say my dislike and lack of willingness to read their scripture is irrational.

Obviously to someone in that world, I'm speaking heresy, but it does exemplify that we're both quite opinionated on the other's views in the same way two offshoot religions are, and like those religions, there is little chance of converting one to the other when they are both set in what they think of each other, though I do still hope that you see ML for what it truly is someday.

I've watched his Yellow speech, and I've read segments from Blackshirts and reds. I understand his point of view, but I fundamentally disagree with his conclusions.

Seizing land from capitalists is fine, it's what bureaucratic marxist-leninist regimes do with it afterward that bothers me. It's an age old disagreement between ML's and Anarchists that stretches back to at least the Russian Revolution war, and is something that cannot be compromised on.

Cuba's agrarian reforms eventually centralized the majority of farming land under state control instead of simply all of it to the people in a decentralized manner, which they were later forced to do after the USSR fell in the 90's (but did not cede such power without that outside force).

That centralization, that state control, is what I detest and denounce, as it furthers the ability for coercive and unequal hierarchies to exist and flourish in an ideology that is supposedly intended to eliminate them. The ML argument is that it must be done to survive against the enemies of socialism, and may point to the fact that there was never a long-term anarchist society as proof that decentralized power doesn't work, but then they conveniently pass over the fact that all promising Anarchist revolutions were actively fought and suppressed by ML's, such as the betrayal of Nestor Mahkno's Black Army of Ukraine, the Anarchists during the Spanish Revolution, The Kronstadt Rebellion, and many more.

You suggest I simply misunderstand history, yet it was through intense historical research that I came to what, at least to me, seemed like self evident conclusions based on historical fact. The fundamental disagreement between us is that we will likely always disagree on what is fact, misinterpretation, or fiction. You trust your sources, I have come to trust mine, and thus our conclusions, and perhaps even our mental reality, will lead us to reject each other's solutions to the same problem we all face: Capitalism.

To return to Parenti; his view is to suggest that the downsides of Marxist-Leninist regimes do not offset the material living condition improvements for the people living under them.

I contend that minimizes just how unjust and evil those downsides truly are. I would personally find living under the USSR just as hellish as living under Capitalism. I might have better healthcare, but then I'd have to contend with living in a deeply distrustful society where having the wrong thought could land me in the gulag or executed, all while a bureaucratic elite dictate how things will be structured and run no differently from a capitalist boss.

I have read enough ML literature and watched enough documentaries to know that I want nothing to do with that ideology, and I assume you feel the same about Anarchism, otherwise you'd be one, eh? 😅

If not, then I would implore the same from you, in that you open yourself up to Anarchist critique of Marxist-Leninism.

So yeah… Hitler’s (supposed) “popularity” should be viewed with the same suspicion as Putin’s.

Fair enough, though I could also see Hitlers public approval rating being real for a few reasons.

1. Unlike Putin & Trump, Hitler seemed to give frequent economic concessions to industrial workers to prevent dissent.
2. Their economy did improve (due to imperialist conquest and ransacking obv, which most of the population didn't seem bothered about)
3. His supporters seemed to suffer the same cognitive dissonance cult-like worship that MAGA currently suffers under (despite their economic conditions getting worse in the US), but perhaps on a much wider scale.

I'm not well read enough on Greek or Italian fascism to know if Mussolini or Metaxas were worse at quelling dissent or keeping the non-targeted groups 'happy', but from what I recall of Mussolini, his conquests were far less successful than Hitler's, which may have limited his economic ability to keep people pacified in the same way.

but he is more worried if my sister gets to see this that she will simply quit my brother in law.

Thankfully he doesn't have to worry about that, since your Sister already saw these texts last month.

I see you're tweaking things this time though, refining the wording to... I don't know, get the right sorta engagement?

Baffling why people go to this effort to create these little pieces of false drama, since there doesn't seem to be a profit motive.

Just bored, I guess?

A good way to find cool communities to subscribe to is searching topics that interest you on lemmyverse.net.

Once you have a good amount of subscriptions, you'll have a pretty good time.

Alternatively, if you diligently block each community from /all that doesn't interest you, the /all page also becomes pretty great to scroll.

As an addendum, I will say I agree with the argument put forward in your link that pacifism is a death sentence against a government willing to kill en masse regardless of what effects it would have on the world stage.

I don't think the USA is at the point where nonviolent methods are ineffective.

I can't wait to drop that on some unsuspecting fellow.

Kind've an odd suggestion, but if you like more arcade-y type games, and think you'd an enjoy a more advanced sorta spiritual successor to dig-dug, I'd recommend checking out Mr.Do! On the SNES. Weirdly good.

Sunset Riders is a fun and short western arcade shooter, as is Wild Guns.

There's also a pretty neat Shadowrun RPG on the SNES.