Also if you exclude every white leftist who was a fascist once, at least like 60% of leftists are just like thanos snapped away lmao
the entire point of the tweet is what, gatekeeping? trying to make converts feel unwelcome?
"Ah but you see, I'm the only true leftist" moments before actual fascists do what they always wanted
Furthest I ever went was fantasizing about shooting up a mosque cuz I thought Muslims were gonna take over the us. My whole far right phase only lasted a couple months thankfully, but I’ve like actually turned myself around since then, think it was like right around the 2016 election then I deradicalized into a lib soon after
You saying this casually like its a thought everybody had...... lmaoooooooo psychotic
what would i have to do to prove myself, like i listen to jpegmafia and call my coworkers cracker, does that count?
I just realized I can't see "40%" written somewhere without immediately thinking of cops anymore.
Uhhh chill out there, I might've been a lib at some point but I wasn't a fucking Nazi
I think it's dumb to say that former fascists turned leftists are bad, because people can always change. At the same time it's important for the left to not try and recruit so hard from fascists, they are not a majority of the population and there are plenty of apolitical people who can also be radicalized to the left. The idea that every leftist or even a majority of them are former fascists can only be true if you are only taking 4chan as your sample pool
this only happens online too, where you can just adopt the aesthetics of whatever ideology you want
I think the issue is that most teenagers don't have a cohesive ideology, so they cling to political beliefs as a surrogate identity. This in itself isn't a problem exclusive to young people - the majority of adults are still ideologically incoherent - but young people are particularly attracted to extremism because they are desperate to be part of a larger narrative that provides them with answers. I don't think a lot of them really understand what it is they're supporting because they view it as an abstract aesthetic rather than a true ideology with a real world material impact. It's a reaction to feeling powerless in a liberal democracy.
I don't mean to excuse teenage fascism - these kids need to be caught early and educated on the way their views damage the world, and I'm sure there are true believers out there who are beyond saving. The pipeline is certainly there and I'm sure that many fascist teens grow up to be fascist adults. Most of us, however, change our views as we become more comfortable with ourselves and secure in our identities. If someone wants to help the working class today then I am comfortable looking past the mistakes they made as children.
from my experience and from the experience of others this isnt just some like "in 3 months i went from being a nazi to being a communist" kinda thing, this is like a multi year deal. like i know i can't speak for everyone, but for me it went apolitical as a kid>weird libertarian/ancap in middle school>"i'm not a nazi, buuut..." i in freshman year>basic bitch lib in sophomore>full on communist in senior year. I know it may seem like theres not that much of a gap, but keep in mind that the majority of people here are like in our 20's and developing as a teenager in the internet age is a fucking nightmare lmao
man, because of this reason, losing the og chapo sub sucks. Reddit seems to have gotten even more right wing lately because of it.
"Leftist" becoming synonymous with "liberal" in the American discourse has been a catastrophe
Me to my dad at 10 "Lincoln never should have freed the slaves. They're just violent." Me now "nya, burn down police stations and abolish prisons. Pay reparations that are owed, nyan. Our nation is already fascist and a sputtering attempt at a white ethno-state, nyan nyan UwU. trans rights."
I was born reading theory and aware of my privileges, anyone who says otherwise is a fascist
