i'm a diehard communist-capitalist proto-maoist astro-libertarian 3rd generation, and i actually hate grass. grass is a marketing ploy for the lawnmower industry to sell more lawnmowers, and the bourgeoisie are hoarding all the lawnmowers so the proletariat can't cut their own grass. which is actually a good thing. except when it isn't, then i hate it.
Very important words! Politics isn’t roleplaying, it’s studying and organizing and action. And every young or new leftist (like myself) is on a journey there
it can be roleplaying, like a lot of politics is just theatre with very real consequences, but its complex, frustrating and very much about compromises, its good to have ideals, they are important, but politics also are pragmatic and frustrating. And important, but its also real work to even keep up with whats going on and not falling into misinfo,, and i fdont talk about the capital, but real world history and irs effects and that going on, and current going on history, Not to mention organizing, really wrong trying out, just probably not being blind and asking questions and listrening to what people answer is good praxis. Which never stops, ever.
I grew up being told that socialism is bad but that Einstein is a genius. And then I read Einstein's "Thoughts & Opinions" and discovered that Einstein was a socialist.
And then later you learn all of humanities geniuses have had really stupid idea. Some would even say they are in threat of the worst and most arrogant ideas.
i used to diss the people that told me to "read theory" and genuinely understand the fundamentals of whatever ideology i wanted to implement. but now that i grow older i realize that change can't be made from shitposting on some obscure subreddit, but rather real-world action like convincing others, protesting and other similar actions. i guess you quite literally need to "touch grass" if you wanna make change
I still diss people who just say "read theory" that's basically the same as "google it". Replace it with "read anti-dühring", "read Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy in General", "read Common Sense: The Origin and Design of Government" etc. Don't just ask for self-education, help people find where you consider them as lacking in understanding
No, that's wrong. You still aren't there. CHANGE comes from... CHANGING SOMETHING. Not protesting, or convincing others. That isn't changing anything. You are stuffing the chain of cause to effect with more and more links that you will never need to evaluate as a positive change. I have noticed this disease among leftists. It is getting worse.
Good video. The other advice I'd give young leftists (I'm 32, so no spring chicken anymore lol) is to keep your core values and what you're FOR at the heart of what you do. A lot of political discourse I find from people across the spectrum is reactive and centered around what people are AGAINST. When people are wrapped around what they're against, it leads to anger, toxicity and sometimes deploying the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' tactic, which results in hypocrisy and sympathizing with the wrong causes. It's ultimately more destructive than constructive, and we need to be as constructive as possible.
You are right, and still... paradoxically there are certain areas where you sell out all you are for by not standing against what is 'wrong' for you. For example... taking a quote from this video..The statement, "the terms authoritarianism and libertarianism aren't even respected phrases used in political science anymore", could create the impression that the structure of organization is not important or has no impact (in which case, why be a critic of the structures of capitalism?) Whether or not the terms have sway or favor for use in what circles, the ideas of horizontal vs vertical power structures are essential to what political power will build. It is important to understand and recognize this fact.
@@pedrob3953 this is only true if you lack impulse control and behave like a feral animal, you are the master over the reality you live within Don Quixote style. No one can tell you that those windmills aren't actually giants, you have to decide that for yourself.
I have always proudly told people I am on the radical left. Why lie, they will notice anyway and why should I be ashamed of a label I embrace. I am an Anarcho Socialist. So calling myself a communist would be dishonest anyway, I am only in the broadest of senses a communist. And by always I mean since youth for more than two decades. Since I can remember having genuine thought, these ideas and positions always were there, maybe not formulated, not read up on, but extant. If people find offense in that, they can try to attack me, but then we will both have a discussion on the Overton Window and you will have to justify yours in a historic context.
I really hate that I've told everyone I'm a communist. The word communist means different things to everyone and I don't even agree with most of them, at least not anymore. But I can't un-tell my grandpa I'm a commie lmao. We don't talk politics anymore even though I learned a lot of my values from talking politics with him. He thinks I'm a communist, and therefore thinks talking politics with me could be a bad idea. Oh well.
@@8is There's something called rationalization in psychiatry. People try to lessen their guilt by assuming everyone to be like them. Charles Manson used to think of everyone else to be murderers. I know there's no point in edifying you as you're a contraceptive failure, but google "fascism". You'll find anti-communism in the answers.
A word of advice? You can tell people that you're not a communist anymore. It's easier if you're still younger, as people expect more variation and missteps as you're still figuring yourself out and settling into what you truly believe. However, even if you're on the older side, people will still listen if you say that you've changed your mind. With your grandpa, you can say pretty much what you said here. You no longer agree with a lot of the meaning of communism, that you feel you learned a lot of your core political values from him (the word core is here important, as it excludes the communist part, which he obviously dislikes), and that you really valued political discussions with him. This would probably go down best in person, but it would probably work over text too, if you get anxious. Good luck in reigniting your political relationship!
