I think the “not reading theory” thing is why the movement is gonna keep growing. Teens aren’t gonna fuckin read Parenti or Lenin or even Marx outside of school, they want to watch Ben Shabipo getting owned on Twitch and Youtube. And the people doing that happen to be the ones most vocally opposed to any sort of statist leftism, and this creates a cursed pipeline of social democrat -> left anti-communist.
Anarcho-Bidenism really is a perfect storm for western leftism right now: an ideological position that is 1) easy to understand since it only requires passive consumption via those pesky smartphones, making it extremely palatable to younger people, and 2) generally appealing to these young people since it’s an ideology that appeals to western liberal values (rejection of historical communist movements) while still being just radical enough that you still get to say stuff like “fuck cops” and feel counter-culture.
In short, I think it’s an easily digestible ideology that offers young new leftists a way to feel radical while maintaining lots of succdem values that they don’t want to lose.
I think the “not reading theory” thing is why the movement is gonna keep growing
This is also why telling people to "read theory" is so important. If you don't sit down and actually read, you eventually hit a brickwall because you don't have the language or the framework to develop a coherent worldview. You don't have to dig deep into every minutae, but without basic concepts like the Labor Theory of Value or the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to fall, or a basic understanding of say use value vs. exchange value, any "Left" movement just ends up being a charity project. If you don't read something, you inevitably just fall back into being a Capitalist because that's the only way of looking at the world you've ever known.
I think the “not reading theory” thing is why the movement is gonna keep growing. Teens aren’t gonna fuckin read Parenti or Lenin or even Marx outside of school, they want to watch Ben Shabipo getting owned on Twitch and Youtube. And the people doing that happen to be the ones most vocally opposed to any sort of statist leftism, and this creates a cursed pipeline of social democrat -> left anti-communist.
Anarcho-Bidenism really is a perfect storm for western leftism right now: an ideological position that is 1) easy to understand since it only requires passive consumption via those pesky smartphones, making it extremely palatable to younger people, and 2) generally appealing to these young people since it’s an ideology that appeals to western liberal values (rejection of historical communist movements) while still being just radical enough that you still get to say stuff like “fuck cops” and feel counter-culture.
In short, I think it’s an easily digestible ideology that offers young new leftists a way to feel radical while maintaining lots of succdem values that they don’t want to lose.
Would the best way to combat this be getting some Leninist debatelord popular?
This is also why telling people to "read theory" is so important. If you don't sit down and actually read, you eventually hit a brickwall because you don't have the language or the framework to develop a coherent worldview. You don't have to dig deep into every minutae, but without basic concepts like the Labor Theory of Value or the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to fall, or a basic understanding of say use value vs. exchange value, any "Left" movement just ends up being a charity project. If you don't read something, you inevitably just fall back into being a Capitalist because that's the only way of looking at the world you've ever known.