purity politics is a problem i don't know how to escape. where do i draw the line?
how can i not call in someone who aligns with me socially and culturally, but then actively engages politically and economically in the very things which reproduce our collective misery (because they're 'being realistic', and it's 'just the way it is')? how can i not call them an asshole when they turn around and throw out a friendship because i'm 'just a hater' and 'they don't need this negativity in their life' and say i need to 'learn to respect other peoples' opinions / ways of life'?
i have been extremely worn out and worn down by infiltrators, entryists and wreckers. how do i not have a kneejerk reaction at someone trying to reäctivate individualist brainworms and spreading solipsistic ideas in leftist spaces? even if they have good praxis or ideologically align with our goals: they're advocating for ideas which would undermine our work in the longterm.
at what point does gatekeeping turn into purity politics? i am skeptical of people who complain about 'purity politics' and 'echo chambers' because i mainly hear it from the types of realpolitik liberals in paragraph one, or the types of incoherent wreckerkind in paragraph two. is it not right to call out people for being unserious, incoherent and solipsistic? why should i entertain hateful, misinformed people on the assertion that not doing so is somehow epistemically irresponsible of me? i can do opposition research on my own time; i'm in leftist spaces to discuss anticapitalism, antiïmperialism, and antixenophobia, not to discuss the possible merits of commodification, empires and racist statistics.
i'm sick of treatlords pathologising my compassion and then claiming i and other leftists are 'alienating potential allies' for calling out their lack of imagination and for not respecting their appeals to the status quo.
my brain is tired.