look, your friends suck. but letting them slide has almost no political effect. This is not a "combat liberalism" situation: these are not party members. We are not going to achieve socialism by convincing people one at a time to have the right ideas. You should investigate whatever leftist orgs are around you. There may be local chapters of
PSL
SAlt
DSA
Behind Enemy Lines
Food Not Bombs
etc etc
You should go investigate for yourself. See what's out there, talk to them, join whatever seems good. Joining an org does not mean you become a Marxist robot and alienate all your friends. Everyone has a job and a life outside of activism; after all we are the working class. It's like a four hour a week commitment and you'll feel better if you're engaging in meaningful political struggle. You'll also get better at talking to people about socialism, if that's something you want to do with your friends. To address your title question:
How do I make myself be a principled person who actually acts to fight injustice instead of sticking to my comfortable position of privilege where I materially benefit from others' suffering?
You can be a principled person who actually acts to fight injustice if you act to fight injustice. Baby steps, nobody is born a good communist. You are probably going to continue materially benefiting from others' suffering - you can't opt out of capitalism - but there is a "silver lining" in that you can use these advantages for communism. E.g. labor aristocrats are less likely to be drawn to the left, but once you're already here you have more time/money/energy for the cause.
I in fact became a marxist robot and alienated all my friends, can't really recommend Musta been funny watching me call people DOGS OF THE US EMPIRE for making "north korea personality cult" jokes though.
look, your friends suck. but letting them slide has almost no political effect. This is not a "combat liberalism" situation: these are not party members. We are not going to achieve socialism by convincing people one at a time to have the right ideas. You should investigate whatever leftist orgs are around you. There may be local chapters of
You should go investigate for yourself. See what's out there, talk to them, join whatever seems good. Joining an org does not mean you become a Marxist robot and alienate all your friends. Everyone has a job and a life outside of activism; after all we are the working class. It's like a four hour a week commitment and you'll feel better if you're engaging in meaningful political struggle. You'll also get better at talking to people about socialism, if that's something you want to do with your friends. To address your title question:
You can be a principled person who actually acts to fight injustice if you act to fight injustice. Baby steps, nobody is born a good communist. You are probably going to continue materially benefiting from others' suffering - you can't opt out of capitalism - but there is a "silver lining" in that you can use these advantages for communism. E.g. labor aristocrats are less likely to be drawn to the left, but once you're already here you have more time/money/energy for the cause.
I in fact became a marxist robot and alienated all my friends, can't really recommend
Musta been funny watching me call people DOGS OF THE US EMPIRE for making "north korea personality cult" jokes though.