Toasted_Breakfast

When did Politics become "Your Thing"

https://lemmy.today/post/39921115

When did Politics become "Your Thing" - Lemmy Today

When I was in college, the last thing I thought about was politics. Even more so in high school. Sure, there was election hype during the primaries. However, to try and say I ordered my identity and everyday consciousness around politics would have been absurd. That was too busy skateboarding playing video games and having fun. When did this shift happen where people’s lack of religious attendance slowly shifted into the political realm and their morality and politics became one? Why are there people right now below the age of 30 obsessing about politics nonstop? Why not choose happiness and have fun?

Oct 17 at 1:58pmWeb
Show threadSwingingTheLampOct 17
This is kind of like asking a man being attacked by a bear, “When did bears become your whole thing?”
Show threadToasted_BreakfastOct 17
Or are you simply falling in a trap and exchanging your happiness for outrage because it’s addictive, easier to achieve, and requires less vulnerability.
Show threadSwingingTheLampOct 17
No.
Show threadLeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]Oct 17
Fuck off you fucking loser
Show threadCanadaPlusOct 17
Man, did you choose the wrong instance for this take.
Show threadCowbee [he/they]Oct 17
What is Lemmy.today like? Isn’t it just a generalist instance?
Show threadCanadaPlusOct 17

It’s tiny enough I have no associations with it. And OP is a new account - maybe a throwaway.

Most people agree with them IRL, though, so it’s not like it’s shocking to hear from any corner of the internet.

Show threadCowbee [he/they]Oct 17
Yea, I guess that checks out.
Show threadAsafumOct 17

It became “my thing” around when I turned 19. I had previously been exposed to a bunch of conspiracy theories that I never really bought into by a friend and in trying to learn more about it all I ended up following politics more, eventually learning my way out of the conspiracy land and instead watching the decline of the US for myself instead of having some internet weirdos say it’s the Jews or the annunaki…

It’s unfortunately more of a sick addiction now, I feel like I need to follow what is happening even though it just makes me extraordinarily depressed, seeing how no matter what we as a population will always be lead to make the wrong decisions and how there are so many people that revel in hatred and inflicting pain on “others.”

The more I learned about politics the stronger my support became for my candidate:

Show threadPiraHxCxOct 17
In high school, but not much party politics, I mostly read old anarchists. At college you kinda have to go through the post-structuralist course, but it was then that I got more into reading economy and post/neokeynesianism - which wasn’t even part of the stuff I had to study…
I used to care about arguing about politics and economy, but since my 30s politics became “not my thing” because I watched American politics being spread through Twitter and young people reading more trending American internet liberal activists instead of their local union newspapers, and then I watched all the biggest media conglomerates of my country raising the flag of those activists and they believing they are “winning” without realizing they became so harmless they are being mocked.
Show threadCowbee [he/they]Oct 17

Politics isn’t “my thing.” I have hobbies, I like to read, play video games, make espresso, work out, play tennis, TTRPGs, etc. I have friends, a partner, a job. I also do some light organizing work, read theory, and talk about politics a lot on social media (basically on Lemmy).

For me, I started learning more about politics through college, and that skyrocketed once I hit the workforce. It has nothing to do with religion, and it isn’t about my “morality and politics becoming one.” I can’t just stand as an idle passerby while my country commits genocide and imperialism around the world, while it destroys protections for marginalized people and workers within my country, while people I love and care for are targeted. A better world is possible!

If anyone wants a place to start with reading theory, I made an intro Marxist-Leninist reading list, feel free to check it out! It’s aimed at absolute beginners.

