Theory Recommendation Request - A lot of liberals/Dems in my life are facing crises of political consciousness watching the police collaborate with the protestors to attack "a sacred symbol of American democracy." This is a fantastic chance to move them left, but I'm hesitant to recommend anything that's too heavy.
What are some good entry-level works that are accessible to people that think the West Wing and Jon Ossoff are unironically good? Keep in mind things like S&R are disqualified because Lenin is pretty stigmatized in their brains. Need something more vanilla/unknown.
Blackshirts and Red Michael Parenti. Show the libs how the fascists crush communists and let blackshirts run wild and they'll see the parallels between BLM and the Trumpers yesterday .
This was the only book that came to my mind that like, explained the relationship of fascism/violence to the Left without being like, This Is Alienatingly Leftist.
edit: I'm going to try to lead my discussions to getting people to read a chapter or two
The only libraries that seem to have this book are academic libraries.
And good luck getting some rando lib to read a pirated copy.
You'd be surprised, many libs who went through college normalized pirating because of insane textbook prices.
I recently read The Reactionary Mind, which I think serves the purpose of being (a) pretty vanilla, in that the cover is pretty inoccuous-looking and it's written by a guy who's a professor and a journalist, but (b) gets at the heart of what conservativism, neoliberalism, and fascism have in common -- the motivation to preserve traditional hierarchies. There's a newer edition that has a final chapter about Trump, putting him in the context of the history of right-wing movements, which might be good for liberals who think he just popped up out of nowhere. I quoted the book yesterday in a phone call with my mom in which she wondered out loud "Why do these people love Trump so much when he doesn't care about them at all?"
From Wikipedia: 'Robin argues that rather than being about liberty, limited government, resistance to change, or public virtue, conservatism is a "mode of counterrevolutionary practice" to preserve hierarchy and power.' Which is not necessarily obvious to your average liberal.
Good advice. My family often wonders the same thing, and I'll try and use the hierarchy bit to make the point about motivation. It's also useful for calling out Libs that refuse to embrace any kind of re-distributive policies.
I’m not gonna ask any other lib to bother reading a book Rn but I always feel like citations needed is a great starting place for libs because you have to develop a heuristic for criticism of the media to be left wing in the face of the propaganda deluge everyone in America is immersed in. That plus the generally NPR esque tone and predictable structure make it very easy listening for people whose hate is not pure yet.
I recommend Citations Needed to people constantly. You're exactly right that it marries a leftist spirit with an NPR tone. I've brought my partner around on it, working on others frequently.
It’s actually a great show it’s just too predictable for me at this point but I’ve learned a lot listening to them.
Something that shows the CIA Arming and training the type of people we saw trespassing on the Capitol in Latin America and accepting them as the legitimate government.
Depends on their age and how deep you think they’re ready to plunge.
This won’t be perfect bc I’m a little busy at the moment and can’t organize this properly but:
I like to use the alt-right playbook for libs who are already looking sideways at trump supporters. And innuendo studios has other videos that are a bit more into socialism if they like it and stick with the channel.
Renegade cut also has some good vids that can help plant the seeds that we need to go beyond the Democrats. He has a lot of good work antagonizing dems from the left without going full blown scary communist.
As far as books, I don’t have much lib adjacent theory experience tbh, but lighter ones would be something like Manufacturing consent by chomsky and/or inventing realities by parenti.
Modern Imperialism by John smith, pretty good at showing how we do bad shit despite what party is in office tho it does assume anti-imperialism is good which is a bit of a bar to hop for libs, good to put it in their thoughts tho
Anyway I’ll maybe try to add some more later but these are a couple lighter and lib friendly resources and I’m sure some other comrades will offer up some good stuff to
Thanks for the reply. Innuendo Studios is great as its pretty tame and extremely reasonable. Will start there.
And I’m back.
Innuendo is good. Renegade has similar vibes but a bit dry so depends on the person
It pains me to say this but philosophy tube can be good for younger people or people who’d be interested in his theater kid vibes. He does a good job of sneaking in radical language without being over the top like “and that’s whether your a Marxist... or not that cool yet smile” shit like that
Mexie is pretty good too and presents some pretty radical stuff sometimes but never comes across as too hostile.
A really good one would be some more news, with Cody Johnston. His always very critical and on point on the dems. If they liked Jon Stewart or the daily show it’s a good rec.
I saw some people recommending black shirts, I definitely think that book is required reading but if someone is fully lib brained idk if it’s the first book I’d reach for as, IMO, a lot of the messages may meet resistance in their propagandized brains. That’s why i suggested something like inventing realities which will soften them up to accept more anti-establishment views/truths
People should also read settlers. Idk if it’s the first book I’d go for but it’s nice to have in mind.
And then just try sending various memes to people. They really can help a bit over a period of time, start to legitimize ideas and alternative points of views.
Modern Imperialism by John smith
That's actually a really good rec.
I'm in a book club with a bunch of libs and I've been pushing them to choose The End of Policing or The Shock Doctrine for our next book. The Shock Doctrine was a major first step in my radicalization.
Right now we're reading How To Be An Anti-Racist and it's OK, lots of "bodies and spaces" academic language but at least it's well-written and includes a chapter on primitive accumulation.
Current Affairs is tailor made for pulling libs left. Stuff like this is exactly what libs need to hear:
The best protection against this is for Joe Biden to deliver the American people the kinds of gains that will make them unlikely to fall for the right’s pitch. Franklin Roosevelt, by giving people things like the GI Bill, Social Security, and the Works Progress Administration, ensured that huge numbers of ordinary people would think positively about their government, because it had put money in their pocket, given them a free college education, or given them a job. If the Democrats deliver the hugely popular $2,000 checks, and follow it up with a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, free college, student debt forgiveness, Medicare For All, and a Green New Deal—which there are no excuses not to do now that they control the executive and legislative branches—then every person in the country will have gotten something tangible from the administration. These will include the ability to go to school without worrying about debt, the ability to go to the doctor without having to think about the bill, the ability to have a child without worrying you’ll need to go back to work the day after, and the knowledge that one’s grandchildren might live on a habitable planet with a sustainable civilization. A government that delivers for people inoculates them against the appeals of fascist demagogues.
I don't give a fuck if the guy writing that likes to wear goofy suits, and his opinions on the USSR or Marx aren't particularly relevant to where we're at in January 2021. What's important is he's willing to make the case that socialism (and he'll openly call it socialism) is the answer for this, and he does so in a lib-friendly format.
This is another good CA article on policing more specifically. It's geared towards the contradiction of "but I know a cop and he's a nice guy, so how can policing as a whole be bad?"
Thanks for the recommendation. CA was important for me for how I got here, but have kind of tuned out of it for a while. I'll check it regularly and circulate articles like this one.
Maybe failed state by Chomsky? I know he's gone off the deep lately, but they'll probably like him cus he said to vote for Biden. It's an older work that talks about how as America fails due to neoliberalism how it's a danfer to the world (and itself).
Just his whole :vote: deal surrounding Biden, push Biden left stuff.
Lenin is pretty stigmatized in their brains
Challenge this stigma! Their world view is collapsing around them. You need to be honest about your beliefs, otherwise you will be less convincing.
