Russia invading was really the best thing for hawks. It’s only gonna get harder to argue for anti-imperialism now, even smarter people I know see the USA as the lesser of two evils. It doesn’t help that a lot of the people opposed to the US right now are legit ghouls who there isn’t much nice to say about besides that they oppose to the US. No amount of nuance or intelligent arguing is gonna convince anyone now, the US were the good guys against the big evil Putin.
The US is getting more and more regressive on LGBT issues but on classic American style they’re doing it slowly and regionally enough that it doesn’t seem like a sudden regressive take over, so most LGBT people I know still see the USA as a generally progressive state with some regressive enclaves, unlike the “backwards” nations in the developing world.
The hope pilling about China is seeming more and more like cope to me. Even if they are really building socialism I think they maybe too late. Besides it seems to only be socialism for China, they’re not planning on exporting anything.
Anti-communist propaganda as worked. Failures of past socialist movements along with the almost scientific methods of modern propagandists means really only an aesthetic meme version of the idea is gaining any meaningful popularity.
Frankly I’m just fed up. I don’t think anyone else in the west can be talked into socialism at this point, the propagandists won. People say that we shouldn’t be doomer even if we are doomed, but NGL having hope just seems exhausting and obnoxious right now. It being over seems like the best fate because at least then we don’t have to deal with people telling us how wrong we were.
Dark but one thing to think about in this endless world of media cycle after cycle is that not just long ago the modern capitalist system was close to a precipice just from 1 disease any modern state has the technology to deal with.
The future if we're frank is going to have more and more events like this and climate change on top. A system where everyone supports each other isn't really attractive to your average person in the first world when you're living in a condition that's honestly godlike compared to the rest of humanity. It's very easy now to believe in the status quo when it has no effect on your day to day.
When things start going south quick, people start looking for new ideas. This will happen in our lifetime, it is not a big commitment to continue to work on leftist thought or even planting seeds of cooperation in the people around you.
For comparison, yes the right is bankrolled, but the very extreme right shows time and time again how far people will believe things like the earth is flat and the earth is hollow for the sense of community it brings. If they can nudge people like this, the left can too. It won't be the next 1917 but it is a spark. We are not even in 1848 right now we are serfs in Alsance afterall.