ihaveibs

So we went from "Biden defeated Russia without even trying!" to "Ukraine must defend Europe from Russia at all costs" in like 3 hours lol

No time to be a human being, your training as an oppressor starts from day 1

I meant in the way that this all just seems so strange

Wtf is going on lol

I've been thinking on my white anglo upbringing a lot as well, we are literally socialized through threats to get in line. From the beginning we are not even raised properly as children

The whole thing is just a bit too odd, we will have to wait for the dust to settle

I think even just the term "mental health" obfuscates the fact that its really just about people's general wellbeing. Poor "mental health" is just the result of living in a morally and culturally bankrupt society where people's fundamental social needs are not met.

I don't think it is intended to be a moral condemnation. Rather, I think it just points out that approaching people in the imperial core as noncomplicit, brainwashed and unwitting participants in propaganda is a serious error that will lead nowhere and burn out comrades who think that people are one good article or piece of data away from changing their minds. I think Day does a good job relating this back to the western ideological tendency to cast issues as being entirely orchestrated by a cabal of sorts and imposed entirely on a helpless population. I definitely think the author could do a better job of filling in the edges of his argument though.

But these liberal online spaces that OP is talking about are comprised precisely of westerners intentionally seeking out propaganda to reinforce their world view that their system and society is superior. In my view, understanding that these people are making, on some level, a deliberate choice to accept this propaganda indicates that they are not who we should be seeking solidarity with. I think this idea helps avoid frustrations that OP is experiencing and helps us re-orient to find individuals we can actually build movements with.

Here is a good article that I think can help.

Roderick Day - The Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of "Brainwashing"

Here are some choice excerpts: "Westerners aren’t helpless innocents whose minds are injected with atrocity propaganda, science fiction-style; they’re generally smug bourgeois proletarians who intelligently seek out as much racist propaganda as they can get their hands on. This is because it fundamentally makes them feel better about who they are and how they live. The psychic and material costs are rationally worth the benefits."

"I reject only the common misconception that propaganda “manufactures consent” (Chomsky) or “invents reality” (Parenti), because it exaggerates the feat accomplished by propagandists, and, in doing so, it obscures the real material basis that has historically made even the working poor in the imperial core complicit."

"Let us look at a specific example. A claim like “There’s cultural genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang” is simply unreal to most Westerners, close to pure gibberish. The words really refer to existing entities and geographies, but Westerners aren’t familiar with them. The actual content of the utterance as it spills out is no more complex or nuanced than “China Bad,” and the elementary mistakes people make when they write out statements of “solidarity” make that much clear. This is not a complaint that these people have not studied China enough... It’s instead an acknowledgment that they are eagerly wielding the accusation like a club, that they are in reality unconcerned with its truth-content, because it serves a social purpose."

"Forget about convincing the person in question. Focus instead on finding other people to whom such a case can be made. This will lead you directly to class analysis."

This helped me refocus and not become so frustrated with trying to "convince" people who have class interests that make it unlikely they will ever change their minds.

There is this super obscure Australian prog metal band (in a King Crimson kind of way, not the Dream Theater kind) called Serious Beak that released this awesome album 9 years ago called Huxwhukw. It's some early djenty stuff in there too, I think it sounds amazing. I've always tried to get people into it but with no luck.

Serious Beak - Huxwhukw

This is a U.S. politician saying this right? Kinda saying the quiet part out loud regarding the EU being a vassal state

Damn now I know why that stupid fucking dance has such a large cultural cachet