I'm pretty left, yada yada whatever, y'all seem to know things I wanna know. Curious where you get your info and such and so on. Idk show me stuff, I wanna depropagandize myself.
Wanna clarify this isn't a troll post, I genuinely do wanna learn and don't know where to start
Do you like youtube videos or do you prefer to read? There's some good stuff for both formats, just good to know what you find more receptive for yourself.
I love to read but YouTube videos are great too. Realistically I'm probably more receptive to YouTube videos because they are easier to digest but I'm also instinctively more suspicious of them for some reason
Second Thought is a great socialist youtube channel that does a lot of these intro type videos, mostly in the 20 min range.
this is a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwyjlmEAcYM
If watching Twitch streams is your thing, HasanAbi is great. He often covers news before it's MSM has written about it. I'm in his chat every day, including right now
https://twitch.tv/hasanabi
LunaOi and NonCompete have some decent YT vid channels that don't get enough love.
This is an easy and informative read. It's basically a FAQ about communism.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm
This is the correct answer.
Everyone says The Communist Manifesto, but this is more requireder reading. It is more lucider.
2nd this. Its the best piece of classic theory to start with
https://mega.nz/folder/3GBC1SIZ#zyFsn3bRGxOG1sy-2dOfVA
Behold... the Hexbear theory archive... that nobody uses.. because almost nobody knows its exists.Never mind, all the folders seem to be empty. At least the titles are relevant, you'll just have to look for them individually on Libgen or something.
Is it just on my end or are most of those folders empty?
well fuck me running... there was stuff there three years ago.
At least I know why nobody knows about the Hexbear Theory Archive now...
What is your current general sense of actually existing socialist countries (current or historical)? This might be a good place to get a better understanding of some concepts.
Also take a look over here for some of the basics topics if you need to gauge your political development: https://hexbear.net/c/librehab
Generally speaking I think I view china negatively but that's probably because I live in America and honestly don't know much about it. Sinophobia etc etc. But honestly until recently the only other socialist country I even knew existed was Vietnam.
I think more authoritarian governments just make me a bit nervous.
Comrade, you need to get on board with the Cuba pill. Listen to Blowback Season 2 and embrace the
I'll just say that Blowback, in general, is great for the Imperialist brainworms. While season 1 is Iraq, which most people "know", the following seasons are really incredible in developing some of the insanity that
has engaged in over the 20th c.Seconding Blowback, I'm six episodes in and went from "Hmm I feel icky about Cuba" to "Holy fucking shit I can't believe we would do that to them, I unequivocally support Cuba"
The news from Cuba is even better since the season aired. Their constitution is now more progressive to LGBTQ people than
I think more authoritarian governments just make me a bit nervous.
This a juicy target for deprogramming your propaganda. That phrase is kind of a vague disparagement that doesn't hold much meaning once you become aware of the intrinsic violence (and authority to use violence) that is common in the 'developed world'. The big shift is to reconsider your understanding of freedom and liberty of people. Just the fact that the USA has by far the largest prison population (nevermind the extreme per capita metric) really demolishes this concept as framed by pro-capitalist propaganda.
Just keep asking questions, and we'll do our best to set you on a path to better awareness of material conditions.
Don't get me wrong, I hate it here. Corporate ownership and control scares me just as much as powerful governments. I am very knowledgeable about how bad it is where I live but I'm not very knowledgeable about how to make it better or how much better it might be in other places with other systems.
The thing to understand is that under current capitalist formation, government is at service of capital. This is why the 'auth govt' is considered scary to the capitalist status quo. Nevermind that 'freedom govt' still does all the same things that is claimed of the 'auth govt' just with the interests of capital in mind.
I can guarantee there is a more democratic systems in place within the 'auth govt' than the duopoly of political power capital provides to US citizens in aggregate. This is how the 'temporarily impoverished' brainwashing is so useful to the status quo. "If you do socialism, you can never be the big boss with all the toys and perks" says the capitalist propaganda. This is the 'authority' that you are supposed to fear. The authority to override the interests of capital, and instead seek out the interests of the masses of people.
This is a big shift in thinking, so don't feel bad if it doesn't 'click' with you right away.
I want you to know this video utterly shattered my world view when I watched it.