I’m not gonna lie to myself, it feels great having an aesthetic. It feels great “looking like” something. Not just in politics, in anything. Like what kind of philosophy you’re into, what field of study you like, even what kind of humour you’re into or what you’re interested in. It feels great making a brand and an image of yourself. But the damage comes when you try to fit into a predestined box. Like there was this one person at my school who realised they were bisexual and they basically threw away their personality to force themselves to fit the stereotype. I guess if you just say, “no f**k you, I’m gonna make my own box and no-one can worship it or follow it”. I usually call myself like, “broadly left-wing” or like “centre-left”, because my worldview is basically “this kind of economics is all we can achieve during my lifetime, a stateless and moneyless society can come later” kind of thing. And I actually support some ideals which other leftists will probably hate me for supporting. Those ideals that create my own personal ideology only came when I became more apolitical, when I decided to turn away from politics a little. Anyway, sorry if I ranted too much, hope you’re having a lovely day and good luck in whatever you are doing. Cya
I was debating personal philosophy and self-conception with a friend recently, and they paraphrased Marx. "We have nothing to lose but our labels". We need alliances and cooperation with each other. Do the Good Work ✊🏼
Well that idea can only really be spread so far. It’s truth depends on context. You extend your alliship far enough and the leopards start eating your face, to borrow the idiom
I think this is one of your most important videos you've made. I agree fully, I used to adopt labels from month to month. Now when people ask me what I am I say: "I don't call myself Marxist-Leninist but I tend to agree with ML and MLM groups more often than not." I never really "debate" fellow anticapitalists but rather discuss and listen to what they think and why. It feels like I have grown more as an activist since I adopted that state of mind rather than adopting a political label.
I'm glad we on the right don't really have this problem. You can talk with a libertarian, objectivist, conservative, paleoconservative, paleolibertarian, hoppean, ancap, neocon, neoliberal, classical liberal, austrian, voluntaryist or whatever and still find a shocking amount of agreement. Probably because we all fundamentally see government tyranny for what it is and just want to live our own free lives. But also probably because we're all anti-communists since we recognize it for how it is the single most destructive, vile and cancerous ideology ever faced by man and must be stopped at any cost.
@@8is I'd say it's mostly because it's easier to get along while being a part of the status quo. Even though there are significant differences between those right-wing ideologies when it comes to social issues and minor details on infrastructure, they all have in common that they support capitalism and as you put it, are strict anti-communists. I have been on most sides of the political spectrum in my life. Neo-nazi, Conservative, Liberal, Socialdemocrat, Anarchist and now Marxist. What I can tell you is that it was WAY easier being pro capitalism since it's the dominant mode of production in today's world. The easiest part of supporting capitalism is that it rejects nuance in everything. History, economics, infrastructure and so on. Communism and Socialism is arguably just as vile and cancerous as Capitalism, Feudalism and Slave Societies. Socialism isn't the best mode of production for 100% of the population, it is bad for the bourgeoisie and good for the Proletariat. Social classes have fundamental conflicts of interest. On the other hand, Communism is arguably the least vile and cancerous mode of production out of all our historical systems, since a Communist society have no social classes, states, money etc. It's more or less beneficial for most, if not 100% of the population, since the fundamental conflicts of interests wither away. Believing that our current mode of production will last forever is laughable at best. No matter if we're talking about people, society, religion, nature, culture, politics etc, the inevitable fact is: everything changes and evolves, whether we like it or not. No matter how much we strive to preserve traditions, they won't last. Humankind is dependent on our material reality, there isn't an ideology or mode of production that can change that. You do whatever, but you should study topics you disagree with to get more open minded. If you truly believe that Communism is inherently vile and cancerous and not capitalism, then your worldview and reasoning is completely skewed. Legitimising one form of class oppression but demonising just another form of class oppression is wierd.
As a gen Z, I needed to hear this. I didn’t even realize I had this problem: the obsession with what I am specifically rather than just learning about shit. Great video
I am 18 year old from India and I got into Marxism from Second thought when I used to watch science channels and wondered why the US and contemporary capitalist powers are failing to even protect its citizens from COVID pandemic
@@ruaridevlin4438 all media is inherently propaganda. Anything that makes you question the status quo from an academic perspective is GOOD propaganda. If you fall for standard status quo media, you are falling for the bad propaganda.
@@eddypasta8234Not all media is propaganda. This is a misuse of terms. If a book dryly goes through the historical facts about a specific conflict, it isn’t propaganda. Even if the facts the author thinks are “relevant” come from a subjective biased position, it doesn’t make their work propaganda. Not all works of opinion are propaganda either. Propoganda requires a call to action or a call to believe a particular thing is right or wrong. Lots of fact-based discussion can happen without moral claims, or while clearly separating opinions from facts. Second Thought routinely fails to do this. He regularly omits facts from videos in order to make his claim more emotionally powerful, even when I agree with his message. He is a brazen propagandist.
Good to hear you got an entrypoint into anti-capitalism. However, a word of warning that Second Thought is a "tankie". It's difficult to summarise in a comments section but I wouldn't lean on his arguments or worldview too heavily at all.
God, I went through this exact Polcompball community years ago before I ended up as a semi-knowledgable, normal marxist. There are still people, fully grown adults, that reduce their and others' ideology and all politics to balls. It's sad to watch and this is a very important video. Thank you.
I don't see the hate. I was also in that community as an artist, I was into politics before and after, and it was just another way to have fun while sharing about your beliefs. And some of it was funny satire.
