#It shows people how people get sucked into hate groups or harmful ideologies. It shows people that anyone can change. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cosmicjoke · 1 day

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I don’t like any of the “bad characters” in AOT. However, people can completely understand the themes of a story. As well as have “reading comprehension” which you love to say people lack while also simultaneously enjoying watching a morally bad character. That’s the beauty of fiction. I think yeah, maybe some people take it too far, but I think the whole point of stories like AOT is to show multiple sides and give you multiple points of view on humanity and how everyone thinks they are correct in their views/ideologies. Villians are often the most popular characters is fiction and there’s many reasons for that and people shouldn’t be judge for wanting to enjoy that in a fictional space. It doesn’t mean they carry those same ideologies in real life.

I definitely understand you getting angry because of the idiots in your ask box sending dumb messages but there’s a lot of people that follow you and sometimes you make comments grouping all people together just because they differ from opinion on you/ like certain characters/ view things a certain way (when you say things like “anyone who thinks this”)and that kind of sucks.

Again, nobody should be sending you hate…or arguing about Levi’s popularity those people are sad and in the wrong. And I have zero problems with you being annoyed/angry or what have you…But the way you respond is out there for everyone to see and can sometimes be taken to heart by people who really do like you and your analysis. Just food for thought.

Floch's still a POS, so, whatever.

The person asked my opinion on people who "simp" for Floch and hold him up as some sort of hero, and I gave it. If you don't like it, you're free to unfollow me. I never said anything about people who enjoy Floch's character for what he thematically represents within the story (something for which I just made a post which you didn't bother mentioning, so I assume you didn't read). Floch is of course a complex and integral character to the plot and overarching themes of AoT and there's nothing wrong with admiring his character for that complexity. My point is, he's not a hero, and anyone who thinks he is have completely missed the entire point of AoT, the role of his character within the story, and the story's themes and messages. Therefore, if you think Floch is a hero, if that's your genuine and unironic interpretation of his character, then it rightly calls into question your intelligence and media literacy and also makes me question your morality as a person (not you specifically, the people who praise him as some sort of martyr). I'm sick of the argument that people continually trot out that what you like in fiction doesn't reflect what you believe or condone in real life. Art is a reflection of and representation of reality, through human expression. If you continually go around arguing for exactly the opposite message that a work of art is attempting to convey, and in this case, arguing that Fascism and nationalism and genocide are a justifiable or understandable reaction to anything, then you've completely missed the entire point and are now twisting AoT's themes to push a hateful and, frankly, dangerous political agenda which can, despite what you claim, have very real world consequences. Art can be and IS highly influential, and it wouldn't be the first time in history that bad actors with nefarious goals have twisted a work of art to suit their agenda. In the case of AoT, it's people like that, who hold Floch up as a hero, who have also helped defame Isayama as a person and added fuel to the fire of people bad-mouthing a real life human being and spreading false rumors about his political views and what he was trying to convey with his art, causing very real-life harm to his being and also impacting other people's ability to enjoy the story as a whole.

AoT frames Floch as a bad guy for a reason. Yes, the story is meant to show us multiple views and promote understanding of how certain conclusions and reactions are arrived at when certain conditions are met. You're not telling me anything I don't already understand. That doesn't mean the story intends for the reader to sympathize with or come away from seeing the paths certain characters take with the idea of mimicking them or cheering them on. Characters like Floch and Eren and Zeke and many others are meant to act as a warning against straying down a similar path. When you see people completely miss or ignore that warning and instead run around saying how Floch or Eren or Zeke were "justified" in their actions, or claiming that they were somehow correct in their world view and ideological beliefs, then those people are, in my not at all humble opinion, asking to be raked over the coals.

