Inspired by recent discussions, I think Hexbear has a lot of good information about socialism but I wonder if the relentless defense of AES on Hexbear means shooting ourselves in the foot, since many potential leftists have been thoroughly primed to react negatively to AES states?
We’re not getting our messages out when progressive instances have already pre-emptively blocked us and calling us “tankies”.
People are being turned away without even taking the opportunity to read some of the stuff here, because they already have a pre-conceived notion about Hexbear being filled with “crazy tankies who defend totalitarianism”.
I know there have been a lot of propaganda and fabrication being perpetuated about socialist countries, and it feels “right” to defend them against these false accusations, but I wonder if this is doing more harm than good for the present day nascent socialist movement, at least in the Western countries?
We can remain on the current course and feel indignant about the tankie accusations, but will forever remain as a niche “tankie” community.
Or, we can open ourselves up, by toning down the admiration for the socialist states so we are not being treated as hostile by the other instances, and thus opening up the opportunities to have productive interactions with users (and potential leftists) from other instances?
(I do have my own position, you probably know which one it is, but I’m willing to hear from others and reevaluate my own opinions if needed).
EDIT: Thanks to everyone who responded. All points are well taken. Thank you.
The genuflection doesn't seem to offer any upside for us. We should deny reality, and offer little defense of AES, in the face of relentless propaganda, in the hopes that libs will take us more seriously on other issues? They're not going to suddenly be more against capitalism if we suddenly stop offering counterarguments to capitalist propaganda.
Plus you already said they preemptively blocked us. How will toning it down work for people who are already not listening to us?
We also need to define productive. How is agreeing with people online productive? Productive to what? Achieving socialism? Getting more people "on our side", to do what? Vote or something? Do more mutual aid? You have to be careful to not confuse posting for achieving goals. It's such a counter-intuitive thing for most people that talking to other people online and convincing them of an argument isn't productive. It presupposes that the mechanism for achieving political power is having good-faith debates where we talk everyone into agreeing with us with the right tone and combination of words. That runs counter to actual history. Do you think communists can take over any country by having earnest discussions where they dial back their tone or stance on communism?