Perhaps the reason that happens is because the actual ideology isn't any more serious than the groups of pixels that represent them on these communities. Perhaps being left wing is exactly the same thing as declaring oneself to be Targaryen or House Hufflepuff. It's just more appealing to people who prefer a fantasy of (the appearance of, at least) greater richness and detail. And perhaps it will never be anything else. Look at the leftists around you. What do they DO?
I used to be into PolCompBalls before becoming properly politically educated and radicalized. But looking at it now, I realize it's just Pokemon with ideology. It's honestly disgusting to see these ideas that have enormous real-world consequences be treated so frivolously.
@@TurtleChad1speaking as someone who's been called a tankie, I see no issue. Where I do see issues though is with streamers like destiny and vaush who are fun to watch, but clueless on theory and just promote the elitist in fighting among young leftists.
Incredible video! I really hope you get well. You were one of the first marxist youtubers I discovered when I started my journey, I honestly wanted to thank you
Agreed. Polcomp used to be a cute little test to estimate where your politics lie, now its got this fandom of irony running around pretending like they understand everything based off of the test. And even though there are modernized versions of Polcomp (sapplyvalues comes to mind) It's still an imperfect test meant to be relative, not literal. And the issue right now with the fandom is how literally they take polcomp. Polcompballs are cute but seriously, don't use them seriously, they're meant to be unserious.
This makes me want to share advice too. Once you get into action, don't lose track or hope once some of your companions quit. Try to adapt and stay active. People stopping to be active or even to be political at all, are a contributing big time to the movement(s) not going anywhere. Don't trust everyone though. Depending on your country, there will be undercovers. These agents sometimes even go into relationships and intimacy just to infiltrate and collect information. However don't let this possibility stop you from being active. You can also achieve alot alone or in a small group aswell.
Please get out of here with that conspiracy nonsense. We don't live in Red Scare-era USA. No one's going to 'infiltrate' anyone's little leftist student club to 'collect information'. What are you even on about, you LARPer? Honestly haven't laughed this hard in a while. Worst part is that you're trying to frame this as serious advice for young teens that may actually believe what you're saying
@@DaveGreanAnarchist orgs are famous for being teeming with infiltrators, and other groups have also been historically infiltrated. That's not a conspiracy theory, infiltrators have caused the left to lose civil wars where I'm from.
@@DaveGrean If you think that cointelpro only exists in the past then you're only fooling yourself. You mock and ridicule others from a place of ignorance. This is a very dangerous attitude and it will be harmful to any movement unlucky enough to have you. If you think that it's all just a big joke then go read up on the spy cops scandal and get back to me.
Thank you so much for this video! I have been seeing teenagers online just being the cringiest about politics and they go through a bunch of different political labels in a year across the “spectrum”. I think they needed to hear this and you did a great job
I'm a 16 year old and I'm fairly new to marxism. I started getting into marxism at about 13, but I have to say that I wasn't mature enough then to really learn anything meaningful. One crucial mistake I did was joining some subreddits on reddit and thinking I was about to learn something, but I found out that reddit communities are only good for some marxist memes, or for arguing with other marxist because they throw labels like revisionism around without using it in a meaningful way. I first realized that arguing was a waste of time after I wrote a 3 paragraph long post on how Josip Broz Tito doesn't fit into the revisionist label and realized, that except for starting a few more arguments it won't do anything meaningful for me or for marxists in general. So from then on I only came to reddit communities for the memes and not in the expectation of actually learning something. Another thing I've noticed amongst me and my fellow young marxists is that we tend to ideolize past marxism and that we defend our label of choice like it's our religion. Instead of focusing on actually doing something for the world we keep arguing amongst ourselves about which country that fell apart 30 years ago did marxism right and which one didn't.
As a millennial I can barely even fathom the idea of a 16 year old (let alone 13??) giving a shit about politics, lmao. When I was 14 I briefly called myself an anarchist because "fuck authority mate" and I was into punk music, lmao. Then became fully apolitical until I became a serious leftist in my late 20s a few years ago. It just goes to show how much the world is going to shit, when even teenagers find it in themselves to care about something as boring as politics. I'm pretty happy with your generation in general
@@DaveGrean I think you're the first millenial to ever say that they're happy with my generation. Thanks mate. The world going to shit and my family talking about socialist Yugoslavia were very important factors.
@@omgnelonr1631 Well I've always been extremely socially progressive and had to live in a world where I seemed to be one of very few people to whom certain things seemed obvious. So for me the past few years have been like ... "Wait what? So other people *weren't* just stupid after all? Look at these zoomers, they're perfectly reasonable all of a sudden!! What the hell was my generation's and the previous ones' problem??" It all started with the Greta Thunberg climate movement. I still don't quite understand why something like that never happened in the '90s when I was little. There are still some ideas of mine (like on speciesism) that even most of your generation don't seem to be on board with yet, but I am very happy with the apparent progress, and if anything I'm annoyed because at this point I don't get what older people's excuse is, lmao. I'd honestly say I was born at least a decade too early. I'm basically ideologically a zoomer, I just have the aesthetic sensibilities and pop culture knowledge of a millennial, so I think you guys dress strangely and I don't understand TikTok, but other than that I think you're waay cooler than people my age, lmao.
