Hello comrades. In the interest of upholding our code of conduct - specifically, rule 1 (providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all) - we felt it appropriate to make a statement regarding the lionization of Luigi Mangione, the alleged United Healthcare CEO shooter, also known as “The Adjuster.”
In the day or so since the alleged shooter’s identity became known to the public, the whole world has had the chance to dig though his personal social media accounts and attempt to decipher his political ideology and motives. What we have learned may shock you. He is not one of us. He is a “typical” American with largely incoherent, and in many cases reactionary politics. For the most part, what is remarkable about the man himself is that he chose to take out his anger on a genuine enemy of the proletariat, instead of an elementary school.
This is a situation where the art must be separated from the artist. We do not condemn the attack, but as a role model, Luigi Mangione falls short. We do not expect perfection from revolutionary figures either, but we expect a modicum of revolutionary discipline. We expect them not simply to identify an unpopular element of society 
, but to clearly illuminate the causes of oppression and the means by which they are overcome. When we canonize revolutionary figures, we are holding them up as an example to be followed.
This is where things come back to rule 1. Mangione has a long social media history bearing a spectrum of reactionary viewpoints, and interacting positively with many powerful reactionary figures. While some commenters have referred to this as “nothing malicious,” by lionizing this man we effectively deem this behavior acceptable, or at the very least, safe to ignore. This is the type of tailism which opens the door to making a space unsafe for marginalized people.
We’re going to be more strict on moderating posts which do little more than lionize the shooter. There is plenty to be said about the unfolding events, the remarkably positive public reaction, how public reactions to “propaganda of the deed” may have changed since the historical epoch of its conception (and how the strategic hazards might not have), and many other aspects of the news without canonizing this man specifically. We can still dance on the graves of our enemies and celebrate their rediscovered fear and vulnerability without the vulgar revisionism needed to pretend this man is some sort of example of Marxist or Anarchist practice.
it seems to me that there is a gulf between mods and many users regarding the expected level of political education necessary to participate on Hexbear.
the questions I answered to make an account gave me no indication that I would need to understand words like “tailism,” which I came across for the first time here a few weeks ago.
feel free to excoriate me for being ignorant and a fake leftist, I guess 🤷 if I have to have the free time and mental capacity to engage meaningfully with theory to be a real leftist, then that’s sad news for me but probably better for me (and you!) to learn sooner than later.
does it make me a bad comrade? probably 😞 genuinely, I am sorry. if it’s any consolation to you, I used to be a voracious reader but haven’t read anything for pleasure in a couple of years. I haven’t put more than a couple hours here and there into self-improvement or entertainment because my extra hours and extra spoons very rarely line up. staying alive is sometimes difficult.
I’m sorry your comment seems to have been missed with no responses and no unbears after 2 hours, so I’ll delurk to respond.
No, you don’t need to read theory to post here or even to be a good comrade. In fact I would bet that at least 80% of regular posters here (outside the newsmega) do not read theory and also learned terms like “tailism” right here too. The misuse of terms like that happens here often enough that I think this must be the case. So do not feel bad about it at all!
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t read theory, because it will hone you into a better leftist and more capable of making informed analyses on anything from geopolitics to struggle sessions like this one. But be careful, it will also make you more adept at twisting your rationale to better suit your immediate position or what you want to be true (sometimes even fooling yourself), something else that I’ve seen demonstrated in this very thread.
I totally empathize with what you said about once being a voracious reader but not being able to anymore. It’s exactly like that for me too. For me though it has a lot to do with attention span. Mine is just completely shot. Once I’m into a book a little ways, I keep having to reread the same paragraph 5 times to absorb it. My mind keeps wandering off even as my eyes follow the words on the page. I know what I need to do to improve it again, but it involves giving up internet treats like this site. (Maybe that’s why some of the mods keep starting these obnoxious struggle sessions! They’re trying to get us to log off long term and not rely on hexbear to be place where we can have fun posting among comrades, maybe? That’s playing the long game, but it would explain a lot.)
Anyway, I give my solidarity and I wish you luck on staying alive for one, which I agree is difficult sometimes, but also that your extra hours and extra spoons line up better going forward. Reading theory is good and healthy and helps you grow as a leftist, but it’s hard to get anything out of it when your life is so chaotic that you barely have time to read. But it’s one of those chicken and egg sort of things… taking the time to read more despite the chaos might help in taming some of it. Only you would know if that’s true in your case of course. But I know it is in mine.
I would comment more on the topic of this struggle session but seeing as I mostly agree with the people whose comments are getting removed, I guess I’ll hold my tongue. … Yep, it might be time for me to give up the leftist bear social media but take on more books again instead, I don’t know. My favorite site/community turning so sour is not the motivation I would have wanted.
Yeah I also saw a post that was calling out people for tallism and I wanted to ask what that even was but I’ve been posting here for years and felt stupid for not knowing so I didn’t ask
Copying my other comment buried in this thread:
As ostensibly a “left unity” site, the problem is that tailism means two things at once:
Beyond that it’s very much ML specific language that most people here don’t actually understand.
i think this is all valid. I will say though, just incidentally, there are many very good reasons for not tolerating tailism in a space like this.
😔 sorry if it came across like I meant that tailism was fine, actually
I just meant that I literally had never heard of the word and am still working to grasp the concept, but it is being used as a reason for removing comments, which made me wonder:
was I supposed to know what tailism was before I joined?
what actually is the base level of political education a person should have before attempting to engage in conversation on Hexbear?
and suddenly it occurred to me that perhaps these questions are part of The Problem that this place seems to have; there’s a huge educational gap.
