Chomsky was a big part of my radicalization, I loved how authoritatively he could just wreck American propaganda on any subject, but in his Q and As, he'd naturally get the question, "OK, I get it, we live in a giant lie, and capitalism is going to kill us all, what do we do?" and his reply was always basically, "just do whatever, no ones stopping you, organize and stuff, that's how it's worked before." That always rubbed me the wrong way, but I thought it was a problem with me, old Chomskers couldn't be giving bad or even incoherent advice, surely he must be correct. I'm starting to consider the idea that, no, what was happening there was his rejection of the prescriptions of Marx, Lenin and their ilk left him with absolutely nothing to offer, and these poor people, having just been rightly convinced that everything they knew about America and the world is a lie, and innocent people are dying literally right now, desperately ask, "what can I do to change this terrible situation," and be told, "organize and stuff, it's easy, it's actually embarrassing that you asked me."
Anyway, what was goin on with V-sauce or whatever?
Nate Robinson has a knack for criticizing doctrinaires for screeching "read theory" at everybody, and he's right about that. Not everybody needs to read theory. However, people like Nate Robinson, the editor-in-cheif of the largest or second-largest print socialist magazine in the United States absolutely fucking need to read theory. That's basically my point.
As individuals, we should all do what's right. We don't have to put much thought into this. You see someone struggling, you help them out. You don't need to read an encyclopedia to understand this. Throughout history, there have been countless illiterate peasants who understood this. Elitism is the twelfth kind of liberalism. However, when you are laying down a political line which is supposed to represent masses of people, you need to do your homework. You have to think strategically. You have to reflect on history and the insights which have been gleaned from it. You have to engage critically with the subject matter. If you claim to speak for millions of people, you owe it to them to do some due diligence and not lead them into a dead end.
We should never assume we know what's best. Most leftists are humble. Most leftists know that they aren't all-seeing and all-knowing. They try to contribute to the understanding of the collective, and they try to expand their own personal understanding by listening to others. Then there are people like Nate who are like, "You know, the people who keep bringing up this Marx guy are really annoying. Maybe I individually am smarter than generations upon generations of revolutionary thinkers."
The axis of people who refuse to read theory but consider themselves to be the vanguard is consolidating at an alarming pace.
Chomsky was a big part of my radicalization, I loved how authoritatively he could just wreck American propaganda on any subject, but in his Q and As, he'd naturally get the question, "OK, I get it, we live in a giant lie, and capitalism is going to kill us all, what do we do?" and his reply was always basically, "just do whatever, no ones stopping you, organize and stuff, that's how it's worked before." That always rubbed me the wrong way, but I thought it was a problem with me, old Chomskers couldn't be giving bad or even incoherent advice, surely he must be correct. I'm starting to consider the idea that, no, what was happening there was his rejection of the prescriptions of Marx, Lenin and their ilk left him with absolutely nothing to offer, and these poor people, having just been rightly convinced that everything they knew about America and the world is a lie, and innocent people are dying literally right now, desperately ask, "what can I do to change this terrible situation," and be told, "organize and stuff, it's easy, it's actually embarrassing that you asked me."
Anyway, what was goin on with V-sauce or whatever?
me tbh
furthest I've ever gotten was Chomsky
ill just be cannon fodder when it's needed
cos my heart's in the right place
Nate Robinson has a knack for criticizing doctrinaires for screeching "read theory" at everybody, and he's right about that. Not everybody needs to read theory. However, people like Nate Robinson, the editor-in-cheif of the largest or second-largest print socialist magazine in the United States absolutely fucking need to read theory. That's basically my point.
As individuals, we should all do what's right. We don't have to put much thought into this. You see someone struggling, you help them out. You don't need to read an encyclopedia to understand this. Throughout history, there have been countless illiterate peasants who understood this. Elitism is the twelfth kind of liberalism. However, when you are laying down a political line which is supposed to represent masses of people, you need to do your homework. You have to think strategically. You have to reflect on history and the insights which have been gleaned from it. You have to engage critically with the subject matter. If you claim to speak for millions of people, you owe it to them to do some due diligence and not lead them into a dead end.
We should never assume we know what's best. Most leftists are humble. Most leftists know that they aren't all-seeing and all-knowing. They try to contribute to the understanding of the collective, and they try to expand their own personal understanding by listening to others. Then there are people like Nate who are like, "You know, the people who keep bringing up this Marx guy are really annoying. Maybe I individually am smarter than generations upon generations of revolutionary thinkers."