Also, for real, how many times are you people going to accuse me of the same shit? You always complain that I don't like anyone who "disagrees" with me, and "attack them unfairly" while conveniently ignoring all the many, MANY times I've disagreed with various and numerous people on here over various and numerous topics, and have always kept it cordial and polite. I only get angry at people when they say intentionally inflammatory shit to me, obviously trying to bait me into a fight, or make accusations against me, either directly or implied, kind of like you're doing. It seems to me it's you people that send me this same, whiny complaint time and time again that have just decided you have a particular axe to grind with me because you don't like that I can sometimes be forceful with my opinions and it makes you feel threatened, for some bizarre reason. That's just the way I speak, and again, if you don't like it, and if it really upsets you that much, then unfollow me, because I'm not going to censor myself or soften my language just because it might rub some people the wrong way or hurt your feelings.

I think you people really need to learn to grow a tougher skin and understand that not everyone in the world is going to speak or express themselves in a manner you find palatable, and the world isn't going to conform itself to what you need it to be to feel comfortable.

#anon asks

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vampish-glamour · 3 years

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You know what's scary? I do understand where radfems come from... I really understand them. This whole bs that the term "female" is insulting to trans women and that even a hairy sasquatch kind of male, can call himself a woman now, without even being trans, is a fucking joke. They really push women into radfem thinking with this.

The only problem is, this hurts real trans people, that really struggle with disyphoria and won't be taken seriously anymore...

And in the end, women suffer once again, but this time it's not because of men, but because of the gender fandom.

I agree. I’ve actually been meaning to make a post about this, so I’ll just give my thoughts here.

I tend to find that radfems, on the very surface, can have good points. Examples being

The word woman has become meaningless and this isn’t okay

People think femininity = woman, and that’s harmful to women

The gender fandom is off the walls crazy

Now despite these not actually being exclusively radfem/terf beliefs… many posts about them are either made by radfems, hijacked by radfems, or assumed to be made by radfems. So it’s easy to end up in the radfem side of Tumblr after a while of searching through tags.

And it’s easy to think “yeah, this is something I can get behind”… because you may think that these points mean the following (and the posts about them probably are talking about the following as well)

Anyone can “identify” as a woman, even if they aren’t actually a woman, and this isn’t okay. (Woman = both cis and trans women)

People think that femininity = woman, which leads to women calling themselves nonbinary if they aren’t feminine enough, or trans women being made to feel like they aren’t passing if they aren’t feminine enough

MOGAI is off the walls crazy

But the radical feminists take these points to mean something else entirely, and the radical part of radfem eventually rears it’s head. Then those points turn into

The word woman has become meaningless because of the evil disgusting trans women who are invading poor cis women’s spaces!!!!

Men think that they’re women because they wear dresses!!!!!

The gender fandom is crazy and by gender fandom I mean not just MOGAI and non dysphorics, but dysphoric trans people too!!!!

And the insanity of radical feminism/terfism really shows through.

But that insanity aside, on the very surface I do understand where they’re coming from, in the sense that I can tell what it is they’re against, and what they’re misunderstanding. I can also understand what they’re angry about… and see where they blame the wrong people (dysphoric trans people).

They seem to often come from a place of thinking that MOGAI and non dysphorics speak for the entirety of trans people, so end up grouping dysphoric trans people in with the she/theys and genderfluids. They look at a genderfluid talking about “sometimes I wear boy clothes and sometimes I wear girl clothes”, and think this applies to a dysphoric trans woman… despite the two being vastly different.

They see one trans woman, often a “non dysphoric”, talking about how awful it is for lesbians to not like male genitalia (which yes, is incredibly homophobic), and then think that this applies to all trans people, despite the majority of trans people understanding that it’s okay for people to not be interested in dating trans people.

They see literal men claim to be trans women while experiencing no dysphoria, and claim that they represent all trans women. So they go on about how these men are ruining the definition of woman (and yeah, I do agree that it’s bullshit that any man can just “identify” as a woman)…but don’t seem to get that dysphoric trans women are completely separate from that issue.

They see a bunch of modern day activists claim that the word “female” is offensive to trans women, or that we need to use degrading gender neutral language like “people who bleed” and “birth givers” to be inclusive to trans people… and assume that it’s actual trans people making these arguments. When in reality, from what I’ve seen most actual trans people are against it.

