0.000% of Communism has been built. Evil child-murdering billionaires still rule the world with a shit-eating grin. All he has managed to do is make himself sad. He is starting to suspect Kras Mazov fucked him over personally with his socio-economic theory. It has, however, made him into a very, very smart boy with something like a university degree in Truth. Instead of building Communism, he now builds a precise model of this grotesque, duplicitous world. :lt-dbyf-dubois:
I may be one sorry son-of-a-bitch but at least I have THE ANSWERS to the world now so that's cool
Cool until you try to tell someone else without the care in sequencing and emotional detachment of a bomb defuser
He did the opposite for me. I finally understood what I always felt but couldn't put it into words while working as a dishwasher and a server under the table. Thank you Mr max
yeah this is the more literal truth, everyone still feels sad and Marx just gives reasons
Marxism is a path to happiness through social change, not a instant fix
:so-true: Hey Ulysses! Have you watched this latest thing yet? It's about this eccentric genius billionaire that is trying to save the world but is misunderstood and quirky and the government bureaucrats and their red tape hold him back and sometimes thwart his efforts to advance the human species... why are you looking at me like that? Ulysses?
:desolate: incoherent mumbling about Tomorrowland
Understanding the world should give you peace. I think that if you aren't finding peace you should do more research and study more. Marx shouldn't make you feel sad - instead it should open your eyes and bring clarity to your life. Marx ran around London beer drunk, pawned his pants, had a big beautiful family and probably died happy. If his and Engel's revelations bother you more than him, well, maybe you don't understand it as well as you should. Just my 2¢
If I could say I was a 100% orthodox Marxist I would be at peace. "After all," I would think, "the contradictions of capitalism make its collapse an inevitability." But these days I just can't say for sure that I believe that to be the case. Marx never could have accounted for the fact that, for example, we have a clock ticking down for how much time we have to stop the environmental damage being caused by capitalism, much less to reverse the damage that has been done. Propaganda and mass media as well have advanced far beyond the capabilities that could have been forseen in the 19th century. I'm not saying I don't believe it'll happen. But I think it's foolish to consider it a foregone conclusion.
Yeah I feel like if I went back in time and told Marx we live in capitalist hellworld in the year 2021 he'd be a bit less at peace.
Understanding the world should give you peace.
Absolutely not 100% completely wrong
It takes literal engendered sociopathy to see what's happening right now as okay. We have reached a point of no return, far beyond the evils Marx ever predicted. Feeling sad about this is completely normal, and while it shouldn't consume your life, negative emotions should be expected and given room to exist.
Being at peace doesn't necessarily mean you think the current world is good or okay, that's a pretty rough interpretation of what they said
Marx had a host of serious health issues including pain in his liver, breathing problems, boils, insomnia, Verneuil's disease, and he'd bleed from his eyeballs. He was basically bedridden for close to 6 months before he died. He deeply loved his family, his friend Engels, and beer, so it wasn't all bad, but he probably died very unsatisfied he couldn't continue working and also in horrifying pain.
Wow damn thats fucked up I've never heard of all that before. Makes it kind of messed up when right-wingers make fun of mr. Max for not having a job or whatever.
Edit: I mean you're basically disabled at that point imho.
Despite his constant poor health he did have a job as a journalist. He worked as the European correspondent for the New-York Daily Tribune. His work on the Crimean War is pretty good if you wanna check it out sometime.
Agree 100%.
Here's the big brain take: nearly all of the fucking nastiness that comes with having your eyes open to the world can be filed under "major existential issues" and not "holy fuck what do I do about this today". It's not that you never have to deal with the cruelty of the world. but that you should deal with it in the same way you deal with every other big existential crisis, most especially death. You change as much as you can, do whatever you can to bring about megacommunism, and you make the most of the rest.
my favorite emoji on here is the Marx in joker makeup one. it makes me laugh just thinking about it. like it would be a hilarious costume/get up to just show up at work in on some random day.
:marx-joker:
and like commiting to the bit 100%: when someone asks "why" I laugh maniacally and say, "Of what use is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise?"
on a more serious note, I'm generally affable with people and might rely on levity too much in social situations. this is tempered by my willingness to witness and acknowledge the inhumanity of capitalism or the banality of its evils.
I empathize with feeling that as one's grasp of Marxism improves, one loses avenues of enjoyment they or others they know have used. "retail therapy" comes to mind, but other things like favorite meals or the fit of nice clothes can lose their shine when seen in the context of exploitation of nature and people in agriculture and fast fashion.
what is important is to try and see that what you lost was based in illusion so it was holding you back anyway. what you can gain is an appreciation for things that are essential and authentic: friends and support networks, sunsets, animals eating, old trees, distant horizons, etc.
Friends... I forget what it's like to have people in my rough age category whom I can interact with in a friendly manner. Working at a retail store among a bunch of senior citizens and teenagers can do that to a motherfucker.
The feeling that a lot of things I "enjoyed" before were just fake resonates with me a lot. Well stated.
I have comrades now. I have transformed from a squealing hog - with such shit views I'm pretty sure nearly everyone that posts here would beat me up, swirlie me in a freshly used toilet, stuff my ass into a trashcan, then throw me into a locker - into a friendly little pygmy potbelly piggy pig who does nice stuff for people.
I spent today eating Indian food and drinking beer instead of working.
:yea:
Just trying to fill a hole because I take no pleasure in my work (even though I have one of the jobs that supposedly does good in the world - it's all superficial bandaids for systemic cruelty), depression got me looking at my hobbies like they're stale bread, and food/beer is my last drug.
Hey man, you were gonna feel alienated by your job either way, at least you got to substitute it with something enjoyable
I spent a small chunk of today watching my manager dance instead of working. I'd rate it above working, but below being paid to take a shit.
I thought the reason I can't enjoy things anymore was fascists and capitalists?
and who invented fascists and capitalists?
That's right, Carl Marks.
Before, I was alienated and confused
Now I’m just alienated, one down one to go
