That’s exactly what a bot would say!

Kidding. I know. You’re right.

I have seen many posts on X (Twitter) like this one, and after reading the comments, I can confirm that the latter is true. It truly seems to me that conservatives are incapable of empathy.

Have we considered the possibility of multiple shooters? The gun that killed Kirk may not necessarily have been the one that was found.

Just trying to avoid jumping to conclusions.

Some hospitals use AI to scan patients and find signs of illness before it becomes a problem. I’d say that’s a pretty good use of AI.

I once heard an analogy which is applicable in this situation.

“If people buy drugs from one dealer, and that dealer gets arrested and sent to prison, do all of their former customers just stop buying drugs?”

I agree with you. But at the same time, filming a tiktok promoting criminal activity is really stupid. Not telling people should be rule number 1.

Self-defense and protecting civilians are not mutually exclusive. That’s literally why the laws of war exist.

I didn’t say you supported deliberately targeting civilians.

My point was that attacking military targets inside heavily populated areas will inevitably kill civilians. That’s why civilian protection is a central principle in international humanitarian law. The rule has to apply universally.

So just to be clear, are civilians legitimate targets as long as they live in the “wrong” country?

We’re working from fundamentally different priors. I don’t think global politics reduces to a single economic contradiction. I’ll leave it there.

In realism, the opposing tendencies are expansion of one state’s power and balancing by others to preserve sovereignty. In institutionalism, it’s integration versus fragmentation. Neither requires framing global politics as capital versus labor.

Calling imperialism the principal contradiction is a theoretical commitment, not an empirical conclusion. Other schools like realism or institutionalism would identify state security competition or balance-of-power dynamics as primary.

Talk about cultural chauvinism.

The implication here is: “You people are detached, soft, and incapable of understanding real war.” That’s not an argument. That’s a moral superiority pose. It frames one group as hardened realists and the other as naïve spectators. Historically, that kind of framing is how conflicts get emotionally escalated. Dehumanization rarely begins with slurs. It begins with sweeping generalizations.

And the irony is thick. You’re accusing me of only conceptualizing civilian deaths, while simultaneously minimizing the reality that modern warfare absolutely does kill civilians. The idea that wars are cleanly fought “between armies” belongs in the 19th century, not the 21st. Civilian harm is a central moral and legal issue in contemporary conflict. That’s not Western fragility. That’s international humanitarian law.

Lenin’s framework is one influential analysis of capitalist imperialism. That doesn’t make it exhaustive. Modern geopolitics also includes state security competition, regional spheres of influence, and non-capitalist power projection.

Imperialism as a concept predates Marxism and isn’t reducible to Lenin’s model. We can debate which framework is more useful, but pretending there’s only one definition isn’t serious.

And what about the innocent people who voted against the fascist government? They deserve to die too?

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Depends on your definition. The U.S. fits the definition of “Informal Empire” pretty well, but it’s definitely not an old school empire like Rome or Britain

Ah, I see. So when the U.S. bombs another country, it’s genocide. But if someone does it to the U.S. it’s a good thing? Got it.

I’m talking about big oil and gas production, food and farmland, massive agricultural output and the ability to export it at scale, freshwater and arable land (underappreciated, but increasingly strategic as climate stress rises elsewhere), minerals (some, not all).

And don’t forget non natural resources the U.S. has like:

Capital markets: Deep, liquid markets that can fund governments and companies. Money is a resource; the U.S. is one of the main wells.

technology and IP: Advanced R&D, software, aerospace, biotech, semiconductors design, and the companies that sit on them.

Security alliances and military reach: Not a resource in nature, but it functions like one. i It shapes trade routes, deters threats, and sets terms.

The world’s reserve currency system: Being able to transact, borrow, and settle trade in USD is a kind of meta-resource. Others want access to it more than they want a mine.

That bundle is why the U.S. stays permanently relevant, for better and worse.