We’ve approved I don’t know how many new comrades here since the announcement that Reddit will kill its API access.
If you don’t know where to start posting on lemmygrad, this is a good thread to start in! You can also ask questions you have about federation or our instance.
Welcome!
The current lore is:
We are all feds on lemmygrad, but you get to choose your agency.
For some reason I was under the impression I could make a post to my own profile, whoops! I’ll do my intro here!
Hi, I’m suggs. I’m a college student at a large public university, and I’ve been involved in a few leftist groups here at my university, but I’m still trying to find one that is actually Marxist. I’d like to share my story of how I was radicalized.
I should also preface this by stating my father is a small business owner, so I have been extremely privileged in my petty bourgeoise upbringing. Despite my mother being a minority in my country, I am cis and white passing, and I recognize the privilege that comes with that.
In high school I fell deep into the alt-right pipeline online, and I crawled through the dankest, most disturbing chan boards as I consumed redpill after redpill. In college, I took Arabic language courses because I thought it would be fun to learn a difficult language. I ended up falling in love with the language and eventually traveled to Jordan in a study abroad program to further my study of the language. On this trip, my reactionary views clashed with my classmates, and I was ostracized throughout the entire trip. I’d experienced moments like this in the past, but this trip is what truly started my reflection on my worldview.
Over the next few years as I struggled in an identity crisis, I fell into a deep depression. After a few years of blowing in the wind and dropping out of college, I reconnected with my cousin. My cousin introduced me to Marxist ideas, and as someone involved in local politics in our city, he introduced me to our local communist party. From there, I consumed literature he recommended, and I branched out and continued studying on my own. I’ve since radicalized many of my family members and most of my friends, and I continue to share what I’ve learned and encourage others to consume literature.
I can’t wait to learn more with the community here. See you all around.
Thanks for sharing your story, I’ve seen this similar trend many times, reactionary people who, once they actually interact with people outside their own societal strata, begin to question their beliefs. I’ve had many friends who were racist, alt-right reactionaries who changed their views once they started to interact with those they supposedly “hated”.
Nice to meet you, Suggs! What are you studying?
Nice to meet you as well, redtea! I’m a year out from finishing my physics undergrad, and I’m hoping to get in the aerospace engineering graduate program at my university after I walk. I couldn’t be more excited to return to classes this August. I miss being in the classroom.
That sounds like a fun career to get into! Have you kept up your Arabic? You could end up doing a fair bit of travelling on company time and dime.
Unfortunately my Arabic has decayed significantly due to my years outside of the classroom, but recently I’ve been doing some of my own studying online in preparation for returning to Arabic class.
A few months back, I went to a small Mediterranean restaurant nearby and chatted with the owner in Arabic. He recommended I come see him at his mosque where he teaches children Arabic, he said he’d love to have me there for classes. I’ve been putting it off, but maybe I should give his number a ring soon.
That sounds like a great opportunity!
There may be an Arabic community on the Grad. There are certainly Arabic speakers. You might be able to get some practice here.
That is quite a journey. Glad to see that you have found yourself. Welcome!
Many MLs are former conservatives and libertarians. It is no big deal. Welcome to the fold.