I’m not American and my dive into left-wing politics predated the 2016 election and Bernie’s popularity, but I can understand why he’d be a gateway; I certainly (initially) admired how he talked about socialism.
For me I was quite into the PKK and Öcalan for a while, which I suppose is quite niche (from a Western perspective). That’s because, at the time, the Kurds were leading the fight against ISIS and I was more Anarchist-aligned at the time. Rojava is often touted by ‘less authoritarian’ types. Again, my interest in left-wing politics predated a lot of the online culture of ‘political compass’ memes and ‘muh authoritarian’ but I was initially a sceptic of outright Marxism-Leninism at the time, and being an Anarchist with an ostensibly living example of more libertarian socialism really elevated the PKK in my eyes.
I can get it.
I’m not American and my dive into left-wing politics predated the 2016 election and Bernie’s popularity, but I can understand why he’d be a gateway; I certainly (initially) admired how he talked about socialism.
For me I was quite into the PKK and Öcalan for a while, which I suppose is quite niche (from a Western perspective). That’s because, at the time, the Kurds were leading the fight against ISIS and I was more Anarchist-aligned at the time. Rojava is often touted by ‘less authoritarian’ types. Again, my interest in left-wing politics predated a lot of the online culture of ‘political compass’ memes and ‘muh authoritarian’ but I was initially a sceptic of outright Marxism-Leninism at the time, and being an Anarchist with an ostensibly living example of more libertarian socialism really elevated the PKK in my eyes.