Reading Communist Theory is for Babies
Marx was just another YA fiction writer when you get down to it. Ahead of his time, sure, but he has nothing on Rowling.
edit since I'm not a lib: https://hexbear.net/comment/3829895
Marx was just another YA fiction writer when you get down to it. Ahead of his time, sure, but he has nothing on Rowling.
edit since I'm not a lib: https://hexbear.net/comment/3829895
There's this reactionary trope that Communism is just something teenagers who have never had real jobs are into, that somehow the basement-dwelling adolescents of the imperial core petit bourgeois are able to easily blaze through all The Manifesto, Grundrisse, Anti-Duhring, German ideology, All 3 volumes of Das Kapital, All 3 volumes of Theories of Surplus Value, etc. etc. etc. before they're old enough to drink, and then after getting an associates degree abandon it because they learned to adult... it's patently absurd. If anything the type of people in question don't even begin to question liberalism until they're well into their 20s and sufficiently addled with student loan debt and long hours and a bleaker future than their parents.
Never understood the basement-dwelling trope
I’m an employed basement-dweller living with my parents saving money on rent. But wait that doesn’t track because my parents didn’t buy me a place.
So even though I’m saving money and avoiding avocado toast and frivolous purchases, I’m still a mooch and failure according to capitalists because I don’t have my own property and should’ve better invested my money when I was 18.
Damned if you do damned if you don’t if you’re a commie
Damned if you do damned if you don’t if you’re a commie
Yeah that's basically the long and short of it. I grew up in apartments in a place that's too low to the sea level for basements, so I never got to be basement dweller, lol. Also I had to move out when I was really young. I was raised by my grandparents and they were running out of money and needed to move into a smaller apartment. I would have spent my college years on their couch without a bedroom of my own if I hadn't moved out. The total lack of privacy during the formative years of my early adult hood would have driven me crazy, so I'm glad I did it even though it resulted in me coming close to total destitution a few times.
Aside from the value in dismissing left ideology and "explaining" why boomers are like they are, the kernel of truth is that in a society in which communists were destroyed, it's the young who still radicalize en masse - being generous with the term radicalize, as this includes the largely liberal university experience.
21 year olds when they get their first paycheck
Lol this Marx stuff is so dumb 😂 time to look past all of this stuff I’ve learned about surplus value and blame the gubmint like a real patriot
It's funny, because it's hard to think of something more radicalizing than one's first shitty job / jobs (and for a lot of us that experience was younger than 21, so now I have to assume the person who made that post had a cushy first job at dad's company when they were that age).
Liberals all claim to have finished Capital yet cannot describe any of Marx’s ideas. When they say they have read Marxists, what they probably mean is that they read 1984 and maybe looked at the first page of Capital once.
maybe looked at the first page of Capital once.
That's more theory read than most internet "leftists"
I’ll have you know, sir, that I looked at the first page twice.
I have actually read parts of Capital but not the whole thing.
Ho ho ho I'm sure you haven't studied the fine arts of marxian economics as outlined in Capital such as the question of what is 10 yards of linen worth!
I’m too much of a dumbass to understand any of the applied math in capital. At least I’m self-aware I guess
I have to consult math specialists who explain the math parts of it, so I guess I cheated a bit
where the fuck do you even find someone like that with the time and inclination to break down the math in commie theory for you? do you live in a commune or something??
i'm asking bc i'm a dumb bitch and i need this service btw, this is pure jealousy
Well other than the head of the political economy department in my party, I have a coworker who was a math professor for like the super high level stuff. I just don't mention that it's commie shit or that it's written by Marx and just say its economics shit.
This guys favorite book must be something called like "THE BIG MOTHERF*CKING BOOK OF IDEAS", written by a standup comedian-turned-NYT-writer, where the thesis is somewhere between "Space is so. fucking. big." and "Guess what? Nothing matters so get back in your cubicle". You can find it on a bargain shelf at Goodwill or on the bathroom counter of your second-drunkest uncle.
You idiots still read books? Try acting for once. I vandalized a trash can outside my local Target store to dismantle the establishment (the cops were called (I ran away)). Where's your Marx now, nerds?
You're joking but that user did start off with posting about how they were "active in the labour movement" until their body fell apart "and they have the crime sheet to prove it" lmao. Sure. Now of course they wouldn't ever risk anything because of their family or whatever (read: they're financially comfortable now and a member of the petite bourgeoisie). They're totally still leftists though, because they saw the system from the inside. They just don't like any of the movements that changed the system 
Obviously I don't know the person enough to be doubtful of their claims, but the fact that they cite their rap sheet as proof is a little telling to me. I love a good crime as much as the rest of us, but just because a crime targets an oppressive system doesn't mean it's inherently productive activism, and it also doesn't mean that the dissemination of knowledge of oppressive systems and means to resist them isn't equally as important. I really hate when people want to fight their own "little revolution" by themselves and are highly resistant to other means to achieve the same ultimate goal. Unity is so important, and this notion that "you're not an activist until you've been in cuffs" is counterproductive... especially if you give it all up as soon as you have something to lose. Some of us don't have the liberty of giving up the fight because we're the first lined up to go in the meat grinder. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here but this particular mindset annoys the fuck out of me lol
It's also just such a bullshit brotester thing to do. "I'm the better leftist because I've gotten arrested twice", "no dude I'm the most alpha protester because I fought a cop once."
"Bros you're both wrong, I should be the leader of the vanguard , for I once didnt have bail posted.".
