I'm seeing some dumb-ass takes about how "online isn't real" and how it's "a drop in the bucket." But seriously, how did you all become aware of leftist ideas? How does anyone in nations such as the US become politically literate? How many of you were former atheist edgelords or shitposters on reddit?
Seriously, online does matter. It wasn't Fox News that created the alt-right Charlottesville rally. It was the fucking Sargon/skeptic/manosphere pipeline, which was primarily a youtube phenomenon. Or how about the comrades that listened to Chapo, and were inspired to travel to Iowa to help Bernie win the Iowa caucus? For Christ's sake just look at how much of an influence Facebook has had on the CHUDs. To ignore that we live in a neoliberal hellscape where the vast majority of us only find some kind of solace or connection in the online world is to ironically ignore material conditions. Something can be "not real" but still have a HUGE affect on the "real world" (e.g. money, gender). Have the recent voices of trans comrades and POC comrades about their issues here not taught anyone anything? Doesn't take a genius to see this.
For those that scream "rEaD tHeOry" take a step back and think, what the hell were many those "classic Marxist texts?" A lot of them were political pamplets or, as others have pointed out before, literally debate-bro replies to others. How is that any different than online shit now? Honestly, if Marx et. al were alive today, wouldn't they use podcasts, tweets, and youtube vids to spread their messages?
TL;DR: online does matter. Seriously, how did any of you become politically aware, be honest.
How I moved left from being a brainwashed Bush supporter from a shitty Highschool government professor: Colbert Report -> John Stewart -> Reddit -> Bernie Sanders sub -> Leftist subs like Late Stage Capitalism and Chapo. Throw in all the youtube videos I've watched along the way. Videos of Michael Parenti were the final straw that made me a communist. Had it not been for the internet I'd, at best be a shitlib. lol rChapo memes were so good it actually made me want to learn more about Socialism and Communism.
Yeah I mean the fact that people in this thread are saying "online doesn't matter because it's just a place to shoot the shit" is kinda boggling. Like if you're just gonna shoot the shit, then not why not do it on r*ddit or some other place? They chose this place, so online shit DOES play a role in their politics.