After looking through radfem/terf blogs and seeing what they had to say, I came away with a solidified belief that modern day “trans activism” is actually harming trans people. Because it allows transphobes like these to form a completely false idea of what a trans person is, and base their bigotry off of that.

They generalize based on the loud majority, and unfortunately the loud majority is the “gender fandom”, while dysphoric trans people are pushed to the back. It’s very clear that radfems haven’t listened to or spoken with actual dysphoric trans people, and don’t understand what being trans actually is. Because of this, I can understand where people get these beliefs about trans people from. Because you have the loud majority claiming that “this is what being trans is!!!” While spotlighting absolute bullshit.

And that’s how they can get sucked into radfem ideology, because they start out with the sensical surface level things, and then get pulled into the more radical beliefs that end up being absolute batshittery.

So yeah, I can absolutely see where many radfems come from when it comes to gender. They have no idea what a trans person actually is, because all they’ve been exposed to is the mainstream activism. The upsetting thing is, that this leads to transphobia that hurts actual trans people in the long run.

I’m in no way trying to excuse the rampant transphobia from radfems. Many of them probably are just genuinely transphobic, and would hate trans people even if the mainstream activism wasn’t a factor.

But I do believe that for many, the mainstream activism is a tipping point. If real trans people were at the front of the activism, and making it known what being trans really is… instead of the crazies who are currently in the spotlight, I think we’d have much less people going towards transphobic ideologies, because they’d have a proper understanding of what being trans is, rather than only seeing the bullshit that is currently pushed. And they wouldn’t be in a spot that allows them to be pushed towards radfem/terf beliefs in the first place.

#I hope this makes sense?#asks #anon

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mcnuggyy · 3 years

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I didn't even know you used to do sp stuff. (how did you escape? - like I literally don't wanna be into this show any more but it's also like the only thing that stopped me "offing myself" at 15 so it's kinda hard cause it means a weird amount to me :') )

honestly the biggest thing is acknowledging it is one of the few series’ out there that has caused real life hurt and damage to people, especially the Jewish community, and the role it has in normalizing antisemitism, racism, transphobia, etc. Acknowledge that the fandom itself is full of nazi apologists, racists, antisemites, etc. It may not effect you personally but it is something that definitely effected me, my friends, and other real life people. Know that for a show that’s meant to be satire, it often punches down, and takes a centrist standpoint with no clear viewpoint so that both bigots and liberals can say “ oh yes, this is taking my side on the matter :) “ which makes it an easy ground for people to get radicalized, become normalized with nazi fetish art (boy is there a lot of it), and exposed to overall dangerous and harmful ideas.

Tbh I don’t care if you like watch it from time to time and get a laugh out of it, I’m not a cop, but if you are actively producing content for it, and engaging in the fandom, and shipping the characters, and promoting its ideologies in any way, then sorry but you probably shouldn’t be following me and should probably reevaluate the way you interact with the show and maybe even your own morals a bit? Because I’ve also noticed that while me and all my Jewish mutuals and mutuals of color that were into the show as teens eventually left, both from bigotry and just becoming more mature, most of the white friends I had made.... ended up staying... (cause again it probably doesn’t affect them the same way)

So this is what I’ve seen other people do as well as what I did, when it comes to leaving unhealthy hyperfixations and potentially dangerous fandoms. So obviously as stated above realizing the real harm it does really does go a long way, and will keep you motivated in trying to leave. Consume less of it, little by little if you have to! Engage with other fixations and hobbies and content you really enjoy! Maybe something kind of similar! Like another adult cartoon but one that isn’t actively causing harm to minorities. Though for me I ended up getting into TAZ specifically because it was so different from SP, where I didn’t feel constantly in danger, and at worst have to deal with the usual micro aggressions and liberalism LMAO. So maybe you need something totally different instead! Examine what you really get out of the show and look for something similar! For me, SP is very character driven but also the characters were kind of flexible so you can kinda have fun in the fandom space with it, which is why I love TAZ so much! It’s extremely character driven but because it’s an audio medium I can really focus on character design and my own interpretations and making and creating art for it! It really was the perfect series for me to latch onto and get away from SP entirely!

