I’m seriously getting really disillusioned with everyone around me. I love my family and friends, but they are Ameri-brained as fuck and it’s hard to ignore.
First, yesterday I went to a sports game. The US national anthem was played and I stayed seated and played on my phone as always. Nothing special, I don’t make a scene or anything, just refuse to participate. Everyone else of course is looking at me weird and one of my friends was like “dude points at flag stand up” and I just shrug and say “I’m good” and go back to what I was doing. He didn’t give me too much shit but he rolled his eyes and the usual. Just couldn’t get past how people can know what my country is doing (I post about it a lot) and still show such blind support. It’s not a huge deal, obviously just a fucking flag but still.
Second, was talking to my family about revolution and change and they made some good points. They pointed out that a lot of people in USA are too well-off materially to put their necks out regarding serious change. But then they kinda started defending it like that was justified. They brought up people losing scholarships at Harvard because of the Palestine support rally. That’s shitty, but I still honestly feel like that’s what I would do and what the right thing is. Fuck my “successful” future, a successful future is making change any means necessary. The people in Gaza don’t have scholarships to lose and try telling them you didn’t speak up because you were afraid of losing it. Idk. Maybe I’m inconsiderate and it’s easy for me to say because I’m younger and have less to lose but it’s just like bro why are people so hesitant? I can’t imagine sticking my head in the sand, regardless of my material reality. I have a great life materially right now and I am willing to lose it for change. Not trying to be like moral high ground but just ye.
“If you’re asked to make a commitment at the age of 20 and you say I don’t want to make that commitment only because of the simple reason that I’m too young to die I want to live a little bit longer, what you did is you’re dead already” - Fred Hampton
Idk maybe too ranty but I just feel like I’m the only one that I know irl who’s really about it like that. Outside of my comrades organizing ofc I mean like personal life. But then again comrades = best friends so anyways I’ll stfu thx
It’s not cowardice, it’s cynicism.
They are unwilling to take any risks because they fundamentally do not believe anything can change. In their minds any sacrifices they make are made in vain. Look at the cop city protests- Tortuguita was murdered and nothing changed. The peaceful protesters were rounded up and are being tried under RICO for being terrorists. People see this shit and conclude nothing anyone does matters and we’re all fucked and they might as well keep their head down for a slim chance at an okay life.
America has done an excellent job of beating the hope out of us.
I guess you’re right, yeah.
Seems like it’s… by design perhaps? Lol
But fr it’s our duty to resist that doom shit. Things are horrible and will be for some time, yes. Collapse is likely. But! There’s always a but. We can do something about it. You’re trippin if you think they don’t want us to be hopeless. That’s how colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, all the evil -isms thrive.
I suspect the reason the BLM uprisings were so historically huge was because COVID showed that things can change and that the ruling class can’t control everything. The uprisings ultimately didn’t lead to any change so people have gone back to keeping their heads down, but the opportunity is there. I don’t think Americans will be willing to do something like that again until there is another fundamental rupture.
Our job is to be organized and ready for when that rupture comes and turn it into a revolutionary moment.
I’m russian and this is exactly the attitude I see from people there too. Not even cynicism, but abject despair dressing itself up as cynicism. Idk what to do… best I can think of is you gotta find crumbs of positivity from somewhere to not become a doomer
i mean, it’s both of those at least. material conditions are still very good for so many Americans especially relative to the rest of the world so the unspoken thought is “why would i fight to change this when i can’t and also it is probably benefitting me to some degree and i don’t want to lose the stuff i have so i’ll do nothing.”
this assumes the person sees stuff like the genocide in gaza and even cares. many people simply do not care… as fucked up as that feels to really take in.
Cynicism is a cope. People see the genocide in Gaza and conclude they can do nothing about it, so they just tune out.
I’m listening to DemocracyNow daily at work and I think I’ve cried every day this week from the never ending horror show I hear about.
If I was more cynical I could just shrug and move on.
Yeah. I feel that. I just had a short cry listening to some myself. I don’t know how any human with any amount of a soul can witness what is happening to Palestinians right now and feel anything except horror and then disgust that so many support it. I would type more, but… probably not wise! Because the thoughts I have recently towards those who callously allow this type of shit… can’t type much more. “Free speech” my ass btw.
Nowadays I’m afraid to talk about politics with people I know because most seem reactionary enough that they’d rat me out to the feds when the red scare inevitably escalates to the rounding up of communists.
Fair enough, I guess.