I think you are making a really great point, I had not really thought of how moderation looks to new users who may not be as familiar with Marxist-Leninist terminology. Improving the code of conduct would be a great way to clarify what kinds of behaviors are and are not allowed.
no need to apologize I didn’t think you were doing that at all! i was just speaking incidentally, that I think it’s a valid thing for the mods to crack down on. I agree with you!
like this, for instance
screenshot of removed comment to illustrate the question/point
I don’t have the education to understand how this was excusing fascist rhetoric. was it the “difficult to discern how much weight to give…” part that made it come across that way? because the part before that about not denying how gross that stuff was seems to not be excusing it… but maybe it’s not a strong enough condemnation? 🤔
idk. it seems to me like there are well-meaning people being hit with “supports reactionary thought” label, and I suspect they would love the chance to learn and correct themselves if they are inadvertently supporting reactionary thought in their posts and comments.
speaking from experience. 🙃
that comment absolutely deserved to be removed. the user in multiple ways downplayed and trivialised Luigi’s right wing views. paraphrasing but “it’s just internet posts/likes”… “no context”… “he’s just a kid”… these are not phrases that would get trotted out on here for any old reactionary who didn’t murder a CEO. they are excuses. this isn’t “critical support”, this is whitewashing neo fash views in order to justify the lionizing or co-opting of Luigi.
😞 apologies again for the way my comment must have come across. I’m not trying at all to argue about the things, I’m trying to express that these things were/are not obvious to me
I don’t know the mind of the user who posted that, but I know that many of us have posted about our own right-wing backgrounds and the brainworms we have overcome. because I vividly remember what a self-righteous piece of shit I used to be, I am probably inclined to interpret things more charitably than I should be.
There is also a difference between discussing how we have transformed personally, vs. writing off somebody’s harmful behavior because they “might” undergo a similar transformation at some arbitrary point in the future.
I completely agree, and the way you stated this made me ponder for a moment, and now I wonder if part of the disconnect is “making excuses for” versus “giving the benefit of the doubt.”
some view his old posts and the silence between them and this act and see a reactionary who did something cool but has not disavowed his previous heinous statements – of course saying positive things about him would seem like making excuses for him to anyone with this undeniably valid viewpoint.
some view his old posts and the silence between them and this act and see a puzzle and wonder if something changed. I don’t think that viewpoint is necessarily invalid unless there’s an assertion of change – benefit of doubt versus certainty of doubt, if that makes sense – but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.
I think this whole site could use a huge dose of “benefit of the doubt,” tbqh. it feels like many people assume the worst automatically – and I understand there’s a lot of Deep Interpersonal Lore here that I do not comprehend that underlies much of that – which doesn’t leave a lot of room for making honest mistakes and growing from them.
idk about the rest of you, but since I’m still breathing, I’m confident my days of making mistakes are not yet over. when they happen here, hopefully you (collectively) will give me the benefit of the doubt and help me learn.
there’s no need to be sorry, I apologize if I came off as criticizing or scolding you at all, wasn’t my intention!
I just skipped over that jargon and didn’t even remember reading it. I got the gist of what was being written. I interpreted “taillism” as “bullshit”. But since you bring it up we can all learn together. If you duckduckgo for this word, every hit is explaining the meaning, which is funny. It mostly gets used to tell people what it means.
Tailism - ProleWiki:
Now that I know this, it doesn’t really add anything to the post TBH.
I wouldn’t draw any big conclusions just because the post uses a word you and I don’t know the meaning of. That’s just sort of how it is to be human, people are always saying things you don’t totally get. Just do you best. The overall intention is clear enough. I don’t see that this is any barrier to participation?
It is worth noting that ProkeWiki, being an explicitly ML wiki, is defining tailism specifically in the context of Marxism Leninism. The concept could be applied more broadly - outside of the specific context of a Marxist Leninist organization.
More generally, tailism is when you cater to the most backward elements of a political coalition out of short-sighted expedience. You are following (“tailing”) the coalition, instead of providing leadership. For instance, when the Democrats decide to throw trans people or immigrants under bus to soothe the suburban fascists instead of thinking about how the volunteers they need to actually win an election feel about that. Or when the “MAGA Communists” decide doing the same is the key to winning the hearts and minds of the proletariat (who they conceive of specifically as white guys in steel toe boots [and as a white guy who wears steel toe boots to work, this repulses me]).
Tailism is something we see all the time in the realm of politics, even if it is not described as such. More conventionally, politicians of this mold are referred to as “weather vanes.” They point whichever way the wind is blowing. If a cause is unpopular (i.e. gay marraige during Obama’s 2008 campaign), they don’t support it - no matter how justified the cause is, regardless of the fact that its popularity is higher than ever and growing. They make no effort to actually change people’s minds, and on the flip-side, they will re-enforce any reactionary perspectives that polls above 50%.
thanks, that’s a more thorough and helpful explanation!
thank you.
this was the vibe I was getting from context, but having it spelled out so clearly is tremendously helpful, especially with that similar term added
really appreciate your taking the time to type this up ❤️
sorry, I wasn’t very clear about the relevancy of that tidbit to my larger point
for me, part of understanding how to engage on Hexbear is reading the modlog to see What Not To Do, especially when I come across a “removed by mod” in a conversation I found interesting or educational
“Tailism” was the sole reason for some removals recently, and it’s been used a bit in conversation about the recent struggle sessions, which implied to me that this was a common vocabulary word.
the larger point, though, is not about this particular word, but about the level of political education one needs to be familiar enough with that word that seeing it as a removal reason in the modlog is inherently informative, and wondering if that is the level of knowledge that the mods expect of the userbase
hopefully that’s more clear, sorry 😔 it’s late and I’m not communicating well
Well I see that you got a better explanation above. :) But ya if you are trolling the mod logs and responding to them than that is relevant context lol. That’s more than I am willing to go for at this time.