Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
☭ Matrix homeserver and space
☭ Theory discussion group on /c/theory@lemmygrad.ml
☭ Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna’s Archive, libgen
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So for as long as I can remember I dress how I wanted and did my own hobbies. Colorful or alternative clothing, being a open and accepting person, that kind of stuff. And I suffered a great deal of ridicule for it in my hometown, being called gay and whatnot.
So years go by and I continue to be me, you know. Dress in my own type of clothes, enjoy my coffee while reading a book outside, whatever. And after leaving my hometown and moving into the big city some years ago I finally felt like I found a place where I could do such things without facing homophobia.
Only now this whole ‘aesthetic’ has been hijacked by the performative male meme which is now, imo, turning into another form of homphobia (haha real men can’t read books or wear flashy outfits by themselves, they must be acting to get laid!). It is reinforcing patriarchic views of what men can and cannot like. Men can’t like stuff women happen to like without ulterior motives, or without being gay.
My mom send me the vote suggestion she got based on a quiz she did for the Dutch elections and it is a split between D66 (neolib) and the Green/Labour fusion and she said that for the Greens she didn’t really support their ‘radical’ side.
Mother in Christ what radical side
Hey, new to Lemmygrad, but if I have an account here, I can’t post on hexbear, for example? Because I see some people with @hexbear.net posting here, but if I go there, I’m unable to. Or do I need to enable something somewhere?
You have to access the posts from Lemmygrad. You can use the “All” view, or visit specific communities (e.g.
lemmygrad.ml/c/news.net). You can also subscribe to communities and then use the “Subscribed” view.Ah, gotcha, thanks!
The amount of alleged “Marxists” I’ve encountered who prefer vibes to materialism, lack basic reading comprehension, and prefer strawmen arguments over responding to what was actually written is really putting my revolutionary optimism to the test. Some comrades out there really need to learn how to process information before reacting to it.
I expect this shit from liberals but we’re supposed to be better than this.
This is why we have to build a vanguard party. Not all the working class can/will/need to understand dialectical materialism.
Vibes based Comrades can be safely kept out of the loop and called in at a moments notice. Your party needs to have a person who can harness vibes and direct those people where needed. That was what Lenin did with trosky.
Can you imagine the headaches involved in managing trostky?
Lenin was stronger than I to tolerate Trotsky ngl
hexbear cultural revolution when???
Ouch oof owie yowsah AAAAAAAAAAA
Username checks out
Lol what the actual fuck is going on hexbear. We’re supposed to accept genocidal jackboots (some with nazi tattoos), apparently we’re remaking the clean Wehrmacht myth with how “propaganda” affects those who join the military even though most military is middle-class and on a DPRK post you can see a “Yay, more bombs” tongue-in-cheek post!
This is literally all happening within the past like week.
Yeah, glad I stopped using Hexbear anywhere near as much a few months ago. Hell of a lot of idealism and supporting Yankee bullshit.
The change has been happening for over a year. This time last year the admin team was picking off/driving out quality power posters and while pulling in libs from blue sky and reddit. Remember when they tried to permaban Awoo? That was not a one off it was just them finding the limits of who they could purge in their quest to liberalize the community.
The rot always spreads from the top. And anti-imperialist sentiments are always the first thing to go.
Putting it that way makes sense.
I was driven out of there a month ago or so for similar reasons. There’s a problem with the mods, they defended Zionist arguments for years regarding the Israel emoji and banned anybody who brought it up.
I remember that. Civility policing. All too familiar.
Nazi bar
yeah the discussion around vets is making me super uncomfortable there.
I think it’s gross how you stating that it made you uncomfortable got you a downvote. Person can direct their ire at me all they want behind the block-wall, downvoting you for stating that is just gross.
Glad I blocked them.
Days without leftist infighting: 0. Dutch party Bij1 posted a video on Instagram about a cheese salesman and it got the vegans mad.
Now, as a vegan, I must say commies themselves like to stick their head in the sand on veganism as well.
The discourse on veganism inside leftist circles is too militant to result in anything productive. Include the whole „my pet gets a vegan diet too“ thing and watch the chaos unfold.
Veganism is clearly the theoretically correct position, it’s just one that’s very unpopular with the masses. It’s hard to square this circle
True
Some BIJ1 members can’t fathom the idea that to be leftist you have to connect with everyday people you don’t agree with eveything on. BIJ1 needs to be 100% perfect for them and otherwise they immediately start throwing a fuss. Those videos show that BIJ1 is going in the right direction, connecting with everyday people, and some people can’t handle them not staying in a purely activist bubble.