If you draw fanart and make content for it, you have to stop, if you find it hard to do so, then do not post it whatsoever. And try to draw/write/etc less and less for it. After a while I promise you will lose interest, because feeding into your fixations will only ensure in keeping them and make it impossible to leave. So you have to really just stop consuming, stop engaging, no matter how much you want to, it’s not worth it. Remind yourself that you are actively engaging in something harmful. Especially if you have friends who fall into the groups that South Park is always shitting on... it would not make me feel safe at least...

I hope this helps! Sorry this is a bit all over the place but there are a few other posts out there about leaving unhealthy habits and fandoms and hyperfixations! I saw one yesterday actually but wasn’t able to find it again, but if I do I’ll be sure to add it to this post!

Feel free to DM me as well! I still talk with other people who have left the fandom or are trying to leave and it really helps to have other people to talk to who have gone through it too I think! :> it especially sucks when you get into it really young (which I did too) but trust me, once you’re out you’re out for good and it is WONDERFUL. God I hate the show so much it’s not even funny <3 hate the creators too <3 come join me LMAO

#callate guero #replies #anonymous #tw sp

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anubianpagan · 5 years

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Ma’at and Is/f/et

It seems the kemetic community is confused as to what is Ma’at and what is Isfet. So let’s break this down using the most recent instance of this ignorance. Prompted by @secondgenerationimmigrant ‘s hate-fueled rages. I’ll let @belovedbysetandsekhmet and @ngdiscourse speak for themselves but here is my take.

Let’s start with Ma’at, there’s been alot of great discussions of what Ma’at is and I feel these discussions are some of the more pertinent and excellent ones to peruse for understanding Ma’at. These discussions all make very excellent points and are well worth the reads: Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here!

To begin with the hate anons “someone” sent me directly after a post of light mocking beginning with this one:

Now, I appreciate the politeness of saying “please” but the rest shows a complete lack of understanding about what Ma’at is. Nothing I’ve posted is “anti-ma’at” unless of course you are a radicalized extremist who relies on overly emotional and manipulative mental gymnastics to justify yourself. Most of the kemetics in the little political fandom group tend to think along these lines, that being a hateful, bitter person is somehow justifiable because they have convinced themselves it’s “ma’at” mostly these people are misguided and ignorant, and to be pitied.

It is one thing to send such hate anons to someone, and another to wish horrific harm to someone for lightly mocking you. As evidenced in this link: Here.

To be clear, this is not an execration because nothings being purged, nothings being removed, is/f/et isn’t being snuffed out, the wyrm isn’t being destroyed, this is just pure bitter hate. Pure malice wished on someone because you can’t handle anythign outside your echo-chamnber. Lets break this down:

“I hope your government fucks you personally over and that you drown in debt and starve like the people who were victims of austerity in the UK. “

It takes a special kind of evil to truly wish this on someone for mocking you. Getting a light bit of mocking and you wish the government destroys their lives and they go into financial ruin? This is not fighting is/f/et this is actively trying to feed it. This is not Ma’at, this is actively stomping on Ma’at out of such bitter hatred and lack of moral fiber, even in a rage, this is a truly vile thing to wish on people you politically disagree with. However, when you justify to yourself that everyone who disagrees MUST be evil and all political dissent is the work of pure evil...it’s easy to cast yourself the hero in your own demented morality play.