Lol, awesome. That's what Blackshirts and Reds did for me. Very much recommend reading/listening to those books on the list I linked. Actually, can you see the comment I linked? Lemmy can be funny about comment accessibility on deleted posts.
If you're not much of a reader, check out parenti's other vids and make sure to listen to the Blowback podcast. season 2 is Cuba and 3 is Korea, they're also very eye opening. If you want, I can drop you some more vids.
Lol, blackshirts and reds was the first leftist book I read and I have listened to all 4 seasons of blowback. I'm currently reading capital
Oh lol you're on your way then.
Season 5 of Blowback is on Cambodia. I just listened to episode seven this morning, fascinating stuff.
What do you want to learn about? I'm sure people here can give you some good recommendations on specific topics. If you don't really know, Parenti is a good place to start. Blackshirts and Reds, and Inventing Reality are good. (lol, I see someone has already recommended
while I was writing this)Posters in the newsmega have been putting together a general reading list on geopolitics, you can see what's been added so far here: https://hexbear.net/comment/3934711 Its quite short right now though. There is good discussion on recent events here: https://hexbear.net/post/571250, there is a new one each week. Subscribe to !news@hexbear.net if you haven't.
Yeah I'm not entirely certain on what exactly I am looking to learn about. I've just been seeing a lot of post here that I instinctively disagree with but upon further thought realize I don't actually have any evidence other than that it's generally what I've heard other people say. Yet the people here seem so certainly they are right that I atleast have to look into it. I'm specifically talking about big claims like genocide denial. For example I have been told that Mao Zedong is responsible for like 40-80mil deaths yet people here claim he isn't and seeing how that is quite a substantial claim I should atleast take it seriously and look into it yk?
I don't want to just be some reactionary parroting talking points I've never actually validated
The black book of communism where everyone gets the "communism killed 100 million" from, you should know it counts nazis among those victims of communism AND the soviets who were fighting against those nazis AND both sides' theoretical children that weren't born. It's an absolute joke and like half of its authors have disavowed it.
here's a working link to one of the ones that is broken on the other github list:
https://mronline.org/2006/09/21/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward/
and here's an old article about the fabricated narrative of the Holodomor even though you didn't ask about that: https://www.villagevoice.com/in-search-of-a-soviet-holocaust/
It's hard to ask for things when you don't know what you are asking for. Thank you :3
Glad to help. There's a quote that comes from Citations Needed podcast iirc. "The unit of propaganda is not lies, it is emphasis." This is why critical reading of western media is so important. Media literacy also helps a lot to clue you in on when a suggestive rhetorical technique is being employed.
If you have some time, I highly recommend Ways of Seeing. It's an analysis of European art and art history that really provides some good basis for media literacy. It's old BBC documentary so not super compelling compared to Second Thought, but it is highly valuable IMO.
4 parts - 30 mins each
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk&t=7s
You may find something of interest in here: https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/README.md, or specifically here for things on Mao: https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/socialism_faq.md#on-mao-maoism-and-marxism-leninism-maoism-and-the-prc Dessalines is one of the creators of Lemmy.
You'd likely enjoy Inventing Reality. Its a good starting point.
Feel free to make another post asking specific questions, as people here are good for providing sources, etc.. I don't have the time right now. You can also search hexbear for things like "Mao" etc., though you may need to do it from www.hexbear.net as older posts may not be synced to your instance. There have been a lot of effort posts, reading lists, etc.. posted over the years. No one here "denies genocide" though.
“During the cold war, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime's atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn't go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them.
If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum.”
Parenti is great, highly recommend.
Another I'd recommend is Vijay Prashad. Washington Bullets is a great book for deprogramming. Also this great 5 minute speech by Prashad
The people who come up with the Mao gazillion deaths stuff for some reason don't have any numbers on the greatest genocides in history such as the British Crown slaughtering Indians, or the US almost completely wiping out the Native American population. China's life expectancy almost doubled during Mao's time, if he was slaughtering people at the rate they claim this would not be possible.
Last year I read a bunch of books on various leftist topics and made a post featuring them all, each with a small review, so you can read that for some inspo
I should prob make a new post and include the new books I've read since then
For trans stuff, try Leslie Feinbergs Trans liberation beyond pink and blue
Check out the book series Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution by Hal Draper
