How do you do it?
I stopped participating in a group chat with some long-time friends about a year ago, mostly due in part to the exhausting conversations over politics. Ironically, after Trump was shot, the group decided to silo the conversations into two groups, one for non-politics, and one for politics, and pinged me. We're that kind of group where we go long periods of time not seeing each other in person due to life and kids, but it was nice to have them reach out.
But oh, that politics channel has not changed. Meanwhile, my worldview has shifted dramatically to the left of theirs (and beyond, really). The spectrum is:
- Center Leaning Republican (a Rogan, Pool, Peterson enjoyer),
- A Center leaning Dem
- A Vote Blue Democrat (they are also the only queer person in our group)
- A 3rd Party guy (basically a libertarian but refuses to adopt a label, and doesn't vote, but also a Peterson enjoyer, rabid anticommunist, they always know a guy, or have a family member, you know what I mean).
- All white, all male
Something interesting happened when I returned, though. The topic that started this isn't relevant, but it prompted the Center Dem friend to ask me where I get my views from. I sat on that question for an evening and then just wrote out a summary of the Marxist-Leninists view on capitalism and imperialism, without ever using "capitalism" or "imperialism", without referencing Marx or Lenin.
It was long, but, his response was, basically, "Ok, that makes a lot of sense, actually." I then told him that Marx and Lenin would be happy to know you agree because that's their analysis in my own words, as I understand it.
Usually after bringing up someone like Marx, I'll get dunked on with a barrage of anticommunist brainrot, but that didn't happen this time.
So it got me thinking about the title of this post. How do you talk to your lib friends about their distorted world view?
Start from class.
The first question to ask yourself is who here struggles the most. Who has it in their interests the most to align leftwards? That person is going to find more in what you have to say than the others provided you're tailoring your message around what actually personally affects them and make sure you challenge them to consider what will actually tangibly improve their life.
The second question to ask yourself is who here is the the most moralist. Moralisation is not as strong as class but for a few people it will work or at least produce sympathisers.
Other than these I would suggest not wasting your time trying to change the political positions of people whose class interests don't align with the left. It becomes an exercise in futility and your time is better spent elsewhere. Instead, simply try to make them be kinder.
This is a teaching reaction. A positive reaction from people that actually like to learn new things. You can work with this.
This equips people to understand our world and system and is the necessary springboard into considering alternatives.
Yeah, he seems like someone who keeps an open mind about stuff like this.
The fun part about marxist thought is that once it has been learned it can not be unlearned. As long as it actually gets into his head and he applies it in some way in his life it will start to alter the way he perceives interactions in the world.