this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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Lefty Memes

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An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.

Serious posts, news, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme go in c/Socialism.

If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.

Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low quality!

Rules

Version without spoilers

0. Only post socialist memes


That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)


0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility


(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)

We require alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.

We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.

When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.


0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms


When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart

  • ofc => OFC
  • af = AF
  • ok => OK
  • lol => LOL
  • bc => BC
  • bs => BS
  • iirc => IIRC
  • cia => CIA
  • nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
  • usa => USA
  • prc => PRC
  • etc.

Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them


1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here


Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.


2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such


That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.


3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.


That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" (read: Dengists) (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).


4. No Bigotry.


The only dangerous minority is the rich.


5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.


We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.

(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)


6. Don't irrationally idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.


Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.



  1. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:

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[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 62 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Pardon the circlejerk interruption, and believe me I hate BMW just as much as the next person, but this is just a patent application. Like, if you realize your logo has the potential to be a screw head, why would you not patent it to prevent others from using the design.

It’s not made it into any cars, and so far as I’ve seen there are no plans. Even if it does I’d think it’d only be used in some customer-facing application; interior maybe, or decorative attachments in the engine like valve covers etc. Slightly asshole that you’d need a different tool, but not exactly the end of the world unless they actively prevented the tool from being made.

My two cents

[–] Cypher@lemmy.world 83 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

After the whole heated seats subscription bullshit I expect only the worst from them.

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 25 points 2 weeks ago

That’s a fair point.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Patenting things you don't have intention of actually doing, "just in case", is just shit tbh.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Used to be called patent trolling, but now that all the big corporations that own the politicians deciding patent law are doing it, it's considered "prudent business practice"

IBM alone files more patents that they'll never use (except for lawsuits in case someone else does something useful with something similar) in a year than most companies file IN TOTAL for several decades.

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That is such fucking bullshit.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Bad phrasing, that they do that is such fucking bullshit, that’s fucked. Fuck IBM is what I was saying.

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

It can prevent others from doing it, which can be a net good.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How? In this specific case it's about brand identity, so I don't think anyone else would make BMW-shaped screws. But in general, how is "I had this idea, I don't want to make it, but want to stop others from making it" good?

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

how is "I had this idea, I don't want to make it, but want to stop others from making it" good?

It isn't under ANY circumstances and to think so without being the patent trolling asshole yourself is some Stockholm syndrome level simping for the overlords.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Design patents only last 15 years max. Unless they intend to use it, its just purely a publicity stunt.

[–] Skanky@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's likely that they filled this as a utility patent which would last 20 years.

[–] NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

No, there is no way for that to be a net good. That is brainwashed propaganda shit.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah the patent doesn't mention anything about it being a security screw as far as I can tell, it just looks like they patented a dumbass design that's only useful for the aesthetics and people are making some sensational headlines. Like, yeah, we'd just get or make the bits to undo them - they also know that?

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly, it doesn't look like a dumbass screw to me. Phillips heads are dumbass screws. It is a shit design. This actually looks quite solid as a screw head.

[–] Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It will cam out and chowder if you're not 100% perpendicular to it, I would say it's actually worse than a phillips screw

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

... What are you talking about? The design ensures you can't be anything but perpendicular to it in order to have any positive engagement, and Phillips screws are so notoriously bad about camming out at even ideal angles that it's been popularly believed that was an intentional design feature (it wasn't phillips screws just suck) for almost as long as they've existed.

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Seriously. Why the hell aren't star heads the standard by now? Is it spite? It feels like spite.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They will have the patent on the corresponding driver for the screw, and i doubt they will allow third party shops to purchase the drivers for anything resembling a reasonable price. Meaning that you will be forced to take the car to a BMW authorized mechanic. It's taking away the consumer's right to repair.

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s all conjecture at this point. The patent alone on the screw head I understand, because companies are obligated to protect their logo.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago

You dont need a patent to protect a trademark.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

fortunately i shop internationally and from vendors located outside their patent coverage.

[–] Skanky@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Did you see the Rossman video about this? The patent explicitly calls out that the reason for this design is to prevent people from using it without the proper "authorization" or told or whatever. It is not about branding or better functionality or anything else

[–] Sc00ter@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Idk what a rossman video is, but bmw, being a german company, is beholden to Right to Repair. They need to make the tool available

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

That's fair, an on brand for BMW.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

So it's just another pattern of tamper resistant screw, this time with tacky branding. Those have been used for decades on cars, idk this feels very blown out of proportion. People are acting like it's evil when it's just a normal thing but cosmetically way uglier.

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not to mention the odds of it having a better torque rating then any standard screw is low.

You would need a dedicated factory to build these at great expense for fancy looking screw heads.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

the alleged application was critical fasteners that people shouldn't be working with, like frame connections

of course, this is bullshit, because it's been fine for the past half century, so why wouldn't it be now?

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

We've used tamper resistant screws as critical fasteners for that entire half a century, this is just a new and uglier version.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 weeks ago

Naivete manifested in comment form.