Flippant Anarchism. A lighter take on social criticism with the aim of agitation.
Post humorous takes on capitalism and the states which prop it up. Memes, shitposting, screenshots of humorous good takes, discussions making fun of some reactionary online, it all works.
This community is anarchist-flavored. Reactionary takes won't be tolerated.
Don't take yourselves too seriously. Serious posts go to !anarchism@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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This is an anarchist comm. You don't have to be an anarchist to post, but you should at least understand what anarchism actually is. We're not here to educate you.
No shaming people for being anti-electoralism. This should be obvious from the above point but apparently we need to make it obvious to the turbolibs who can't control themselves. You have the rest of lemmy to moralize.
Join the matrix room for some real-time discussion.
Seeing someone "vaguelly left" unironically defending the extrajudicial murder of Rosa fucking Luxembourg was not in my bingo card.
Note that even Germany itself celebrates Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht
I am USAsian, your inkling was correct.
What I was trying to say was specific to those convinced by that most basic, placid, wholesome and ... obviously false upon any serious critical evaluation ... that kind of just fucking frollicking in the fields level naïveté, that kind of rhetoric.
Liberals are obviously capable of making more logically compelling and rhetorically moving slogans and arguments ... but I'm trying to focus on the most banal.
This type of shit is only convincing to ... hopefully you are familiar with 'Disney Adults'.
People who really do just base a massive amount of their personality off of a retreat into a dream world.
In my life, all the dumbest liberals I've known... have been Disney Adults, or something approximating that for some other... basically fandom.
You take that away, that consumerism enabled fantasy, and there's almost nothing to them other than being a nervous wreck.
........
You are of course not wrong about the ... sinister ways that neoliberalism creates and/or amplifies the conditions that make it more likely for people to be this way...
But I will freely admit this is personal, anecdotal, for and from me.
Anyway... in a weird way, these kinds of people would call themselves liberals or progressives or even leftists... but in actuality they are reactionaries of a kind, by way of escaping into nostalgia, always as a consistent behavior pattern in their own lives.
......
I hear you when you say you tend to view these people as victims.
But I have personally known and been fucked over by too many of these unstable idiots that lie, cheat, steal, break down and panic, at the worst possible times, and then they guilt trip you for noticing they did that, because they are in such inner turmoil that actually you should just give them endless leeway, emotional capacity, trust, material means, social favors, whatever.
They are not capable of holding themselves accountable for anything they do or believe, and because of this cowardice, they ruin those around them, mostly unintentionally.
Now just scale that up from a small social circle to... abdicating their responsibility to usefully give a fuck about their fellow human beings in this world.
They won't tell you they don't care, they do care.
They will tell you they are completely overwhelmed, and thus just do some token thing, because at least that gets them social credit with others like them.
Frankly, it sickens me.
I would more respect a completely apathetic or totally cynical and resigned person... they're more likely to have at least a stable personality and set of behaviors, less likely to actively do harm via naive good intentions.
........
I am at least self aware enough to realize I am probably not the best person to rely on for motivating or radicalizing such people, lol.
But perhaps a useful insight here can be my attempt at an elucidation of the average mental state of these people, such that effective means could be developed toward the aim of ... alleviating their condition.
Though I genuienly have no idea what that approach would be, neither in terms of something effective, nor ... generally morally acceptable.
In my own experience, it does unfortunately seem that, as you say, such people only have even a chance at a significant world view shift if something catastrophic happens to them personally.
I don't disagree with you at all. I think it's true that they are both victims and a huge problem that needs to be fought against. Progressive/liberal activism is a massive problem for one of my collectives and we're constantly suffering their attempts to undo every step forward.
I think I understand the "Disney adults" thing but that's not as common here in my experience. There's certainly an equivalent of it, but it's less dream world and more "I've got mine" reinforced by being completely separated from those who don't, rather than blindly ignoring reality. It's a product of having a relatively large and comfortable middle class and a culture of individuality 🤮.
I also don't really know how to push people to change, exposure to injustice works but I've only ever managed that when they've already started that process themselves. Get them involved in something that puts them in opposition with the state, like mainstream climate activism or something, and then provide more and more exposure to radical ideas and the suffering of those who aren't favoured by the state. The problem is they have to be willing to engage with it at every stage...
Maybe a way I could better explain the 'Disney Adult'... is that it is almost, kind of, maybe like a person with a fursona, who is /really/ deep into it.
The Disney Adult is ... not the real them, 90% of the time. They are a child in an adult body who is 'adulting', ie, just performing at the concept of ... being a mature and responsible person.
The "real" them is who they are when they take their annual trip to Disney Land (their own finances be damned, the pilgramage must be made), when they are rewatching the movies, when they are pretending to be a character from the movie and singing the song, when they are in costume as a Disney character... and acting like their idea of that character.
This is more advanced, more performative, disassociative, distinct than your typical 'well i got mine, fuck them poors' type of NIMBYism.
This is a person who does not have normal ... plates, cups, pillows, etc...they are all branded with Disney stuff.
Full immersion in the Disney flavor of the neoliberal phantasia/hyperreality, they've fully bought (in many ways literally) their magical fantasy personality from Disney, a lifestyle as a consumer product.
This is the kind of person who would have no problem rebelling against say, Christianity, but would likely either view r34 pr0n of their favorite Disney characters as damnable heresy, or have a closeted and shameful, a publically denied, fetishized enjoyment of it.
... I swear I am not being hyperbolic, as... odd as this may seem... I've known multiple people like this.
... Perhaps the saddest thing is that yes this arises from a highly individualistic society, but what this is is simply purchasing a more or less prepackaged identity from a company.... not actually formulating your own, which is why I say these people have very weak concepts of their own self identity.
Imo, this is exactly what's going on with the subject of this post and their band of merry men.