this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2024
21 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

22524 readers
56 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

  5. Posts about mental health should go in [email protected] you are loved here :meow-hug: but !mentalhealth is much better equipped to help you out <3.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Who are some people that started out as ghouls and made a turn for the better? Bonus points if it came suddenly and from their own realization.

I thought about this for a while and the ones I could come up with aren't really that good.

  • Emperor Puyi.
  • Jeffrey Sachs went from doing shock therapy to Russia to defending their right to defend against NATO expansionism on a lib news show, but that's been his only good moment to my knowledge.
  • Jimmy Carter but he never changed course when he needed to, not much he can do to undo the harm he did as president.
  • Patty Hearst but she really wasn't doing anything bad, just came from a wealthy and powerful family much like Puyi.
  • Pat Tillman was deployed when he had a change of heart and contacted a bunch of reporters, sadly he was killed by another troop before he got to make much of a difference.
  • Peter Daou but he's largely irrelevant
  • That natsec ghoul that wrote the article about quitting her job because she doesn't want to be complicit in genocide.
  • Whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning? I don't know off the top of my head how involved she ever was with the war on terror, but she was a troop.
  • Malala and Greta were never ghouls, but did grow from lib media darlings to qin-shi-huangdi-fireball over time so honorable mention to both of them.

I guess the most obvious example that does satisfy my criteria is Kissinger, who really popped off when he died.

edit: You do not, in fact, have to hand it to Puyi before he was re-educated.

top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

JFK went from rabid redbaiter anti communist to wanting to dismantle the CIA and establishing back channel communications to normalize ties with the USSR. Of course we know how that turned out.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

Both Engels and Zhou Enlai became class traitors (in the good way)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

The woman who killed Che's murderer.

I forget her name but she was of German descent and was raised by Nazis who escaped Germany to South America by the ratlines.

I'm not saying that she was a Nazi herself that did a full 180 but to be raised in a culture like that and then in adulthood to join the ELN and to take out the Bolivian military commander who ordered Che be killed is very impressive and also heroic af.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

what has Peter Daou actually done at all tho

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

He was a Hillary staffer. Then he was a Bernie guy. I seriously can't think of good examples lol

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

What has Zionist stooge Bernie Sanders ever done for me other than ask for money

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

True. In fairness to Daou he's of Lebanese descent and is much more pro-Palestine than Bernie. I don't know if he's still a Bernie guy.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

nah he was very publicly opposed to Bernie when Bernie endorsed Biden.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

I just prefer to think of people like this as "suitable for ripping off". Approach everyone so critically you can't be singling anyone out or cutting anyone slack

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Kinda tagline vibe

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Eh you know what, knowing how puyi treated his concubines is probably too much to expect. I'm not gonna press this

Edit: Actually my mind is changed back again. Ignoring men abusing women is actually fucked up.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

You're completely right, I was ignorant of how long he was emperor before he was re-educated. I mistakenly thought he barely had any time to start doing the usual noncery and abuse, but he did have several years of getting servants beaten and abusing concubines. Sorry for that blindspot.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Jimmy Carter

Unfortunately he turned out to be Ronald Reagan in disguise. Previously on Hexbear...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

You could also make the argument that Stalin went from anti-social highwayman to possibly the most pro-social highwayman of all time by using the proceeds from his plundering to fund the Bolsheviks. I think he's kind of a bad example, though, because by the time he had any prominence he never really made a significant turn for the better (maybe I'm wrong).