Read Theory, Darn it! An Introductory Reading List for Marxism-Leninism - Lemmy

“Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement.” ­— Vladimir Lenin, What is to be Done? [http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/WD02.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/seGAATanGtfufEkQoLH1X3] It’s time to read theory, comrades! As Lenin says, “Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.” Marxism-Leninism is broken into 3 major components, as noted by Lenin in his pamphlet The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism [http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/CPM13.html]: | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/8yUvkgJ4m5ZHPdESAyjg8k] 1. Dialectical and Historical Materialism 2. Critique of Capitalism along the lines of Marx’s Law of Value 3. Advocacy for Revolutionary and Scientific Socialism As such, I created the following list to take you from no knowledge whatsoever of Leftist theory, and leave you with a strong understanding of the critical fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism in an order that builds up as you read. Let’s get started! Section I: Getting Started What the heck is Communism, anyways? For that matter, what is fascism? 1. Friedrich Engels’ Principles of Communism [http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/PC47.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/8JtpMuYQ6Ho6gzYtLLuL4k] The FAQ of Communism, written by the Luigi of the Marx & Engels duo. Quick to read, and easy to reference, this is the perfect start to your journey. 2. Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds [https://c.encryptionin.space/epubs/blackshirts-and-reds/] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/uZFGgeJsE4bHHBTd1m3eFK] Parenti’s characteristic wit is on full display in this historical contextualization and analysis of fascism and Communism. Line after line, Parenti debunks anti-Communist myths. This is also an excellent time to watch the famous “Yellow Parenti” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP8CzlFhc14] speech. Section II: Historical and Dialectical Materialism Ugh, philosophy? Really? YES! 3. Georges Politzer’s Elementary Principles of Philosophy [https://c.encryptionin.space/epubs/elementary-principles-of-philosophy/] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/wv44hU6NjoLgn6yrnXBQjc] By understanding Dialectical and Historical Materialism first, you make it easier to understand the rest of Marxism-Leninism. Don’t be intimidated! 4. Friedrich Engels’ Socialism: Utopian and Scientific [http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/SUS80.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/nhVVanPX5WPVor7Yy7TDrp?start=3h13m40s] Engels introduces Scientific Socialism, explaining how Capitalism itself prepares the conditions for public ownership and planning by centralizing itself into monopolist syndicates and cartels. Section III: Political Economy That’s right, it’s time for the Law of Value and a deep-dive into Imperialism. If we are to defeat Capitalism, we must learn it’s mechanisms, tendencies, contradictions, and laws. 5. Karl Marx’s Wage Labor and Capital [http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/WLC47.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/nhVVanPX5WPVor7Yy7TDrp?start=1h35m58s] & Wages, Price and Profit [http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/WPP65.html] | Audiobook [https://youtube.com/watch?v=TjhVZW3HJzM] Best taken as a pair, these essays simplify the most important parts of the Law of Value. 6. Vladimir Lenin’s Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism [http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/IMP16.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/8STrUAEfwiFGRFcRsSNqtv] The era of Imperialism, which as the primary contradiction cascades downward into all manner of related secondary contradictions. Section IV: Revolutionary and Scientific Socialism Can we defeat Capitalism at the ballot box? What about just defeating fascism? What about the role of the state? 7. Rosa Luxemburg’s Reform or Revolution [https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/k5tp58hyGPpTRUtpB79Kra] If Marxists believed reforming Capitalist society was possible, we would be the first in line for it. Sadly, it isn’t. 8. Vladimir Lenin’s The State and Revolution [http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/SR17.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/6M8bL2HGs5rGXmvThU1JG5] Further analyzes the necessity of Revolution and introduces the economic basis for the withering away of the State. Section V: National Liberation, De-colonialism, and Solidarity The revolution will not be fought by individuals, but by an intersectional, international working class movement. Solidarity allows different marginalized groups to work together in collective interest, unifying into a single broad movement. Marxists support the Right of Self-Determination for all peoples and support National Liberation movements against Imperialism. 9. Vikky Storm & Eme Flores’ The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/vikky-storm-the-gender-accelerationist-manifesto] | (No Audiobook yet) Breaks down misogyny, and queerphobia, as well as how to move beyond the base subject of “gender” from a Historical Materialist perspective. 