A new comrade with a lot of energy and creativity has joined my organization. It is a joy to work with them and they add a lot to our work. However, they have years of critical theory academy time in them and it makes it difficult to discuss politics...because I do not understand anything they say. I am seeking advice on how to handle this constructively. If I am alienated speaking to them, certainly the community we work in will be too and I want to avoid that situation. An emblematic example is below:
For instance, we were having a good conversation about disability activism and suddenly a switch flipped and they entered jargon mode. When I told them I did not understand they got very apologetic and seemed hurt. I do not know how to proceed.
There have been a few similar instants and now I am starting to dread when they raise their hand. Clearly some of the issue is in my reaction, too, and I am trying to work on that. Any advice is appreciated!
Remind them that intense jargon is often used to avoid facing material conditions (the Orwell politics in the English language argument).
They should always be able to distill jargon to simple language as well. Think of Marxist jargon like base/superstructure. It's a shorthand to basically talk about the economic conditions (material conditions on the ground) vs the ideological and structural extensions of the mode of production(economic model). It's not that you can't explain the terms ( and indeed at times the terms are up for debate). They're a shortcut. Asking "what do you mean by X" can also be a good intervention