I’ve spent years arguing with people online and really have nothing to show for it aside from my own education and amusement. I was radicalized by discovering r/chapotraphouse back in 2018 I think. Nobody argued with me there, I just lurked, loved the memes, thought it was the funniest place online, then started reading theory because so many people there talked about it. Even though liberals are obviously ignorant about communism, their ignorance is willful: they never thank us for educating them, they always get angry and double-down. (In real life, it’s much easier to embarrass them and get them to shut up.) Still, I admit that it’s possible to change someone’s mind in an online debate, I just haven’t seen it happen when it comes to communism (libs on r/changemyview can change their minds about lib shit). Have you ever seen a lib admit that they were wrong about communism?
Another point I should mention about my turn left is that I used to be a big Democratic party supporter. Like donated to candidates, held some roles in the party, even (ugh) worked on the Hillary campaign in a low level role (in the general, voted for Bernie in the Primary). It was the constant disappointments coupled with Democrats voting against what I wanted over and over again, then running the same shitty campaigns, that got me looking elsewhere. And the biggest "trigger" for me is seeing Democrats talk about how "democracy is on the ballot" and "Republicans are the worst" on one hand, and then leadership saying literally "we need a strong Republican Party" and "work across the aisle" BS on the other. It's like they want their party to be weak! So, thanks Nancy Pelosi for helping go full commie?