some recent events. my friend's old house of 13 people were collectively served a 3-day eviction notice. 13 fuckin people that live there.
i've run into some serious arguments with a couple of my closest friends over Maoist thought. i've been trying to read more Mao and explore his works, and sometimes i pass those on to friends. but damn, the level of just totally written-off scorn with which the suggestion that Mao might be worth reading really blew my mind. one suggested i'm going too far and implied that i should get therapy or something. and it's making me have a couple thoughts:
one, why am i doing this? am i intentionally alienating my friends because i want to agree on what for most people are not central issues, like what for a more mainstream demsoc might be fringe and extremist thought? am i getting too focused on this and losing the bigger picture of overall solidarity with friends? on the other hand, that solidarity in understanding is what i'm seeking by talking with my left friends about theory. i want to be on the same level, and progress together toward a better world. but i also don't want to lose my friends over this. that would be so silly.
just finding that difficult. and honestly feeling my mental health kind of spiral out in a way, that part's true. i feel like i'm walking down a path from which i will never return; and much of me welcomes that, i feel certain in my heart that it is just.
these are tough times, comrades. sending you all love out there.
and there he is. i probably just have to give space for a while and maybe try from a different angle. the conversation was partly centered on them realizing that even scandanavian socialist countries do imperialism, and that therefore demsoc reform might not actually be the most effective counter to global capitalism.
so there's some distance to travel before we can really get there. bringing Mao into it at that point when i'm still trying to get him to acknowledge that armed revolutionary struggle has a place and that place may be here and now, is probably doing too much.
it's not quite so bad as all that, so don't stress yourself on my account. my friend is a demsoc, and is just scared of reading Lenin and Mao right now. that's understandable, my perception of the world got blown the fuck open by both of them. I'm a communist and I'm not going to stop being a communist.
the ultimate move is not to sacrifice the theory for the friendship, nor the friendship for the theory, but progress along it in the way that friendships do offering points that support what I see to be truth along the process. I'm not gonna change anyone's mind about this ; I'm just some guy. the events that are coming will be the ones to change their mind. all I can do is be there when it happens.
Don't push reading Mao on them. Mao is scary. I'm scared of reading Mao. Instead get them to talk and present Maoist viewpoints, maybe get them to agree. It doesn't matter if Mao (or whoever) came up with them for people to understand or adopt them
Mao's works are literally studied by the US military so they can try to understand (and combat) his god-tier theories on political and military organization. Your friends say you need therapy? That's insanely toxic on their part first of all. Secondly your friends knowledge of Mao sounds like it extends to "lol commie no food lol" and you shouldn't feel compelled to take them seriously on a topic they don't know anything about.
"No investigation, no right to speak" - Mao "Ze big dong" Zedong
Honestly, just stop discussing radical stuff with them. Read it, look into it, understand it, hopefully find friends you can talk about it with. But keep it separate from the people who don't understand it at all.
that's a simple solution and probably the easiest. it's strange separating politically from a person you've otherwise shared everything with for years, more or less.
I don't have anything helpful to add but you edited the comment while I was reading it and my brain broke trying to figure out where I was. I thought I was losing it lmao
haha, yeah the live element of this website is a new way of interacting with shit. i always look at my comment after and feel the need to rephrase things.
some recent events. my friend's old house of 13 people were collectively served a 3-day eviction notice. 13 fuckin people that live there.
i've run into some serious arguments with a couple of my closest friends over Maoist thought. i've been trying to read more Mao and explore his works, and sometimes i pass those on to friends. but damn, the level of just totally written-off scorn with which the suggestion that Mao might be worth reading really blew my mind. one suggested i'm going too far and implied that i should get therapy or something. and it's making me have a couple thoughts:
one, why am i doing this? am i intentionally alienating my friends because i want to agree on what for most people are not central issues, like what for a more mainstream demsoc might be fringe and extremist thought? am i getting too focused on this and losing the bigger picture of overall solidarity with friends? on the other hand, that solidarity in understanding is what i'm seeking by talking with my left friends about theory. i want to be on the same level, and progress together toward a better world. but i also don't want to lose my friends over this. that would be so silly.
just finding that difficult. and honestly feeling my mental health kind of spiral out in a way, that part's true. i feel like i'm walking down a path from which i will never return; and much of me welcomes that, i feel certain in my heart that it is just.
these are tough times, comrades. sending you all love out there.
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I'll tell you hwat, he keeps on doing that
and there he is. i probably just have to give space for a while and maybe try from a different angle. the conversation was partly centered on them realizing that even scandanavian socialist countries do imperialism, and that therefore demsoc reform might not actually be the most effective counter to global capitalism.
so there's some distance to travel before we can really get there. bringing Mao into it at that point when i'm still trying to get him to acknowledge that armed revolutionary struggle has a place and that place may be here and now, is probably doing too much.
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This one hits a little too close to home ngl
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it's not quite so bad as all that, so don't stress yourself on my account. my friend is a demsoc, and is just scared of reading Lenin and Mao right now. that's understandable, my perception of the world got blown the fuck open by both of them. I'm a communist and I'm not going to stop being a communist.
the ultimate move is not to sacrifice the theory for the friendship, nor the friendship for the theory, but progress along it in the way that friendships do offering points that support what I see to be truth along the process. I'm not gonna change anyone's mind about this ; I'm just some guy. the events that are coming will be the ones to change their mind. all I can do is be there when it happens.
Don't push reading Mao on them. Mao is scary. I'm scared of reading Mao. Instead get them to talk and present Maoist viewpoints, maybe get them to agree. It doesn't matter if Mao (or whoever) came up with them for people to understand or adopt them
Mao's works are literally studied by the US military so they can try to understand (and combat) his god-tier theories on political and military organization. Your friends say you need therapy? That's insanely toxic on their part first of all. Secondly your friends knowledge of Mao sounds like it extends to "lol commie no food lol" and you shouldn't feel compelled to take them seriously on a topic they don't know anything about.
"No investigation, no right to speak" - Mao "Ze big dong" Zedong
Honestly, just stop discussing radical stuff with them. Read it, look into it, understand it, hopefully find friends you can talk about it with. But keep it separate from the people who don't understand it at all.
that's a simple solution and probably the easiest. it's strange separating politically from a person you've otherwise shared everything with for years, more or less.
wow, what state can evict you in only THREE days?
I don't have anything helpful to add but you edited the comment while I was reading it and my brain broke trying to figure out where I was. I thought I was losing it lmao
haha, yeah the live element of this website is a new way of interacting with shit. i always look at my comment after and feel the need to rephrase things.