My social media environment (mostly Lemmy for the last year, after I left Reddit) is very leftist. I’m finding myself floating more and more left because y’all have a point and there’s not many counter-arguments in this social media environment. I sometimes wonder if that’s how MAGA folks feel–floating more and more right because that’s what they’re surrounded by.
Of course, my floating is (naturally /s) based on reason and leftists making good memes/arguments.
Anyways, that’s this morning’s introspection.
Side showerthought: my convictions are based on memes. Anyone have nice, accessible resources for giving those convictions a more solid base? I’d love something like a graphic history of leftist thought (similar to Queer: A Graphic History). Something approachable but with citations. Thanks :)
I suppose you could say both are pipelines in a manner of speaking, the difference is that one is designed to target the ego and promote artificial and toxic individualism in the service of a powerful few, while the other is designed to target our natural need for community and cooperation in the service of all members of the group.
One has to be promoted artificially, dishonestly (most often by co-opting leftist ideas, see national “socialism”), and at great cost to be effective, while the other just needs to be (unless my comrades are getting those Soros cheques I missed out on? lol).
Most people, when presented with leftist ideas with the “scary” isms removed, tend to agree with them, it is the capitalist indoctrination that makes them fear said isms. Remove the indoctrination and the systems it supports, provide people with their needs rather than hold them hostage behind a paywall, as well as providing an honest and critical education, and the left wouldn’t need a pipeline at all.
Meanwhile the right already have things their way, and yet they’re still dependent on those levels of deep manipulation to recruit to their side, because their side is shit and only serves a handful of people.
Anyway, I’m rambling, as for resources, these are unfortunately not as accessible as a graphic history, but here are some links I have saved for more general introductory material, and a couple of more topic specific articles to get you going (they’re not all from there, but in general, the anarchist library is a great resource, it can take some navigating to find what you’re after, but if nothing else, you’re guaranteed to find something interesting and informative on the way):
anarchism - a beginner’s guide
What is Communist Anarchism? Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism
Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You!
An anarchist FAQ
Anarchy Works
Mutual Aid
Deconstructing Hierarchies
How Nonviolence Protects the State
Horizontalism
Red Flags: Before You Join That Org
E: as for the bullshit notion that we must platform and listen to fascists and other bigots “for balance” or to avoid an “echo chamber” or whatever other bullshit - NO. Our priority is to survive in spite of those people, not to allow them to continue to walk all over us and invade literally every single space in existence so that they don’t feel excluded. Fuck that.
Thanks. I’ve opened all these up in my tabs and have saved the anarchist library to my favorites.
You’re welcome, and remember that they’re for browsing, not necessarily consuming in bulk, some of them I’ve never read the whole way through, but they provide answers to specific questions and are great for dipping in and out of.