This new protest movement is driving empire managers out of their goddamn minds, which means it’s working and must continue. When opposing genocide is seen as radical, radicalism becomes a moral im…
Yes, there’s a horror in seeing the inconsistencies within people, including those you like. I think one has to organize towards who they could be, or could have been, if we are able to succeed in our attempt to grow and educate. Who they are, as demonstrated by their actions, is frequently too much to bear while still associating with them in any way.
I don’t think it gets any starker than supporting genocide. That should be a line where everyone recognizes they can’t rely on cursory knowledge and guesswork like they usually do. But even that is clearly not enough. They’re still just waiting for the next mass media rationalization to come by and let them off the hook. The latest one is Biden “withholding” weapons. They’re all over that. It lets them, despite all contradiction, feel like they’re on the good side a bit more.
To be clear there is a subset of liberals reached by the facts and who are curious and empathetic more than they are entrenched and rationalizing. They’re in the left pipeline right now, especially the younger generations. They’re high school students walking out to support the university encampments, having no framework for analysis or understanding but knowing that the horrors are unsupportable.
But there are also different tiers of commitment to liberalism. And as you ascend the tiers, only greater and greater shocks and social consequences will be able to reach them. Many will only have a “change of heart” when told to by their political class masters, and likely long after the prime moment for action has passed. Some may change when their peers shame them, as they are in a vulnerable pocket of empathetic or impacted people. But many will not be reached at all by any of this and can only be out-organized, not brought into the movement.
But if we build, we will divert people away from that path. People who would have politically developed into callous, ignorant liberals can be educated into anti-imperialists, socialists, friend of people’s struggles. If we can’t reach someone’s friend or sibling or father, we can reach someone just like them before they become entrenched.
Our work is a long and difficult project but is also one that recognizes that we are a product of our conditions, our social circles, etc. We can impact that.
Yes, there’s a horror in seeing the inconsistencies within people, including those you like. I think one has to organize towards who they could be, or could have been, if we are able to succeed in our attempt to grow and educate. Who they are, as demonstrated by their actions, is frequently too much to bear while still associating with them in any way.
I don’t think it gets any starker than supporting genocide. That should be a line where everyone recognizes they can’t rely on cursory knowledge and guesswork like they usually do. But even that is clearly not enough. They’re still just waiting for the next mass media rationalization to come by and let them off the hook. The latest one is Biden “withholding” weapons. They’re all over that. It lets them, despite all contradiction, feel like they’re on the good side a bit more.
To be clear there is a subset of liberals reached by the facts and who are curious and empathetic more than they are entrenched and rationalizing. They’re in the left pipeline right now, especially the younger generations. They’re high school students walking out to support the university encampments, having no framework for analysis or understanding but knowing that the horrors are unsupportable.
But there are also different tiers of commitment to liberalism. And as you ascend the tiers, only greater and greater shocks and social consequences will be able to reach them. Many will only have a “change of heart” when told to by their political class masters, and likely long after the prime moment for action has passed. Some may change when their peers shame them, as they are in a vulnerable pocket of empathetic or impacted people. But many will not be reached at all by any of this and can only be out-organized, not brought into the movement.
But if we build, we will divert people away from that path. People who would have politically developed into callous, ignorant liberals can be educated into anti-imperialists, socialists, friend of people’s struggles. If we can’t reach someone’s friend or sibling or father, we can reach someone just like them before they become entrenched.
Our work is a long and difficult project but is also one that recognizes that we are a product of our conditions, our social circles, etc. We can impact that.