this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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From all the concern trolling I see in the other instances it's clear that there's no winning over these people. Everything is "Kremlin propaganda" to them. I do think a lot of chapos did go a little overboard with the PPB, but even thoughtful responses were met with the "hateful rhetoric" and "Kremlin talking points" BS. As always, it is to the Global South we must look to for any hope in the future...

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[–] Rom@hexbear.net 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

I was extremely polite in that lemm.ee thread, admitted we could stand to tone it down a bit, even called out a rude post from one of our own, and I only got hostility from them in response. There's literally nothing we can do to not be called wreckers shrug-outta-hecks

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago

There was a surprising amount of hostile replies aimed at HB users... whereas HB users themselves were fairly constructive IMO. Even one post by a HB user calling for defederation was worded much calmer compared to some of the .ee instance natives

[–] sharedburdens@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I feel like we need an independent thought alarm emoji

It should be even bigger than our other emojis

[–] Melonius@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

I think your responses were more than forgiving, and the troll responses were so obviously in bad faith that I'm surprised they're still up?

This is all a bit new to me but holy shit. I don't want to assume the worst but I saw that other guy puppeting accounts earlier?

[–] coeliacmccarthy@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

you shouldn't want to save the west

[–] copandballtorture@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

But black dynamite, I live in the west

[–] MCU_H8ER2@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

As of 2017, I was watching Chris Hayes every night. People can change their minds. A lot of the libs we see here are just hall monitor types.

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[–] a_blanqui_slate@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Eh, this take is axiomatically unacceptable to me. Regardless of how absurd and hopeless it feels like achieving our aims in Western 'democracies' (and boy howdy does it feel absurd and hopeless), the abandonment of it is a tacit admission that billions of people are gonna need to die in rather catastrophic fashions before we get anywhere. Which, like I said, is a no go for me.

[–] FakeNewsForDogs@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

I always think of that Camus bit. One must imagine sysiphus happy. The prospect of revolution in the core is 100% absurd, but what the fuck else you gonna do? Give up?

[–] AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Does this mean you're going to defederate again? Please let it mean that.

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[–] Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

What thoughtful responses? Also what does "the West" need to be saved from?

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[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I agree that the most revolutionary potential lies in the global south. Hopefully, more gains can be made through partnerships with China, particularly as the US position geopolitically seems likely to weaken. Even now the US seems only able to accomplish relatively short term gains while setting themselves up for longterm defeats (the proxy war in Ukraine dwmonstrates this).

Its not surprising that revolutionary potential, and the possibility of real gains is higher on the periphery than within the imperial core. I think a lot of western leftists deal with brainworms (for understandable reasons) the the West is the main character of history, so the revolution must happen here and lead the world. There's over a centuries worth of evidence to the contrary.

I say its understandable because its a less extreme version of the classic "left" liberal brainworm of "the US may be bad, but [target country] is worse." Its also seen throughout left anti-communism's stance and critiscims against AES. The unexamined assumption that the nations of the imperial core will be the leaders of the socialist revolution as opposed ro the last and most dangerous holdouts of a dying imperial order, is, i think, the last vestige of this way of thinking.

This isn't, and I'm not endorsing, a doomerist position for communists in the imperial core. A better world is possible, and we should do what we can to defend our comrades at home from rising fascism and support our comrades abroad on the periphery. Not being the "main character" does mean there is no role to play. Revolution is like an Eisenstein film, the people, the class, are the main character and we are united across boarders

[–] christiansocialist@hexbear.net 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

This isn't, and I'm not endorsing, a doomerist position for communists in the imperial core. A better world is possible, and we should do what we can to defend our comrades at home from rising fascism and support our comrades abroad on the periphery.

With regards to this, I literally was talking to a woman the other day who readily admitted things like: how behind every successful man there are countless women who do unpaid emotional labor, how companies are taking in too much in profit for no reason, how companies will cynically shield themselves from criticism by appointing a POC ceo, etc. etc. She even said that workers should get a share in the profits of the company. I jokingly responded that her idea sounded kind of like socialism, and she immediately replied, "no it's not socialism, I believe in capitalism, just not with so many excesses." And this is a black woman who fully understands intersectionality, the problem of corporations, etc. So I'm a little doomer not just online, but IRL as well...