10. Leslie Feinberg’s Lavender & Red [https://www.workers.org/book/lavender-red/] | Audiobook [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXUFLW8t2snsEPC7kkMKkZf-45FrnJTO7] When different social groups fight for liberation together along intersectional lines, they are emboldened and empowered ever-further. 11. Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth [https://archive.org/details/the-wretched-of-the-earth] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/p/f3tK7UC2HAK1WLUNg4yVen] & Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed [https://archive.org/details/FreirePedagogyOfTheOppresed] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/koxxesz38QPVKaAFr8iVTF] De-colonialism is essential to Marxism. Without having a strong, de-colonial, internationalist stance, we have no path to victory nor justice. These books are best taken as a pair, read in quick succession. Section VI: Putting it into Practice! It’s not enough to endlessly read, you must put theory to practice. That is how you can improve yourself and the movements you support. Touch grass! 12. Mao Tse-Tung’s On Practice [http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/OP37.html] & On Contradiction [http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/OC37.html] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/qnzYg56huhwgKYk9Py3mcR] Mao wrote simply and directly to peasant soldiers during the Revolutionary War in China. This pair of essays equip the reader to apply the analytical tools of Dialectical Materialism to their every day practice. 13. Vladimir Lenin’s “Left-Wing” Communism, an Infantile Disorder [http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/LWC20.html] | Audiobook [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh84f8czc7g] Common among new leftists is dogmatism over pragmatism. Everyone wants perfection, but dogmatic “left” anti-Communists let perfection become the enemy of progress. 14. Jones Manoel’s Western Marxism Loves Purity and Martyrdom, But Not Real Revolution [https://blackagendareport.com/western-marxism-loves-purity-and-martyrdom-not-real-revolution] | (No Audiobook yet) Common among western leftists is fetishization of Marxism, rather than using it as a tool for analysis and social change. This article helps rectify that. 15. Liu Shaoqi’s How to be a Good Communist [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/liu-shaoqi/1939/how-to-be/index.htm] | Audiobook [https://tankie.tube/w/kzi58GMjH9DzSBqz1eTXVb] Organizing is a skill. If we are to be successful, we must work to better ourselves. Congratulations, you completed your introductory reading course! With your new understanding and knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, here is a mini What is to be Done? of your own to follow, and take with you as practical advice. 1. Get organized. The Party for Socialism and Liberation [https://pslweb.org/], Freedom Road Socialist Organization [https://frso.org/], and Red Star Caucus [https://redstarcaucus.org/] all organize year round, every year, because the battle for progress is a constant struggle. See if there is a chapter near you, or start one! 2. Read theory. Don’t think that you are done now! Just because you have the basics, doesn’t mean you know more than you do. If you have not investigated a subject, don’t speak on it! 3. Aggressively combat white supremacy, misogyny, queerphobia, and other attacks on marginalized communities. Cede no ground, let nobody go forgotten. 4. Be industrious, and self-sufficient. Take up gardening, home repair, tinkering. It is through practice that you elevate your knowledge. 5. Learn self-defense. Get armed, if practical. Be ready to protect yourself and others. 6. Be persistent. If you feel like a single water droplet against a mountain, think of canyons and valleys. With consistency, every rock, boulder, mountain, can be drilled through with nothing but water droplets. “Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.” ­— Mao Tse-Tung Credits [https://lemmy.ml/comment/15046925]

Show threadHubertManneOct 17
I mean im big into philosophy and religion and politics so it was more when did lifes distractions keep me from it. I was never religious though. Also though im old.
Show threadLeeeroooyJeeenkiiins [none/use name]Oct 17

Anyone with a brain who is a member of the working class should be immediately and innately political as soon as they are exposed to even the slightest fraction of society. Everything is political, and it’s politics that dictate that they will largely work for the benefit of a vanishingly small class of parasites until they die an early death because politics also dictate that their healthcare will be unaffordable, as will their education, etc.

If you respond with some “oh you’re just victim blaming yourself” shit i’ll upgrade calling you a loser to saying you should be actively murdered

Show threadTreczoksOct 17

During and due to the reign of Helmut Kohl. A chancellor who put the sake of the party over his oath of office. There were large donations to his party of unknown origin, and he claimed that he had given the donor his word of honor not to tell where the money came from. And that was it. No prosecution, no consequences.

This is for me simply unacceptable. Our Grundgesetz (constitution) says that anybody is equal before the law, and here someone was obviously more equal than others.

Show threadIcytreesOct 17
A self proclaimed prophetic witch from Australia I met while cybersexting in a yahoo chat room told me George Bush was going to start a war if he got elected.