a hopeful socialist

In #politics, what matters just as much as what you say is the words with which you chose to say it. #socialists start with multiple potential disadvantages in this field, some more universal or common than others.

Why? Because we live in a world with massive institutions of power with explicit and implicit opposition to the abolition of #capitalism that will seek to undermine us, and they have people working for them who literally went to school to study how people think and how to change people's minds.

While some of the #left is educated similarly, many more of us are #socialist through experience, be it through radicalisation in the workplace or suffering the brunt of an oil war. They are not struggling just because they view #communism or #anarchism as moral imperative that improves society, but because abolishing #capitalism is existential.

Apr 7, 2024 at 11:11amWeb
Show threada hopeful socialistApr 7, 2024

Seriously though, if you're a socialist like myself who's studied #rhetoric or #communication more broadly, you might wanna consider going back to your comms textbooks and re-reading the chapters and thinking about how to apply it to our conversations and organizing

#CommunicationProblems #CommunicationsTheory

Show threada hopeful socialistApr 7, 2024

#Radicalised people (and I include myself in this) have a tendency to coalesce and seek each other out, for human connection, for safety (on the left, at least), and of course to organise together in pursuit of their goals. It can become so insular that it loses touch with the society that they are trying to change.

This makes it harder for that movement to grow and expand its members (and therefore it's influence and ability to enact the social or political change it seeks).

As we are seeing from the #RightWing, it can lead to domestic terrorism committed by individuals that will kill anyone, even the group they are fighting for, to achieve their cause's aim.

Show threadpinkdrunkenelephantsApr 7, 2024
@thecommunistpig That's why it's important to talk to actual normal people instead of hiding in Discord groups online. I've seen movements fall apart because of that shit. Touching grass and engaging with others will fix a lot of the problems we face.
Show threada hopeful socialistApr 7, 2024
@pinkdrunkenelephants absolutely. People are imperfect, they will say stupid shit and be uninformed at least once in their lives because no one can be informed and read up on the entirety of the human condition all of the time
Show threadAKingsburyApr 7, 2024

@thecommunistpig

I'd settle for finding someone who is willing to just have an honest, mutually respectful discussion on the matter. I do not apologize for being a capitalist, but I don't feel the need to assume that those who disagree with me are evil. I think that free market capitalism is the most moral system that leads to the most human flourishing, but I accept easily that other people think the exact same thing about their own preferred system.

Show threada hopeful socialistApr 7, 2024

@AlexanderKingsbury what is a capitalist to you? To a socialist, capitalists aren't just people who on an individual basis advocate for capitalism but refers to people who hold capital and own private property.

So, when you say you're a capitalist, do you mean that you run a business and manage employees, that you own residential or commercial property that you rent out, or are you like most people, working something like a 9-5 in exchange for a salary or hourly wage?

Show threadAKingsburyApr 7, 2024

@thecommunistpig

I am a variety of things. I advocate for capitalism. I do work a job, yes, but I also own stock; in a very real sense, I own part of many companies. I have run businesses before, and rented property as well. If socialists reject the idea that a person who favors capitalism should be called a capitalist...well, it seems to me that part of communicating effectively is reading a dictionary when it comes to disagreements of that kind.