“I hope you feel the despair of the people who had to choose between food and heating, of the people who had to work several jobs to exhaustion just to make ends meet, of the people who had to ration lifesaving medication because they couldn’t afford refills.“

Good vitriol but poor choices of wording. How can you think you have any morality what so ever, that at the sight of being mocked for your political opinions, you immediately turn to this as your go-to reaction to wish on people? Wishing harm, despair, pain and suffering on people who disagree with you or don’t believe you. How can you honestly sit there and pretend you have felt even one modicum of Ma’at’s light fill you when this is where your mind goes because you lost a political event? Your team didn’t win this time, it sucks, sure, but turning to wanting such horrible poverty and hardship and wishing it on people who politically disagree with you...is honestly, not anywhere near Ma’at, in fact, it’s directly the opposite. You aren’t fighting FOR Ma’at here sweetie, you’re DEFENDING Is/fe/t. We are just people disagreeing with you on the internet, we aren’t salivating over people dying and suffering, or complicit in desiring pain and hardships on families you deluded downer debby duckling.

“How is this Ma'at, you awful pieces of shit? How can you justify this to yourselves and be OK with treating the whole situation as an occasion to get your shits and giggles out of the “leftie snowflakes who have finally gotten got”?“

To be clear, we’ve mocked SGI’s politics, we never agreed with the opposing parties. But to an extremist so blinded by their own hubris and false senses of moral superiority...I’m sure it looks the same. Much is the case with social justice crowds, they are completely blinded by their own foolishness that they hurl themselves into the darkness and call it light. To blame some people who mocked you, for the evils of the world, is at best terribly naive, at worst, willfully ignorant. These same people also tend to not understand the difference between “I disagree with you” and Fascism™, but that usually stems from not actually wanting to know the difference. It’s a lot easier to disgrace someone’s name when you claim they are literally evil and morally abhorrent. This is why so many who don’t bow down to the kemetic fandom’s crowd of toxic sjw’s get called fascists, or nazis, or any kind of -ism imaginable. Mostly it just shows these people are profoundly ignorant and exist in a toxic echo-chamber headspace that is, in the long run, unhealthy. It’s an ideology of unlearning and unthinking, it’s gross, it’s not “social awareness” because social awareness would include knowing what words mean. Not throwing them around so hard they lose all meaning. “Owning the leftie snowflakes” isn’t the goal, usually it’s to argue against what is thought to be bad leftist ideas, with better, more sound arguments that go over their heads because they worship their politics.

I’m sure some would argue it’s “mean” to tease these people or mock them for their bad ideas/opinions, but when you watched them support the people who led the charges in the sjw war on the kemetic community, the people they hurt, the people they smeared and chased away, the content they trashed, gods they disgraced...They become comically tiresome clowns. We’re tired of their bullshit, the kemetic community was trashed into a garbage heap because people wouldn’t bend the knee to their political tripe. In hateful revenge they made sure everyone who didn’t agree was either smeared, chased off, or they lied their asses off to disgrace their names. None of them really have any idea what Ma’at or Is/fe/t are, they just throw the words around without any care for meaning, or quoting some violent racist rapists book as holy doctrine on the subjects of Ma’at.

To be clear, I’m not angry, I’ve long since passed angry and went all the way around to pity. I pity these kids, alot. I hope they wake up someday.

This clear overreaction is even more hilarious when you consider that they have no idea how to form an execration...imagine if such terrible people actually knew how to use magical systems to achieve working goals...the world would look like the middle east, shredded in war and poverty and religious extremism, terrorism and death. It truly is a blessing of the Netjeru that these fools have no concept of how to use magic, heka, or execration ritual prayers.

#kemetic fandom #kemetic #hate anons #secondgenerationimmigrant #in the house of ma'at #sjw bullshit

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cazort · 6 years

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I Don’t Like Insulting People, No Matter How Consistently They Say or Do Bad Things

It seems pretty widespread in our society to insult people when they either do something sufficiently bad, or show a sufficiently consistent pattern of bad behavior or poor reasoning.

Asshole, douchebag, idiot, jerk, whatever word you use, I don’t like it.

