"Read Settlers" is a meme, but it's also a true meme. You should read it, or read other things about this thesis regarding the white working class in the US (I've heard other Marxists have since improved on Sakai's thesis but I don't know who they are).

White Americans are doubling down on the racism. As white settler colonialism is starting to face just a little bit of opposition (like teaching kids that maybe the US isn't a perfect, God-blessed country), they are losing their minds over the idea of losing even a tiny bit of their privileges. This is still a perfectly material explanation. White folks have enjoyed an incredible level of privilege since the beginning of this country and they will fight viciously to keep all of it.

IMO the bulk of white Americans are a lost cause. Not to say white folks can't be revolutionary (I'm white), but I think we probably should be spending our very limited time and resources on folks outside the imperial core break from western imperialism, and focus on the oppressed within the core. Any white Americans who want to join in are welcome but any concession to white supremacy is unacceptable.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying the Dems lost because racism or whatever. I don't care if the Dems win or lose, it doesn't matter. My point is much more about using electoral results and the campaigns that precede them to see where winds are blowing. It seems that "CRT" and fear-mongering about crime (and thus the need to fund even more cops) was a very effective message in appealing to large segments of the population - particularly the white population.

  • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Have to agree with your last point, you can't force someone to give up their privilege and advantages, you either have to take it from them by revolution or they have to radicalize internally and yield them.

    • FidelCastro [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      This. The wrath and reaction you see from people even on the left to the suggestion that they might need to educate themselves on privilege is really telling.

      See: stupidpol and other class reductionists, the pronoun struggle session before the transphobes got purged.

      There’s a reason libs co-opted a lot of the language around privilege. Pseudo-leftists based in contrarianism completely miss that aspect.

    • Quimby [any, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The latter is possible though! That's what happened to me. I grew up super privileged and eventually developed a conscience. Now I would happily give up my stuff and class in support of equality and good living for all.

      I'll also add that the lib to leftist pipeline can sometimes be real, but I'm starting to think that it's more real on a generational scale. My grandparents were very liberal. My parents are very liberal and one of my aunts is a communist. Now my siblings and I are communists, along with our cousins.

      Help the poor with means tested programs -> help the poor in ways that will actually help -> abolish poverty in the first place by abolishing capitalism , isn't that crazy of a progression. I think a common thing for many leftists who did grow up in privilege was essentially being taught good morals as a kid, and then realizing as an adult that leftism is the only way to actually be consistent with those morals.

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        But note that you yourself did the analysis to become a leftist. I did the same. My point is that there is no argument, no magic line of theory which will force people to yield privilege. I came from a background of hating the wealthy and wishing everyone to have equal footing for their pursuits, with dignity for every life. As such, I came to the conclusion, after much stupidity and some research, that communism is the goal.

        • Quimby [any, any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          oh, yeah, I gotcha. yeah, changing people's minds on stuff is generally hard-to-impossible, and that becomes even more true for stuff that affects them personally.

          • gaycomputeruser [she/her]
            ·
            3 years ago

            sniff :zizek-preference: the glasses of ideology are painful to take off, you must be forced to take them off

        • Quimby [any, any]
          ·
          3 years ago

          To an extent. I try to use my resources to help others, for example, by housing trans people and SA survivors rent-free. But it's also a balancing act because completely impoverishing myself would not only be unwise in a country with no safety net, but would also likely limit my ability to do good in the long term.

          So the point of my comment was essentially to say that while I try to do praxis and help right now, I would be happy to give up much more as part of broader societal reforms that may necessitate it. But me giving up my house absent those sweeping changes won't do any good.

          That's just the trap of "you're a socialist yet you have money" vs "you're a socialist because you don't have money so you must just be jealous." Which is never a good argument.