Not to mention it always seems like such a fed thing to do "Hey comrades! Let's all list the specific crimes we've done in order to further The Cause. Let's all make it as easy as possible to dox us."
Too smug and masturbatory to read other peoples writing, their literary analysis is sniffing their own farts
I do think there might be a few out there who may actually be self aware enough to rightly fear that engaging with Marxist theory could shake the foundation their ideology rests on.
edit: To be clear, I don't think our bandario here is one of them.
That does describe a few ideological liberals, but not the average day liberal
The supermajority are superstitious in the literal sense of the term, they don't understand the foundations of their own ideology in the first instance to even feel threatened by the technical arguments of Marx, if they read his arguments without his name presented, they could understand it easy enough, but wouldn't be able to detect the implications that devastate their ideology
What scares average liberals about Marx isn't his ability to dissect capitalism (they don't even perceive that as a possibility) what scares them is unknown moral and social contamination, it's a fully realized religious fear that something about THEM PERSONALLY, not their ideology they don't even understand, will be altered and destroyed by reading him
Ideological liberals on the otherhand, at least the smart ones, have a rational fear of OTHER people reading Marx, because just chapter 1, section 1 of Capital can blowtorch half of the anti-marxist soundbites Ideo-libs propagate reflexively
superstitious
Liberalism is literally an 18th century science, no wonder they buy all that Goop/Alex Jones fake medicine
They are definitely using the isle of man flag as a cowardly substitute for the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging flag:
They 100% do not live on the isle of man lmao.
definitely using the isle of man flag as a cowardly substitute for the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging flag
So basically neo-nazi? Why am I not surprised.
lol who knew there's an isle of man nazi flag?
not that a manx flag is redeeming though, someone using it is either a libertarian or a tax evader, usually both. cool manx people are not on the internet, they raise sick ass sheep
Speaking of sheep, I've always thought Damascus goats as such an interesting member of the goat species in regards to how silly they look
If you sort history by oldest, Bandario's first comment mentions being Australian. Doubt they're using it 'cos they're Manx.
I don't think they aussie either but wouldn't completely rule it out. They're American or South African imo.
"Everyone above the age of 16 is domesticated into being a soulless NPC that is unable to critique the ruling class political economy of the society they live in" NOT THE ARGUMENT LIBS THINK IT IS!!! lmao
Real mature grown-ass adults avoid things that are For Babies(tm) and only consume edgy glorifications of fictional atrocity enjoyers that are super smart, coldly uncaring, and better than everyone else, the kind that Get Shit Done(tm) and Make All The Hard Decisions(tm) in Prestige TV(tm) shows.
::: spoiler spoiler
"Getting Shit Done"(tm) either maintains the status quo or doesn't threaten it. The only atrocity doers that really go too far are the ones intending to improve society somewhat, which is naive as presented in the fiction. 
:::
I wonder how much community organising, charity, mutual aid, outreach, education and union work this ass does himself.
Because I'm pretty sure the basement dwelling theory readers here are doing just that.
Conversely if that's how arrogant and chauvinistic the user is, maybe they should just avoid social interaction that might invalidate their fragile ego and perception of the world and their take on it otherwise they might lash out with condescension for feeling inadequate.
Reading Marx keeps you young. I swear I de-aged a month reading the communist manifesto the first time.
I actually wonder how many people who have read Marx did so before they were 20. If any of the rest of you all were delving into Marx that young, that's impressive. Let's just say I was a bit older than that before I did. I wish I shared your experience, Commiejones (joke as it may be). but I feel more like learning theory is the equivalent of putting on the They Live glasses, and if anything, it might have given me a few early grey hairs.
I read the Manifesto and Value, Price, and Profit when I was like 16, and not gonna lie, it was mostly cause of R E A D T H E O R Y being shouted from the rooftops every day on /r/chapotraphouse. Bullying social pressure works. Then I got The State and Revolution from City Lights bookstore and never looked back.
No gray hairs yet at 20, thankfully, but reading that Ian Wright blog post Capital as a Real God definitely still fucks with my head pretty regularly even after 2 years
::: spoiler SHHHH! From now on you say that you are 40 years older than you really are. Got it?
We need to tell Libs that the more Marx they read the younger they will look and feel. If they don't believe it you say "It doesn't hurt to try it" If they claim it didn't work you say "maybe you just didn't understand it."
(this is a bit but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it) :::
::: spoiler Erk! Sorry.
whisper Ok, I'll keep the 
on the DL! But if any of them do understand, they'll be wearing the They Live glasses too and will know that I misled them... for a good cause though.
Started reading actual Marxist works well north of my 20s. Every time something clicks in my head another hair goes white.
Side note, every time my mom sees me she keeps saying "why do you have so many white hairs? You're still young!"
Putting on the They Live glassed or reading the Necronomicon, depending on your preferred genre, but yeah, I'm pretty sure my eyes used to be less sunken and dark-ringed.
Lmao I was in that thread, it was a ride. That user was complaining that hexbear users were brigading and also super hostile. I try and discuss this with him, ending the post with a link to Combat Liberalism and he goes to say "muh millions dead china evil" kinda trite stock phrase.
Other users engage with him (civilly) and he immediately starts flinging shit.
But it's of course the hexbear users that are problematic.
Also this post is brigading according to that user lol. Let's all make plans on how to brigade him. Who's got access to the discord? We need to coordinate somewhere private.
