It's really not that hard. Just get recommendations and commit to reading a book. This is a lib example but it was my doorway into reading theory - most Chomsky written stuff I find tough as fuck to read. So l looked around and found a book of transcriptions of him on radio shows and the like. 100x more digestable, and now I'm moving onto Lenin
That's great, and will work for the majority of people who have the time / resources to look around for more accessible shit, but we need to develop and promote theory resources for those who don't have this option. Examples include:
Neurodivergent people
People with reading / learning disabilities or those with ABI or other medical conditions
People who struggle to read anything beyond a tweet or comic book level of density
I grew up in a poor as fuck background and was lauded as some sort of brain genius for just reading a book. There are a lot of working class people out there who need some further pushing to the left but just don't have the access or method. The right seems to have an easy and wrong answer for these people for all of their ills, we need to get there first.
I heard that during the Industrial Revolution there were workers who didn't know how to read but still wanted to learn theory, so they'd get people to read out loud to them and absorb it that way
Reading and discussion groups are great, as well as reformatting theory into mediums and modes that can be understood by all. We do it with complex things in Australia for people with ABIs (like voting, medical rights, etc) using simplified formats, but I think we could go even further.
Push people into movies and TV shows that carry leftist themes, speak to them afterwards about how it links to theory.
The joke about the Matrix being coopted by the right doesn't make me laugh, it makes me sad as hell - shit, that is such a simple and great entry point into explaining leftist ideas.
Even if it isn't dense, complex theory it's important to bring those who can't or won't read theory along. Everyone suffers under capitalism, but it seems only the right is effective at radicalizing the great unwashed.
Hope this makes sense, hard to type during a tea party with my toddlers.
It's really not that hard. Just get recommendations and commit to reading a book. This is a lib example but it was my doorway into reading theory - most Chomsky written stuff I find tough as fuck to read. So l looked around and found a book of transcriptions of him on radio shows and the like. 100x more digestable, and now I'm moving onto Lenin
That's great, and will work for the majority of people who have the time / resources to look around for more accessible shit, but we need to develop and promote theory resources for those who don't have this option. Examples include:
I grew up in a poor as fuck background and was lauded as some sort of brain genius for just reading a book. There are a lot of working class people out there who need some further pushing to the left but just don't have the access or method. The right seems to have an easy and wrong answer for these people for all of their ills, we need to get there first.
I heard that during the Industrial Revolution there were workers who didn't know how to read but still wanted to learn theory, so they'd get people to read out loud to them and absorb it that way
Reading and discussion groups are great, as well as reformatting theory into mediums and modes that can be understood by all. We do it with complex things in Australia for people with ABIs (like voting, medical rights, etc) using simplified formats, but I think we could go even further. Push people into movies and TV shows that carry leftist themes, speak to them afterwards about how it links to theory. The joke about the Matrix being coopted by the right doesn't make me laugh, it makes me sad as hell - shit, that is such a simple and great entry point into explaining leftist ideas. Even if it isn't dense, complex theory it's important to bring those who can't or won't read theory along. Everyone suffers under capitalism, but it seems only the right is effective at radicalizing the great unwashed. Hope this makes sense, hard to type during a tea party with my toddlers.