Here are some reasons I don’t like using insults:

Often, the person we are hurling the insult at was themselves using insults. A huge portion of the reasons people use these insults is in response to the people using insults themselves. Thus, when you insult them, you have matched their pattern of behavior or communication. I see this as giving the person power over you, because you have now allowed the person to lead you by example into a type of disrespectful behavior.

It causes the person being insulted, as well as any people who might like that person, to close off to us. This makes it less likely that the people who are most in need of hearing our criticisms of their behavior, actually listen to these criticisms. This makes it more likely that the behavior will perpetuate.

It often escalates conflict and can hurt random people. It may induce the other person to speak even more rudely, or engage in the negative behavior more frequently. In some cases it can increase the likelihood of a person engaging in violence. The people targeted by the negative behaviors or violence might be people who had no role in the original conflict or debate. For example, I’ve had people lash out at me verbally, in response to me respectfully voicing views, because of their past negative experiences they had with people who held views similar to mine, insulting, shaming, or demonizing them.

It often helps the person we insult by giving them more credibility or more of a platform or audience. A lot of negative behavior fits into a pattern of “trolling”, i.e. a person takes pleasure in seeing others getting upset about certain views, so the more people insult them, the more they get an audience.

It makes us (the people making the insults) prone to mental illness, interpersonal conflict, and hate ideologies. Insults are negative thoughts; in cognitive psychology they fit the pattern of “negative labeling”, a cognitive distortion that plays a role in depression as well as in hate ideologies and group conflict. When we normalize or support the practice of insulting people, we may increase the likelihood that we end up insulting ourselves (in the case of depression) or others in our social circle when they disagree with us or engage in negative behaviors. This can cause social circles or organizations to fragment or implode into infighting. I also think that the pattern of thinking makes it likely that people get sucked into hate ideologies...for example, a feminist might get sucked into TERF ideology, or a trans activism might get suck into a hateful form of transmedicalism.

It’s not necessary. We can criticize people’s behavior strongly, frequently, and thoroughly without ever resorting to insults.

What can we do, in a positive sense? The answer is really simple:

Always target the words or behavior, never the person or a group of people. Any negative word (”stupid”, “racist”, “problematic”, “harmful”, etc.), be careful to attach to a person’ words and/or actions, not to the person themselves nor to a group of people.

When discussing groups, target the group’s ideology and not the group itself.

This doesn’t guarantee that we’ll instantly fix all these problems but I find it goes a very long way towards reducing or preventing most of the above problems, most of the time.

#insult #respect #mental health #positivity #positive mental attitude

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maximuswolf · 4 years

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A serious discussion about the future of the left. via /r/communism

A serious discussion about the future of the left.

Introduction:

Comrades who share this wonderful discussion forum of r/communism, I want you to take a moment to ask yourselves, what is it that we want? What are we fighting for? I imagine most of us are fighting for abolition of private property, collective ownership over the means of production and distribution, a dissolution of the state as an apparatus for control by the bourgeoisie, democratization of all parts of life, better healthcare and welfare for those who need it, and other such extremely noble aims. I myself believe in all of these very strongly. But I'm afraid that many on the left (unintentionally, I hope) are preventing us from achieving these aims, or even actively taking us backwards, towards fascism. So, in what I'm sure will turn out to be an extremely long essay, I want to take a while to discuss action that we all should be taking. I hope everyone reads this through to the end. If you dislike it, feel free to downvote, but please read till the end regardless.