@@DaveGrean The reason it didn't happen in the 90s is because then the issue wasn't so obvious as now, I don't blame your generation and applaud individuals like you. However I do blame people of my generation that choose to ignore these issues. Also don't worry, most of my generation know that we dress weirdly and I think no one really understands tiktok.
im glad you brought up the country ball stuff. right now on historian yoututbe there has been a growing discussion about Kraut (who is into PolCompBall aesthichcs), being a not so great historian, his videos are at best suface level explanations and becomes biased or foggy on accuracy once he talks about subjects outside of his understanding.
Sorry to hear about your health problems. Yeah, I remember being obsessed about labeling anyone and anything (including myself) at the accuracy of molecular analysis of the ideology cells in the brain. 😋 At some point in my early 30's, I started realizing that there's no point in any of that. I read a lot of stuff from Gramsci to Lenin to Chomsky and Klein. I talked a lot with leftists from boomers to gen Z. I banged my head against the sectarianism wall and self-righteousness of people thinking of themselves as allies to minorities only to end up acting they actually know better than the minorities about the issues those minorities face. The big change for me happened during my stint in party politics. I got quickly stamped "radical" because I was in a section that organized food drives, study groups, political analysis evenings and just listened and talked to people on the streets to hear their issues and took those issues to the city council meetings. The two biggest factions at city level were ours and the green-red-section, likewise "radicals". The old guard, for the mopst part, couldn't stand us. More than once they did nasty tricks to undermine our projects and campaigns and the reasoning was that if we do that, we'll anger the neoliberal party and they won't be nice to us. I kinda thought those guys being effed off at us was the mark of successful leftist politics. But there was a group of old beards who just kinda floated outside all the bickering and power struggles, and I got some really good thoughts from them: -Ideology as a whole is a good guiding star to maintain your direction. You'll never reach it and you'll never have a clear approach, but it's there. -Ideological factions and variations are best seen as lenses and frameworks to see things from various perspectives. None are a perfect fit anyways so don't tie yourself into them. -Theory is good, but it's the praxis where things are really learned and what matters is done. Every place, every group, every time is different and you have to apply the ideas and theories and your actions into that specific point and case. Theory and history can give you ideas and tools to use - not cookie-cutter answers. -Never think you have to do things alone. Alone you are just one in billions, against an ideology with huge amounts of power and capability to violence. Team up. Capitalism is about thinking just about numero uno, socialism is doing things together and supporting each other. And finally: -Never forget that people are people. There are no monsters or devils. They have reasons for what they do, no matter how ill-informed or -intended the reasons may be. Some people you can work with and help, some are too far gone. Focus on the first group and give them the cognitive tools to see the power relations, understand the hypocrisies and lies of the elite and to understand they have a lot more in common with the refugee next door, than the empty suit promising that "if you just work hard enough, you can be like me". But I think that's my "straw into the haystack" as the saying here goes. That's some more theory to apply into your current situation in your community. 😉
Great video, this is why I just stick with "believing in Socialism", any further segmenting yourself into which type of socialist you are, 99% of people in the real world will at best not give a shit and at worst will see you as an elitist or snob We're all in this together, infighting is pointless in the face of much bigger problems in this world
Something similar. I just say I believe in scientific socialism if asked. I feel like you should be willing to engage with all forms of socialism and leftism to pull ideas from. Getting caught up in various labels is useless. Do what works. Remove everything that doesn’t. Ruthlessly criticize everything.
If asked, I say I’m a communist unless I know I’m around people whose brains will shut off when they hear the word, but in either case I’m rarely in a situation where that question comes before I’m able to put forth some non explicitly socialist ideas to test the waters. There is a lot of propaganda value to just being a relatively “normal” and chill person who happens to also be a communist.
@@KickinRadTopHatI usually just go with Leftist. Mostly because it pretty much encompasses everything and people will generally get what kind of person you are, but also because I kind of hate labels. Personally I believe my views most closely align with Marxism/Leninism but I feel like if I tell someone I’m an ML there’s a certain expectation people have where you have to have a certain amount of knowledge, must read a certain amount of theory, must know a lot of history etc. I’m not the most well-read person or a history buff or anything. I’m just a normal leftist that has a passing interest in theory and history and with views that happen to coincide closest to ML thought
As a leftist in high school I have to admit that the political compass/balls community is what got me into socialist politics. And I have to give it credit for that but also as I got older I started reading actual theory from MLs and Anarchists alike and now I’m happy to be out of those communities and into an actual educated socialist dedicated to forming a better society
@GermanicAurelian no I wouldn’t say that, I didn’t get into the online stuff until after I had already grown a distaste for capitalism. I then became more educated as a means of developing my own knowledge about political theory and stuff
Over time, the wheat separates itself from the chaff. For those who view this like a fad or lifestyle, they will forget and move on with their life. For those that understand the incomprehensibly difficult position we are in and the fact this fight will go long past our generation, they either buck up for the long journey or falter. I can't blame those who do, sometimes when you see what you're challenging and witnessing a fraction of the road ahead, it will leave most people completely demoralized and driven to give up. However, those who can see the danger and difficulty, that laugh in its face, understand that this is a difficult battle but one that must be fought, it is the unspoken effort of thousands if not millions that we carry with us, those who came before us and their struggle, our struggle and long after we are rotting in the ground, our children's children's struggle but we hope and work for the idea that their struggle will be just a little bit easier than ours and those who came before them.