[–] BeamBrain@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm really curious as to what she thinks capitalism and socialism are.

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's a great question. Most people don't even know what supporting capitalism means. Propaganda being what it is, capitslism just equals good in most people's eyes in the west

[–] axont@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Capitalism and socialism to most westerners might as well refer to moral character traits rather than distinct political structures. Capitalism just means something like ingenuity but also greed. Socialism means altruism but also bland uniformity.

The more politically minded westerner might think capitalism means wealth disparity and socialism means everyone gets paid the same.

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I definitely understand, and have personally felt what you're talking about. And if you're just looking at the US/imperial core its pretty depressing. The most propagandized people who have ever lived. Everyone alive in the US right now has been exposed to the most advanced and coordinated and pervasive propaganda campaign since birth. The person you're describing who gets so much, but is still "oh no not socialism" is maddening for us but also a sign of how greatly the contridictions of capitalism have intensified that her position and people like her exist.

The real hope for the future is in the periphery obviously, but remember our worldview is based on dialectics. The contradictions inheirent in capitalism intensify as things get worse, and that's what ultimately breaks through propganda and brainworms. Ideas do not shape reality, material conditions do, and as people in the imperial cores material conditions change, their ideas will change. Part of why it looks so doomer is because for many people their material conditions are still too good to want to change their belief system, and because propaganda evolves to at least keep them from blaming capitalism itself or the US (crony capitalism, we need more of team blue in change, or the current "Bidenomics is working" bullshit).

Theres more hope in the periphery because material conditions typically are worse there, not because things are better. That's an important thing for comrades struggling with doomerism to remember. Trust me i get the emotion, i think most of us do here, i think we'd be crazy not to. But having a marxist veiwpoint is understanding that a better world is possible. Not because of any idealistic notion of human goodness, but from an understanding that history, historical change, is a process governed by class conflict defined by the contridictions in the mode of production. The workers of the world will prevail, not because we are morally superior, not because we a better, or smarter, and not because the class as a whole will even necessarily understand the process they are involved in while it is happening. Material conditions and our relationship to them is what defines this conflict and causes historical change.

[–] LeBron@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

If anything, her acute awareness of contradictions despite her idealistic view of capitalism can be seen as hopeful? Material conditions are significantly worse than twenty years ago and that comfort in the status quo historically changes through class antagonisms. It takes so much to break through that barrier of capitalism being the only option because of that passive propaganda system you live through.

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[–] SootyChimney@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

It's frustrating, I agree. But "shitposting leftie site interacts with some other echo chambers for a week and has some non-constructive disagreements" is not really a datum from which to draw any wider conclusions.

Personally, I've seen at least five users on separate occasions ask questions in good faith and concede points. If anything I've been surprised by some of the positive responses to our community, rather than being 100% rebuffed from the get-go.

[–] GivingEuropeASpook@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago

Ridiculous posts and comments set a tone and people respond in kind most of the time. I don't agree with every popular opinion here but I genuinely try to interact in good faith.

[–] Mardoniush@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

It's fine, I think some comrades here don't remember how long it took for them to snap out of the capitalist worldview. Going through a naive stage of anti-AES pro-West Progressivism/Reformism/Anarchism/Trotskyism/Leftcom is pretty normal for new members of the left, as is a later sudden uncritical swing to being an ML followed by backsliding because it wasn't based on theoretical understanding.

Eventually if we work on them, a lot of the people there will settle into more mature examples of whatever tendency provides the tools they need in their conditions.

[–] Chapo0114@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

a later sudden uncritical swing to being an ML followed by backsliding

I'm in this picture and don't like it. I doubt I'll ever get over my philosophical distrust of hierarchy, but somehow this made it finally click that I should at least read some theory (and not short versions, or long explanations of the current systems at play in China) before continuing being critical of MLism.

Tbh, I think seeing how insufferable libs are, and how the so-called anarchists of blahaj prefer them to us, really primed me for this awakening. Thanks.

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