Part I: The Current State of the Left

This might start out kinda rude, but we on the left really suck. A lot. We seem to view people with other beliefs as inferior, deluded, and misinformed idiots who are only capable of seeing just past the end of their noses and unable to view the big picture. And, on some level, I do understand the impulse. It can be hard to put up with their stupid arguments, blatant mistruths, and denial of facts. But a lot of leftists (I myself am also guilty of this) respond to these with insults, ad hominem and name-calling. This is not effective. As hard as it is to get this through our heads, we need more people. If you hang out only in far-left chatrooms, patting all your Marxist-Leninist comrades on the back at how great it feels to own liberals and progressives, you are the problem. The future of the left lies in those people. If you ask an average person off the road what they think about leftists, they’ll usually respond in one of three ways; They’ll either shrug and say they don’t care, call them whiny snowflakes who only complain, or call them belligerent pricks who won’t shut up. Across all my time on planet earth, even when I talk to people who I know hold similar values to my own, they all think of leftists as these 3 things. This isn’t a group that’s going to attract new people. If anything, they’ll be pushed further away. And we need these people. I know many like to talk about revolution like it’s an excuse for them to not have to engage with liberals and progressives, but you’re delusional if you think that. If today, a revolution began in The United States, do you think it has any chance of succeeding? Revolution can only occur with a large enough power base, either among the people or among armed forces. We don’t have any opportunity to raise forces like the red army, so our power base needs to come from people. Average, milk-toast liberals and progressives. That is where the future of the left is.

Part II: Liberalism and Marxism

Liberalism, that is, the philosophy of the enlightenment, is a philosophy that is incompatible with Marxism. Liberalism came about as a way to justify capitalism, and pushed faux progressivism to legitimise capitalism’s promise of a new, equal society. Hate liberalism as much as you want. But liberals, the people who believe in the ideology, are not incompatible with us. Many share similar ideals of a free and equal world, many do in fact support things like healthcare, women’s rights and greater equality of income. They’re just misinformed. They have been the target of misinformation and propaganda from the day they were born, and so are unable to believe in socialism. They view communism as some sort of demonic entity, trying to take over the foundations of society and enslave everyone. And you insulting them isn’t really helping matters. It’s a sad fact that far-left leaning people, and even socialists, are an extreme minority in most of the world. Most people are moderates. Its just that the people with the most extreme beliefs are also often the loudest, and so are disproportionately represented in media and online circles. This is also why neo-nazis seem so common on the internet-they’re just the ones who shout the most. This isn’t about who’s right or wrong, it’s just a fact that the vast majority of people in every country are moderates, neither far-right nor far-left. And so that’s why we need to go on a crusade against misinformation. Now, let’s go onto Marxism. I won’t demean you by defining Marxism, so let’s get to the point. Don’t. Call Yourself. A Marxist. 99% of the time, if you call yourself a Marxist, people will automatically stop listening. As hard as it is, call yourself a socialist (or some variation thereupon). People have been conditioned to associate Communism with authoritarianism, even though they aren’t at all related. Socialism, while still heavily bastardised, lacks that same association with the regimes of Stalin or Mao, so they’re more palatable to the general public. And again, our aim is to convert the people who are aligned with us socially into being aligned with us politically.

Part III: The Art of Proselytising

To convert the liberals is a difficult task. It can be hard, because a lot of leftists get very invested and personal in defence of their ideology, which can be a good thing in small doses. However, when a person listens to a debate or reads transcripts, do you think they will side with the one who shouts and talks incoherently, or the one who has complete control and is calm and confident? When talking with anyone about politics, stay calm. Calm and collected people are far more attractive to others than brash and loud ones. Even if the opponent’s points are patently bullshit, counter them in a way that doesn’t actively demean them. Wait for them to lost patience and get flustered. Your aim is to try and win over people who may have an open mind. So far has been advice pertaining to formal debate. But how do you chat with liberal friends just in general conversation? Very simple. Don’t demean them. If they talk to you about a liberal policy that they like, support them. Agree. As long as that policy isn’t actively harmful, there is no harm in saying that you like it too. Don’t respond by going, “Heh, this changes nothing. The problem is capitalism, and these policies are just to keep you content enough to stop asking questions.” This actively discourages them from your ideas by putting it in their head that the things they want are fundamentally different from the things you want. Instead you respond with, “yeah man, that’s really cool!” Agree, and then later bring it up how you think that we could expand on that idea and bring it into the realm of something more in line with actual socialism. And when they talk about a liberal policy they dislike, try and show them how a more left-leaning policy would be more in line with their ideal society. I know this is vague and unspecific, but I want this to be as universally applicable as possible. Lastly, know when to stop. If someone seems averse to your ideas, don’t push them into reading Das Kapital or the Communist Manifesto. Just accept it and move along. After all, if you push too hard, they may give up on you completely and we don’t want that. Their will always be more chances in the future to try and convert.