" this fight will go long past our generation" oh my dear, it will go long, loooooooong, loooooooong after that. Because you are never EVER going to win. And you're also never EVER going to give up. None of you ever will. Your wellbeing is dependent on believing you have outsmarted vast crowds of people. That's what draws you to the Left, not the contents of its philosophy. Consider this - try discussing the communist gulags of the USSR, complete with the millions they killed, with any lefty colleagues and see if ONE of them reacts as if it was a bad thing that happened to some people instead of a bad thing happening to their ideas. Do you think you're invisible?
@@jmack8767 key thing to note with your comment, aside from the failed attempts to discourage us, is that you see leftists as generalized group of extremists, enemies, blah blah, whatever axiom you wanna levy at them. They’re a varied and opinionated population, ranging from Marxist-Leninists who unapologetically praise the Soviets, to anarchists who unapologetically called for the destruction of the Soviets. I am confident in our ability to exact change and am backed historically, the world has a piss poor future and people are already disillusioned by the hundreds of millions. I see no reason why the current system will survive aside from its violent enforcement which will only further alienate people. You keep giggling and typing your snarky messages though, I’m sure you’ll look back fondly on that when you’re dying sick and alone. You’re a clown bro, the sum total of the effect you have is failed attempts to hurt peoples feelings. If you’re gonna spend your time doing this, at least get some better venom in your bite LMFAO.
tbh I'd really recommend avoiding most political discords. It's mostly people cloutfarming by posting irrelevant quotes from books they pretend to have read. I am genuinely baffled by how impossible it was for me to ever have a productive discussion in any political discord I've been in
This. A discord I was on turned into essentially a political discord, and while my own discord channel is full of leftists and we spend a LOT of time discussing things from a leftist POV, I found the former to have become very exclusionary and bullying. I try to avoid that mentality in my own. It helps that primarily we organized on mine to play games like Rocket League and Jackbox together.
This rings true to my experiences, I've been in the online leftist sphere for nearly 6 years now, joined and left a communist party, cycled through every socialist label under the sun and I've since come out of that experience as just "some sort of communist" without any labels to limit me to one position or another. I just deal with each issue as I deal with it, I look to better-informed people when I need to be better informed and I am friends with good people who all just happen to be socialist bc it's the only path that makes sense in this world at the moment, not because of a hollow identity they feel the need to fulfil.
One might, perhaps... even suppose that the fundamental appeal of a movement that wishes to rip up the entire world and start again may be solely a support for the ego. After all, for left-wing ideas to be true, you have to also believe you've outsmarted an AWFUL lot of straaaaaange sheepley people. Could that be the primary motive, do you think? It does rather look like it when you go to lefty meetings. Whenever anyone must choose between saying something we can all see is true, or saying something that makes them feel good about themselves... what do they do?
@@eliplayz22 that may be true but in my observation they are much more accute among the (white) western left, many of whom fail to respect / denigrate the immense achievements made by Global South socialist projects such as China, Cuba, Burkina Faso, and even the USSR in many instances. Many white westerners fail to apply dialectical materialism and are instead idealists who pursue a Socialism that only exists in their own mind, not in reality
thank you ! im a 17 year old marxist - leninist from syria , i began getting into marxism at around 13 and i've loved it ever since capitalism has failed my country and countless others as well the US and capitalist russia have destroyed my country and again , countless others thanks for this video , much love from syria 🇸🇾 ayyy that's a heart thats azurescapegoat ❤️
@@mikem4405 not the ussr , im talking abt modern imperialist russia they took almost all of our natural resources , took advantage of our weak state due to the isis / civil war times and our president leased the port of lattakia to russia and made russian a language to learn in schools even that russia never colonised us u have to pick in 7th grade here between french and russian and the constant meddeling in our affairs like iran , ect ... yeah thats on the top of my head rn
@@SyrianSocialist_ I love how the Arab Spring, civil war, government tyranny, ISIS, earthquake, Turkish invasion, etc. weren't the problem, but as soon as the Russians came and "took all resources" that's when Syria was ruined xD.
@@8is im talking in general , i despise the turkish goverment and all of nato and the US goverments in general btw dont think i like any of them , and yes , nato and the US played a WAY bigger role in the destruction of my country but russia is still here , i know the US still has stationed troops here but no where near as much as russia and all of the arab countries are either autocracies or dictatorships , so fuck both too
Hope you get better, you know that if we like your videos we're gonna care more about your health than how many videos you upload. I joined an organization in part because of you.
so many people would agree with such a basic message. people get fixated on details no matter their ideology, almost every twitter political debate is about wanting likes and looking for strawmans
Even as a 22 year old Marxist I still sometimes struggle with this. I ask myself "Should I call myself this or that because I believe in this or that specific thing many other marxists don't believe in" but then I remind myself that labels don't matter, what matters is our common goal of building a better world.
I feel like labels are a tool. In some situations they're useful, but 95% of the time they belong in the shed. In some cases they can really matter, though. Think about your audience, what associations they might have with a word, and why you might want to use or choose to not use that word with them.
These labels matter a lot. A ML is someone who wants to establish a socialist dictatorship, while a normal or democratic socialist wants liberty. MLs are a threat and danger to socialists they betray the cause.
After a few humbling experiences in my 20s, I just don't make comments on politics unless I have done research and know the situation. I don't like to comment on political situations I am not fully informed about because I feel like that's when you get yourself into trouble. I'm in my 40s now, btw.
