Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at hoome. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread!
We have a Matrix homeserver at genzedong.xyz. See this thread for information about our Matrix space.
Short reading list for new MLs here. To find theory, try marxists.org, Anna’s Archive, libgen, or Sci-Hub (for scientific articles). If an article is unavailable, try the Wayback Machine.
Is it OK if I post the same thing here that I posted in the hexbear megathread? I’m just wanna do it right now. These feelings are hitting me hard. DOnt worry though, I’m about to go to bed.
The problem I’m having with the back and forth with libs is my inherent empathy. I feel for them and want to reach out with them. I can’t (Usually) just aggressively dunk and move on.
The worst yet for me was the thing earlier with the guy who can’t engage with political memes at all because he thinks they all MIGHT be Russian social media infiltration. I started getting sincerely and genuinely invested in being concerned for their mental health. I actually had like, a continuous low level panic attack going. My body was tense and nervous.
I know the response here is going to be to tell me to just log off and stop getting invested in this, but I really just wanted to vent about how all this is making me feel. I want to help these people out of the bubbles they are in. When they use thought terminating cliches to avoid thinking, it upsets me because god I WANT THEM TO THINK. For their sake.
I think it’s good to always act in good faith towards them. But if you explain something three times and they’re not at least considering another opinion, that’s on them.
It can hurt to care, but the fact that you care means that you are the kind of comrade that leftism needs.
The challenge will be to care in ways that don’t burn you out with frustration. Compassion fatigue is a real thing and nurses suffer from it quite often, for example.
It’s hard isn’t it? I have similar instincts, although I can turn it off when I’m being trolled. Some people don’t want to be reached. They aren’t talking in good faith. They aren’t interested in what you have to say. They know what they are and are happy about it.
You might get hurt if you try to fix everyone. It’s okay not to fix them. It’s okay not to dunk on them, either. It’s okay to say your piece and leave them to think about it. They’ll either grow and develop. Or they won’t. Liberalism provides an answer to every rebuttal. It might be a shit answer, but it has one. Sometimes planting the seed of doubt is enough.
There’s a YouTube series that you might find helpful for reframing the way that you see the people you interact with and how you engage with them: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJA_jUddXvY7v0VkYRbANnTnzkA_HMFtQ . This video in particular may be useful to know what you’re up against: https://youtu.be/CaPgDQkmqqM . I hope this helps and I hope you don’t get too exhausted.