Unfortunately for them that’s the only way for a party to go forward. You can have criticism of promoting things as cheese or whatever but you also need to go outside and connect to people if you want to grow. Otherwise make a vegan party.
Lmao a commie meme page on Instagram made a post about this and then blocked me instantly after I commented on it lol. Please people go outside and touch grass sometimes.
commies themselves like to stick their head in the sand on veganism as well.
What do you mean by that? I’ve tried to be…let’s call it more vegan myself.
Is there any socialist framework for veganism? I’d see the exploitation of labour as always, and maybe that of resources, but maybe not a sort of symbiotic relationship with nature stemming from
socialist theory.
I’m probably missing plenty of theory in this regard. (And all regards, even, tbf)
Or something like what jason hickel says in his Degrowth book “Less is More”, but from a socialist perspective.
For some reason a lot of vegans turn to anarchism and there is not much marxist stuff on veganism around. Personally I view veganism as a sort of abolishionist movement that seeks to abolish the exploitation of both nature and other sentient beings as far as practically possible. Given the enormous usage of land and the enormous environmental impact the meat and dairy industry has, most of which is put on the shoulders of the Global South, I see it as a logical thing to strive for a society that is as vegan as possible.
What I meant with my statement is that many communists tend to kneejerk into ‘white privilege thing!’ as soon as they hear veganism, ignoring many different vegan practices around the world. It’s like a speedrun infighting word to use in communist circles I feel.
i really like how you frame it through abolitionism
What do you mean by that?
communists often either don’t talk about veganism at all, or are quite condescending to it, saying that its bourgeois / consumer focused logic etc.
Is there any socialist framework for veganism?
there is a lot of stuff written by anarchists that focuses on exploitation and speciesism, which I find quite convincing personally
Has there been any sort or post or anything regarding learning theory by
alternative means?
i.e. not reading. Listening or watching or even playing?
And is there any recommended way to
learn theory?
Like picking a physical book over an e-book because it’s a more sensorial experience and helps you understand it better. (And would videogames work any better by the same logic?)
My question in both about effective learning methods, aswell as gaining a better understanding of it. And it could also encompass probably the habits aspect of reading
purposefully and consistently.
Which I believe is what is said on the general rules for independent study.
It gets mentioned from time to time.
Everyone has their own tricks
My neurodivergent configuration likes an audio book while doing stuff that doesn’t require the language processing part of my brain. So I listen to things a few times over while going for a walk, playing certain video games (freecell), working in the garden etc. Then a bit of discussion in case there were some things other people noticed that I didn’t.
The best way to learn depends on the individual. Some people learn better by reading, others by listening. For some, alternative media like videos and games may be more effective (if anyone knows of any educational games for Marxist theory, let me know). The main thing I’d recommend is taking notes, regardless of the medium
i havent see any post, but i think the usual methods of self study apply, for instance taking lots of notes, using study questions etc.
Socialism is inevitable as long as we keep on fighting for it.
Much as I hate Bluesky it was great for shitposting.
Shitposting on Mastodon just doesn’t hit the same. It seems like nobody uses it which just feels odd after having like 5k followers on Bsky. Like I’m literally screaming into the void.
The conservative party of my country just did a relaunch campaign and i kid you not, their “new” motto is “Patria, familia y libertad”. 😂
It’s very funny because the emerging republican-ish libertarian party in México was using that motto and they’re mad as fuck.
Is this the PAN?
yes
Watching Mearsheimer and Sachs on Glenn Diesen about “Spheres of Security”…Sachs saying he agrees with what Stalin wanted to do with Germany after WW2 and Mearsheimer saying Germany should have been broken up to pieces after WW1 made me chuckle. It’s like reading takes from Lemmygrad and Hexbear. 😄
Went to visit a more culturally diverse part of Cologne yesterday and of course there the Palestina stuff was. It once again confirmed to me that white people need to get a grip.
And as passive they are about Palestine, as insufferable they are about Ukraine.
The german left „establishment“ is responsible for the abhorrent abyss of chauvinism inside the country. Abandoning „alienating aspects“ for the sake of „electability“ and „mass appeal“.
I myself became a persona non-grata in my local circle for being „pro-putin“ and „pro-islamic fascism“, though that was a few years ago when even our international comrades told me I shouldn’t have „an opinion“ on Israel or Palestine and accusing me of subconscious antisemitism merely because of my ethnic background - Advocating for the decolonization and abolition of the Zionist entity is no longer as controversial as it was two years ago.
shit just got real