Great video, Im in university now and it makes me quite bummed to see students in their early twenties (some of whom are getting degrees in political science) still sharing memes like this and talking about politics in this way :(
I'm 27 now, I got into all the niche internet politics when I was 14 and would kinda cycle thru different anarchist ideologies like mutualist, green anarchist etc. for a while. Now I'm not really sectarian and take influence from both anarchism and Marxism, but I see so much dogmatism going around. And I definitely see young people being way more into niche ideologies then before - when I was that age it was mostly older people who got into the lesser known philosophy and ideological labels.
I try not to use labels, they're too vague and everyone has different definitions. I just explain my principles and beliefs simply and concisely. I talk to a lot of ordinary, average joes. People agree with you more than you think when you remove unnecessary labels. Bad wording can change meanings entirely.
Thanks for writing this. I feel the same way. Telling someone that I think workplace democracy would be cool and maybe that the future of our biosphere shouldn't hedge on the consent of like thirty ultra-wealthy white dudes gets much better results than just saying I'm a "socialist". That word has lost all of its meaning for the average person.
Mate I'm 23 and even if we have radically different roots of where our political thought emerge from. I completely agree with you. The world is complicated, the nuance AND ones own biases are real and the best way to learn about an issue is to hear from the community's affected by it. Hope you get better. You have truly been an important influence on the worldview I have and I can only hope the best for you
I have some other advice that I think is also very important. I urge people whatever you do NEVER become a die hard fan of an online politcal content creator. As we live in the era of youtube a majority of people will get their opinions from other people online. I would say to stay away from this, think for yourself. I'm not saying to not watch politcal youtube just don't solely rely on it or become a content creator meatrider. That is peak parasocial relationships that are just 100% not needed. Also these creators have a habit of saying all that they believe is good and great and everything other people believe is terrible, stupid, and evil. This very dumb, first it just shows pure ego on the side of the creator but also will make their fans become more entrenched in the views of the creator and never branch out into their own thoughts. As a middleschooler I watched mainly Vaush and Xanderhal (thank God I don't anymore) and I basically agreed with everything they said because "they are content creators they must know so much and I should just pick up their opinions because they say they are correct". Also a majority of online political content creators are actual just pieces of human trash too and just plain charlatans who really don't know all that much like Hasan, Vaush, Demonmama, Xanderhal, Noah Samsen, Ethan is Online, Keffals so on and so on. These people and in-groups also have a ton of drama and fights that tbh will never ever have an impact on your life. I remeber watching 1-3 hour drama videos thinking they were very important, they are not at all. Any way all all I'm saying is don't get yourself into an echochamber or to become too devoted online creators, they really are not all that.
heyo! im pretty young, im 18. ever since i started identifying as a socialist ive made an effort to not try to narrow myself done into any sort of label, i feel like leftist division is quite counter productive so i try to not put a label on where i am and fit into that label. but i still like trying to read up on the different labels as you can see different perspectives on issues and helps you understand things a bit deeper. i still have a lot to learn, i feel like im quite engaged but i also know i dont rlly know that much, i guess part of that is the lack of time to do much actual reading. but yeah just wanted to say thank you! as far as i remember your video on socialism vs communism etc was the first leftist video ive watched, i cant rlly remember my exact pathway but before that i thought of myself as kind of in the middle economically, that sort of big business bad but small business still good, and after watching that i started to realise my perception of socialism and stuff is pretty flawed, and yeah now im a socialist woop woop. ill be joining the discord server now!
@@passchen-fail3704 if people can vote and die fighting in war at 18 (iraq afghanistan) i can join a discord server thanks. sorry for being uh politically engaged? ill try better to blindly accept others worldviews instead
I'm proud to be an "authoritarian" "redfash" "tankie" actively helping my community and educating my friends and family (effectively!). I will never take non-grasstouchers seriously lol. Good video.
Emotions are what binds your physical self and rational self. You can't just rationalize out of all your feelings. As someone who watched Serial Experiment Lain and Ghost in the Shell when they where 13 with no background in philosophy I'll tell you that your body and your experience here and now are important. You won't reach your goals unless you respect the journey. As the G.O.A.T. himself says, this isn't about being something it's about becoming something. You will accomplish much more if you learn to love and respect the journey.
@@JMoore-vo7iiDon’t worry about who you are in the moment, but who who ought to be. And what are the steps you need to take to get there. Because you should always be chasing an unattainable goal as to become a better person, whatever that is for you, and not get caught up in traps of ego or immediate gratification.
@@jossaccountofmadnessandmem1844 The strength you desire is on the road you avoid. You definitely will hurt yourself, if you look at the path you want to take and you are scared, that means it is worth doing. You cannot let your inner thoughts prevent you from living the life you want. The only way to overcome weakness is first overcome the thoughts that plague your mind. In my experience once you stop let them dictate your actions they go away almost entirely. You are absolutely worth the hassle and I know exactly what you mean when you say that. I had the exact same thoughts in high school, know that those thoughts are wrong. Every time one of them pops into your head over power and interrupt it with the positive version, spin everything into a positive. It feels cheesy to do but it is a worth while trade. I often take solace in the stoic ideology of set expectations low but aim for the highest point, so you will be pleasantly surprised at every success. And an old (I believe) southern adage often pops in my head that my Dad used to say “If you shoot for stars and miss, you’re still pretty damn high”.
