Fucked if I know 😂 I’m studying it on my own from textbooks and online resources, not in a classroom setting taught by scholars much much smarter than me. I assume the reduced complexity of simplified characters makes it more accessible though, which is why I understand the PRC makes Pinyin required on road signs as well.

I’ve been enjoying studying Mandarin. The tones are a bit weird but the grammar seems surprisingly simple, everything can be written pretty universally in pinyin, and Hanzi characters are great for condensing information.

It sounds like your high school was better than most. That’s hope-inducing.

Civic engagement is always good. Some high schools will have some things in the textbooks but class curricula never get that far, preferring to leave off around WWII or the second red scare at latest if they even touch the 1900’s.

Most Statesians lose their faith in cops/country in a similar way. There’s a reason US high schools don’t teach recent history. If it’s far enough back like the early 1900’s or 1800’s then you can rationalize it with platitudes like “it was a different time back then” or “we hadn’t evolved as a society yet”. Lot harder to rationalize away when it was only 40 years ago.

I didn’t invent clinical depression but my god have I innovated it

Thanks! 😃

That’s a debate since authoritarianism to libertarianism is a spectrum so there is no official “normal” and its generally used qualitatively on individual polices

So, essentially, it’s subjective?

Notable Lines:

“Attention MOVE: This is America. You have to abide by the laws of the United States.” They were given 15 minutes to come out.

Police used more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. At 2 p.m., Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed.

Ramona Africa said that police fired at those trying to escape.

Where the state has extra power that they can use to enforce their goals

Extra power in comparison to what? What is the normal amount of state power?

What makes them authoritarian?

I actually always wondered a bit about the line between fascism and monarchism. To the casual observer they might seem nearly identical, though I wonder if in historical materialist terms it’s a reactionary attempt to backslide to feudalism rather than progress capitalism to socialism.

A leftist. Someone with political beliefs, empathy, and conviction.

No

Is peace the way to peace when you’re faced with violence? The logic doesn’t hold.