I saw some threads about free time and desire for community on my feed earlier and I found that slightly relatable.
Commenters in the latter thread were quick to point out that openly identifying oneself is not a good idea which means community must be formed by other means.
So what I’ve been doing is being friendly with everyone and asking for their opinions on things and trying to discern people’s political orientation in casual normal conversation. It’s a pretty painful process because most people have awful takes and it’s hard to convince people without being preachy.
The goal isn’t even to convince people, after all, the goal is to connect with people with similar views. And this strategy only works if you can find tons of willing people whose opinions you can discreetly interrogate.
Just by observation I find the best way to meet random people is to play sports, e.g. there’s always people playing basketball at the park.
Also I’m awful at sports. No one cares what you have to say if you can’t play their game. It turns out staying home and reading is not a good way to make friends. After this realization I’ve been working out and exercising more. So with this awareness I think it makes sense to say that playing playing sports and exercising are revolutionary activities. I could have the most eloquent arguments and the most beautiful speeches but those conversations are imaginary if I can’t get people’s attention. And because the society we live in doesn’t value studying as much as sports that’s just the game we have to play.
So what sports do you play? What are the best sports to play in this context?
This reminds me of Albert Woodfox, the Black Panther, member of the Angola 3(named after the Louisiana prison, he was not Angolan) and the LONGEST held prisoner in solitary confinement, a 40+ yr period in which he was confined for 23 hrs each day. Albert Woodfox recently passed away from Covid-19, may he rest in peace. Albert Woodfox, Robert H King and Herman Wallace of the Angola 3 used to pretend to play football 🏈 and they’d play catch with each other on the field while speaking politics with each other and people from their cell blocks. Without the knowledge or help of the guards, he was able to convince all the men in his block to join an anti-Rape coalition and fight tooth and nail against rape in prison. They convinced people by talking to them on the field(and obviously in the cells too) They said it was a way to not get caught, a way yo engage others in politics, and a fun way to keep in touch with others and stay healthy. So in honor of the Angola 3, my official answer would be to play Football, but in some places football is more reactionary than others and therefore tougher to broach politics
That’s very inspiring. How lucky he was to meet Panthers on the way to prison! Fate is very powerful.
Yes, they were blessed by fate for sure. If not for meeting black panthers in prison and making good friends, Woodfox would have been illiterate, as he never learned to read or write as an impoverished black youth in 50s Louisiana. His story, despite being so heavy and painful is full of so much hope. I plan on reading his book as well, he speaks about how solitary confinement is torture and how he lived through it without going mad like he’s seen before.
It’s sad that everyone talks about Solzhenitsyn but this is the first time I’ve heard about the person that’s served the most time in solitary confinement.
Well, longest serving solitary confinement within the US. I remember that being said multiple times, not sure who did the most time but he did the most in the US. And next thing after he was released, he’s on Democracy Now speaking his truth, he had so much to say and his world was so different from when he entered Angola prison and when he left. I don’t mean to compare someone’s real existence with a trivial movie, but it really brought Shawshank Redemption to mind. When Brooks is released from prison and he sees how much the world changed and how it seems that everything he took for granted, everything that used to be a fact to him, had passed him by in his years in prison
I just watched that video. Albert did everything he could to improve the people around him in prison. Even after he left prison he said he would dedicate his life to improving humanity. The sad irony is that his youth was stolen from him and he would die soon after. That prison is cursed. I don’t know if any movie can be more tragic than real life. Thank you for sharing this lesson with me.
Yea, I learned it from “Democracy Now!” They may be a bit liberal, but every once in a while they have spectacular interviews or investigative pieces