I think this still pretty much reproduces the same problems it seeks to answer. The development of consciousness comes from action itself, not from wether you accept or not to give up trying to find an ideology that fits you. It defines the political consciousness as an individual process rather than a collective one, where your involvment in mass movements is the key. It certainly doesn't help either that it starts by reproducing the same catastrophist idea that "the world is getting bleaker and bleaker" - that's just not true. Progress is not a linear process so of course it includes steps back but everywhere in the world people and workers are struggling and often achieving victories. Neoliberalism and climate change are not the end of the world. The most important thing for a revolutionary is not only to have hope but to have the knowledge that their actions have consequences and a better world is possible.
Yes. This is a major problem in russia right now, there is just no meaningful opposition, and many who could be are suffering from political apathy or just not willing to actively participate.
Funny enough, I used to go through this phase, and you are correct about one thing: something like Polcompballs is like poison for actually having a naunced understanding of politics, especially when you consider that not all decisions are purely one-sided. It's why instead of choosing an ideology, I've decided to consider ideas and talk about what ideas might help solve problems, how we are going to get things done, and in what ways has something like that worked in the past, then based on that, we should choose the one that best expresses an idea of what's going to be done, how it would be done, and has a great chance of success. Don't get me wrong, I'm still left-wing in terms of bias, and it's still kind of hard for me to bebut I do think that considering, analyzing, testing, and evaluating things may help make geniune progress to solve problems, but take what I do have to say with a grain of salt, cause that's what I think.
First of all I wish you all the best and a quick recovery from whatever health condition you have. This video is a very important one and hopefully it reached some of your audience. The problem you talked about affects every political orientation, also the "ancaps". People stick a label on themselfs and identify with it without doing any proper reading. However, one point you made in this video deserves to be hightly critisized. You (semi-)correctly mentioned that we all hold our biases depending on our identity but then you recommend your audience to only get their sources from only one politically biased fraction, which coincidentally is the one you are following. This doesn't allow for a testing of your own beliefs but only confirms them, which by definition is not scientific. Always check different sources, figure out why exactly they are wrong and maybe you even end up knowong more than before.
ive probably considered myself some form of socialist for roughly 4ish years, but it has not been until this year, where i sat down and read that i actually began to understand what it meant to be a "social democrat", an "M-L", an anarchist, etc. so though i had a nebulous understanding of "what is to be done", i did not have an understanding of the historical context behind various movements and their limitations that arise from the history. it takes a lot of studying and actual organizing to not just understand, but internalize what all the terms mean. i still of course have much to learn, and there is no end to the necessity of learning. speaking of which, i need to finish reading demarcation and demystification.
@@timmendor8456 probably one of the first works of lenin ive read, should probably reread it, especially given how "Politics in Command" by JMP is essentially a modern version of it. lots of stuff to do and read, gotta pick up the pace.
Very nice. I add don't model your politics or behavior on anybody who (1) cannot stop screaming or (2) CANNOT write a TITLE without PUTTING half the WORDS in ALL caps.
There can be legitimate reasons why one may split from a party and join a different one. But this obsession with labels by some of the younger folk has little to do with politics, and everything to do with adolescent identity - namely, finding one's "tribe". Adolescence is the period in life where one finds out what sort of person one wants to be (the sort of person one ends up becoming generally is something completely different, but that's another story). This can be seen even outside politics - in adolescent tribal subcultures (emo, goth, punk, etc). You're an adult once you're less interested in what you are, and more interested in what you can do.
100% I see way too many people using radical politics as a stand in for arguing about which high school clique is the coolest or which band is “real music”. From my experience with similar behavior in music scenes, these are the people who have nothing of value to contribute and tend to wash out the fastest because they never actually cared about the subject for anything deeper than holier than thou posturing.
Well, you also normally can't really do anything until you're an adult, so clinging to identity honestly makes sense when you have no real control outside of that
I like to try and avoid that in-group/out-group thinking, and question my own assumptions. I also have been somewhat involved in the PolComp community, if only for entertainment purposes. However, this video did make some good points I'll consider. While I tend to view it more a satire of the modern political landscape rather than a representation of politics itself, I recognize the importance of maintaining an open mind, and I see how some of the content could negatively impact that. I will try and keep this video in mind in future, and consider exactly what I interact with on that side of the internet.
Thank you for the advice. My experience with other leftist has been fascinating and matches up with what you critiqued. Many young people pick up these obscure ideologies and then fight over the smallest differences. Personally, I've gone through different labels throughout my years of study . Yet, they eventually felt idealistic and irrelevant to the current circumstance. Few Americans would identify as communist, and even they do not uphold a coherent view due to the fact they have not ready their own literature and question everything that is propaganda. It is even odd hear about streamers and RU-vidrs when attending a political organization( I cringe). My journey to "leftism"( which means nothing in my country) is through reading literature. I found Marx and Engels in a library, not from social media.
i haven’t even touched capital and the most dense theory yet. my most intense theoretical studying has been sociology classes in college where we read tidbits of alienated labor, the manifesto, ch.1 of german ideology, as well as weber who was very much anti-communist despite having a conflict paradigm. but i can say that surrounding myself with actual marxists, doing readings/discussions with them, & picking out a few (vibes based) comrades at organizing/protest actions get to know on a more personal/theoretical level has allowed me to develop my mental model of the political economy in a way that allows me to meaningfully interact with comrades’ perspectives. the political theory landscape is a jungle; going at it alone will allow you to absorb a lot at once, but going at it with comrades is what allows you to actually develop.