But realistically we’ve done enough online already to be high up on the watch list. Might as well do something about it while you’ve got the chance.
same lol
Keep this essay in mind. There is a vested interest in wanting to believe that the US really is wholesome chungus 100. Kind of like how white supremacists MAY be dumb, but a more plausible explanation is “You’re a special and you deserve to rule over the lowly poo people like a god by divine right.” is something a white supremacist has a reason to WANT to believe, even if it is bullshit.
It’s a lack of empathy. It’s what the parents and grandparents of boomers created. They literally deconstructed the entire country and rebuilt it for them. An entire generation had everything handed to them, they just had to show up. These same people can’t understand others because they never had to.
Lol the national anthem situation is so relatable, its especially disgusting during veterans day/week idk what it is called.
I Can relate. Im around too many petite bourgeois and brain dead people. At least organizing if you’re doing it right you can meet real struggling people and give them answers and help. I personally am to socially anxious to meet average people much (atm). I honestly can’t imagine some sort of “successful future” within capitalism. I have no idea what kind of work I’d want to do, and know id have to deal with exploitation, taxes, and climate change any way. I think I peaked in mental health when I was a naive twelve year old. Without socialism there is no future. I still have everything taken care of but school wrecks my sleep so I’m not mentally fine. I think I had a hope arc last month and now I’m back near doomerism.
Edit: went on a bit of my own rant there
Can confirm, biggest mistake of my life was taking petit-bourgeoisie people at their word that they are the “real” working class and that it is educated/urban working class that are the “elitists.”
Quite literally, the petit-bourgeoisie try to buy the aesthetic of poverty, or leverage the government to make them look poor on the surface level. Sprezzatura’s ugly hog cousin.
I had not considered that angle, though it makes sense considering how Republican politicians and voters posture (‘rich men north of Richmond’ comes to mind). My own experience is going to the most (materially) comfortable, whitest, and most well funded public school in my city.
Some kids play with soccer balls, some kids make them. They get it. Why wouldn’t they swear fealty to that system.
book recommendation: https://leftwingbooks.net/products/the-global-perspective-reflections-on-imperialism-and-resistance
Description
spoiler
In the 1970s and 80s, Torkil Lauesen was a member of a clandestine communist cell which carried out a series of robberies in Denmark, netting very large sums which were then sent on to various national liberation movements in the Third World. Following their capture in 1989, Torkil would spend six years in prison. In 2016, Lauesen’s book Det Globale Perspektiv was released in Denmark. In it, he explains how he sees the world political situation today, and his thoughts about the future. In 2018, Kersplebedeb Publishing is pleased to release the English language edition of this book, translated by Gabriel Kuhn, and with a Preface by Dr. Zak Cope.
As Lauesen details, we today live in a world of massive and unprecedented inequality. Never before has humanity been so starkly divided between the “haves” and the “have nots”. Never before has the global situation been accelerating so quickly. The Third World national liberation movements of the 20th century very much triggered the liberatory movements that did manage to emerge in the First World, and seemed for an all-too-brief moment to point to an escape hatch from history’s downward spiral … but for many today that all seems like ancient history.
The Global Perspective bridges the gap between Third Worldist theory, and the question of “What Is To Be Done?” in a First World context. It is an important contribution towards developing an effective political practice based on the realities of the global situation, avoiding the pitfalls of sugarcoating the situation with the First World populations, or of falling into pessimistic quietism. It bridges the gap not only between generations, but also between theory and practice. As Lauesen says, “It is a book written by an activist, for activists. Global capitalism is heading into a deep structural crisis in the coming decades, so the objective conditions for radical change will be present, for better or for worse. The outcome will depend on us, the subjective forces.”
para 3 description might interest you. its a really good book, not academic, lauesen clearly articluates his thoughts, ideas and potential solutions in the first world.
I didn’t realize he was such a badass. I wish I knew how to do the same for today, but I think the surveillance state might be too strong. Too bad his accent’s too thick for me to understand him in podcasts. I will definitely add that to my list.
A lot of money and jackbootery is spent on keeping them that way as well, its learned helplessness by design and has been for over 100 yrs. All that oppression by force and money can’t last forever though, too resource draining and people are slowly but surely noticing the problems with the current way, they just generally don’t have a framework to put those ideas and well a lot of our terminology is ultra taboo right now. All we need to do is persist, ultimately, to keep hope alive, from there everything else is possible since time and people will be on our side once the wool lifts (or if we lift it, hehe), and against the current rigid way of being.
