Being terminally political brained isn’t the norm, and I don’t think we should expect it from the average person, either.

Once you realize this you start to get the feeling the social media echo-chambers of the left are like the bucket full of crabs.

I am prepared for all the hate for this one tbh. Ultras won’t be able to read this from the perspective of your average working class American.

I’m not sure why but I’ve met several anarchists who hold Mao in high esteem.

yeah I suppose it would be better to say “the red scare is more recent, and anarchism has a more accepted culture built around it” (ie punk, see: hot topic joke below)

So we’ve got the martyrdom and purity fetish for the immaculate revolution covered there. Last of all to circle back around to the ideological comfort of the negative, I’ve seen plenty of anarchists do this and I have definitely been guilty of doing this myself - by not supporting or critically supporting any but the briefest attempts at revolution (and then only maybe 3 or so of those), you can create a rhetorical and ideological detachment from the real world attempts. You don’t have to engage or defend anything, you can just reflexively dismiss things as being statist or hierarchical or authoritarian and thus you don’t have to grapple with the reality of their circumstances or to consider what would be a better way of resolving the contradictions or moving forwards with the project. “You committed the sin of statism? Then I can wash my hands of you and that’s that.”

This is alluring because it’s a simple rubric and you don’t need to wrestle with the reality of things. To put this into an analogy that’s probably more relatable, imagine a Marxist who refuses to engage in the ol’ agitate/educate/organise because “liberals are social fascists and counterrevolutionary - I’m not gonna waste my time befriending my enemies!”

On the face of it, there’s nothing false in that statement. But the application of this line of thinking absolves this Marxist from needing to do any of the hard work because they have created a rhetorical and ideological detachment from the most important task that a revolutionary faces and so by abdicating from this duty they never have to put in any effort and they never have to deal with fuckups and failures and addressing their own inadequacies.

You made an insightful point here, especially in describing the “comfort in the negative.” It’s a powerful way to frame something we often see among leftist movements—communists, anarchists, and so on. In each of these groups, the ultimate goal is revolution, but it’s an incredibly challenging task. Achieving it will require facing repeated failures, trying things that might not work, and stepping out of one’s comfort zone. It involves risks, potential ridicule, and, most importantly, a willingness to act even when it’s difficult.

As you noted, when people detach ideologically from these necessary actions, the movement can turn into a “crabs in a bucket” scenario. Anyone attempting to step up and say, “We need to organize, try new approaches, or take real action,” often faces pushback. They’re met with ideological deflections—labelled statist, accused of being bourgeois, criticized for appealing to the proletariat in the wrong way, or dismissed for engaging in electoralism. These buzzwords, tied back to ideology, become tools for avoiding action altogether.

This resistance often stems from a fear of failure. Being self-critical and confronting one’s own limitations is uncomfortable. So rather than grow through action, some people use the very ideology that promotes change as an excuse to avoid taking the difficult steps required to enact it. Instead of embodying the call to action, they let theoretical adherence to action justify inaction.

tfw you become a martyr for anarchism and don’t even get merch in Hot Topic

There was no red scare for anarchism, so it’s much easier to go from liberal -> anarchist than it is to go liberal -> communist. If you take the former route, the propaganda around communism never truly fads. Also doesn’t help that anarchists are typically the most active block of organizers/protestors/activists in the states. Communist orgs a lot of the time are just glorified book clubs, if you want to feed people, build bus benches, do a coat drive, counter-protest police, or whatever else, the people who are often at the forefront of this are anarchists. There is absolutely an image of the “academic communist” too concerned this theory specifics and sectarian lines to do any real action. This stereotype is rooted in some level of truth. I became disillusioned with anarchism, remaining steadfast that a vanguard party is key to true revolutionary change, yet in my own circles and among those I organize with, the communists in that camp simply do not organize, they do not. If you need advice on what book to read? They are the people to go to. If you need advice on mobilizing your neighborhood? You go to the anarchists. When I speak with communists I’m met with defeatism and often, an inflated sense of self-superiority. What is theory without practice? and to the anarchists: What is practice without theory?

It wasn’t always this way, and it doesn’t have to be this way. In the States there’s no doubt that our synthesis of theory and material conditions will be a blend of both camps.

went with the first number from a well known lib source (the independent) but it’s deff higher, the fact that one of the reactions this has gotten is pointing that out is a good thing.

is there like an art or zine channel? I never used reddit b4 this

debating the meaning of DoD funded Marvel slop is meaningless and worthless tho

you DO mean that you think most of these people would be doing other jobs if there were options in their form of skilled labor? Because if so I completely agree with that, there’s literally no options available other than that for them yes this is exactly what I mean

What you’re left with is practically multiple generation’s worth of humanities students, philosophers, social scientists, media critics, media designers and theorists, and other extremely important jobs, with absolute no way to make money from these passions as well as skills without turning to platforms such as YouTube which don’t have a direct hiring process or strict employment limit. With the animator layoffs that have happened and all the shows that have been just outright cut out of streaming services I imagine this issue is just getting worse.

you said it better than me comrade

ayo i got a job tho

This isn’t me saying video essays are bad, it’s me saying the fact that so many are making them, that our youth are spending their most productive years making “content”, it is a sign of ill-managed labor resources. It’s systemic. I support a few creators on youtube, I watch this type of content. Yet I know for a fact that a lot of it only exists because of this labor mismanagement. We are living in an ecological collapse and you’re telling me the most productive work to be done is a 12 hour video essay on TES?

last bump

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are they already revealing the PS6? Man I don’t know a single person with a PS5

AI is a bubble and it’s already starting to burst. What’s worse to me is the amount of thumbnails that use AI. If I see that in my feed it’s an instant “Do not Recommend”

me posting on /mutualaid (this is a cry for help)