I am personally not a socialist nor a leftist, but watching other opinions is something I think we all need to grow, and this video is also useful for me even tho i'm not a marxist or anything, I personally enjoy watching or reading leftists/socialists talking about their political view, it really helped me to fill my brain with even more information apart from the capitalists talking about it always as something bad. I am more of a capitalist, and I think that the biggest mistake that capitalism has is not being able to accept, hear and respect other opinions. Great video!
Capitalism and socialism are economic systems, not people. You can say that both sides are not willing to listen becouse both sides a filled with shitty people
This is very relevant to me at the moment. I've found myself in a Trotskyist branch, and it's great. I refuse to call my a Trotskyist at this point though, and reading what are basically 19th and 20th century versions of RU-vid take-downs feels so disconnected from the actual fundamentals.
when i got into politics, I considered my self an anarchist or whatever, and then got obsoletely schooled about anti imperialism by this Iranian kid who would show up to anti fascist protests waving the Islamic Republic flag. If I spent my time being a sectarian dickhead, I wouldn't have learned these valuable lessons
This is a video I desperately needed but didn't know it. In short, focus more on what you believe rather than what group you fit into because of those beliefs
@@Rotting12 I was raised as a Christian, and as time went on, conservative beliefs just made more sense to me. I've actually done a political compass test that labeled me as being more classically liberal, but I identify most strongly with conservatism.
Really important message, something I would add that I believe is tangentially related: you're not obligated to have an opinion about everything, nobody has the mental capacity to care about every little topic, so don't feel pressured as if you have to.
Great input and I love this sentiment. I wouldn't even know if I would classify myself as "leftist" anymore, to be quite honest the word has lost meaning to me. Growing up I found myself more disassociated with "leftist" communities and whatever was said in it. I lost faith in the stubborn worldview which many (understandably) have, but i can't say it didn't push me away. I am much more of a practical person and I do what ever I can do to make the world a better and more welcoming place. It is important to see what you actually can do so that you dont getting lost in this hyperanalytical mindscape and lose track of your surroundings. Whatever your beliefs are this video brings up something everso important in that politics are complicated and there will never be one solution.
I'm so glad i got out of the online left and into actual organizing quickly, i still have lots and lots of theory, but i'm going to keep on wobbling and reading my marxist theory as I develop
@@urbaneblobfish I like Socialism and communism, and a good amount of creators on RU-vid suggested in their videos that leftists should read more books to better inform themselves, as this is an area the left does well in.
@@waspwrap1235It’s def a good way to get more informed, but don’t get stressed out. Theory isn’t everything so don’t overwhelm yourself trying to learn everything at first.
I hope you feel better soon. If that doesn't happen, if you have a chronic illness, then I hope you find the best way to manage it. Be safe and take care.
Hope you get better soon! And to be fair, most Chinese high school students just recite or copy what was given to them by the Chinese government, they actually don't quite understand what China is and what they learned. No doubt these are the words made up by a bunch of smart people trying to "explain" that China is socialist. It makes a lot of young people, like I was, confused (or simply turn apolitical, since the contradiction) until they realized that China is not "socialist" in traditional standard. China is not socialist and currently going into fascist, I hope that won't happen, but that's how things look. And also, my view is probably biased, just as said in the video. But that should not stop people expressing, just bear in mind that you might be wrong.
Great video! Sad to see even in this comment section people playing out the same sectarianism you speak against. Crying out "tankies" and "shitlibs" like little children, smh
Exactly! How is anyone going to develop political awareness outside the narrow binary of the overton window if they don't even know about the diversity of political thought? No one just dives into real political theory without a preconception of the ideas they like!
I'm only finding this channel from this video, but I've been wondering about this. Most of what I've seen of "politics" consisted of "look at this guy who is against another guy! high five them right now!" and I wasn't even sure if anyone had any beliefs beyond just being on this side or that side, that's how superficial this all felt. Right now I'm trying to clear out my recommendations of anything that's more identity than ideology before actually looking at anything to make sure I don't confuse myself again.
great vid, though I wish I saw it 3 years ago when I was 13-14 luckily I didn't speak about my beliefs before having a basic (still very basic) understanding of marxism : ) I wish you could health !
This popped into my recommended and I'm happy it did. Thank you for your advice, and thank you for giving it in such a calm and respectful manner. We're all learning, and it's important we take things one step at a time, so we can help make a better world for everyone.
Hey, mad respect for your Patreon structure AND your openness about it. Interested to hear more about your approach to navigating the ethical straits of earning a living spreading information for free.
Good video. Another thing to add is that while theory is important, learning about and having a proper understanding of modern history and practical political policy is far more relevant to real world leftism than, for example, reading a thousand pages of a detailed analysis of the 1850s british economy. Obviously if you have the time and interest then reading something like capital may be valuable to you, but recognize you're not going to convince people in the real world to support leftism by talking about theory. You're going to convince them by talking about policy