Part IV: Choosing your Targets

This is a short section. Don’t bother trying to convince ethnic nationalists, neo-nazis or other members of the alt-right in informal forums. It’s a fruitless endeavour. You need to accept that they have committed themselves to a belief which holds no evidence to support it, and so no matter what evidence you bring up to dismiss their claims, it wont matter. In formal debates you can engage them and show how their beliefs are false, but just don’t bother otherwise. Anarcho-capitalists are generally beyond help, but not always. A good litmus test is to ask them if they think trans rights should be promoted. If yes, there is still hope. If not, give up. Ancaps take a lot of work to convert though, so you’ll be in for the long haul. Liberals are your prime targets. They have social values which align with our own, we only need them to realise that those social values would be best served under socialism rather than capitalism. Because one thing to remember is that when it comes to pure facts, logic and evidence, we have the right beaten hands down. Its not even a contest. We just need to make ourselves feel more appealing to the liberals.

Part V: Please, Think Realistically

Change will not happen just suddenly. It needs to be systematically created, and we are the ones who need to do it. It can be comforting to think that the revolution will come, it will be glorious and we will henceforth live in a communist utopia. That’s not going to happen. First off, we need enough people for a revolution. As someone who lives in India, I can tell you what the general reaction to the Naxalites is here- fear, paranoia and mistrust. I understand their goals, but unless more people support them, they will be able to do nothing. We need to plant seeds of this support ourselves. It really disturbed me to see leftists unironically planning to vote for Trump because it would show the Democrats that their model wasn’t working (or something like that) while forgetting that by doing so they would be giving power over to a far-right demagogue who would probably just directly execute you if he could. Us being correct doesn’t mean we are above the mundane conflicts of society. We are as much a part of it as anybody else and so we need to be able to put ideals on the backseat to pragmatism. So why do I bring this up? Because arguing for ideas like the abolition of private property will get you nowhere. Most people are going to frightened by such ideas, so instead we need to dial it back. We can still keep our ideals, but when converting people start small. “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if you could visit a hospital without going bankrupt? Or maybe if you had a say in the decisions at your company rather than just listening to your boss all the time? Or maybe if the people at the top weren’t so much richer than everyone else?” Such ideas will seem mundane to us. But to the average person they’re incredibly attractive. Don’t talk in terms of vague, high-minded ideals or all-encompassing social change. Focus on how their life would improve under socialism. The sad truth is, not many people care about the greater good. To get through to such people, you need to show them how they would be better off.

Conclusion: It’s 3:30 am here, I’m really sleepy

We need the support of more people. When talking to them, approach people with earnestness and respect. It leaves a better impression. Don’t be overly humble however. Talk about tangible change that the average person can clearly see would improve their lives. Stop insulting people, and get out there to start actively engaging with others. Lastly, know how to prioritize your enemies. Don’t treat fascists, liberals and soc-dems the same, they all warrant different reactions and by acting like they’re the same, you actively push them closer together.

Good Night Comrades.

Submitted November 13, 2020 at 02:26PM by ARandomAnimeFanNo16 via reddit https://ift.tt/3lumWG5

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specialchan · 4 years

Text

A serious discussion about the future of the left. via /r/communism

A serious discussion about the future of the left.

Introduction:

Part I: The Current State of the Left

Part II: Liberalism and Marxism

Part III: The Art of Proselytising

Part IV: Choosing your Targets

Part V: Please, Think Realistically

Conclusion: It’s 3:30 am here, I’m really sleepy

Good Night Comrades.

Submitted November 13, 2020 at 02:26PM by ARandomAnimeFanNo16 via reddit https://ift.tt/3lumWG5

0 notes