How are you doing? What have you been doing? What are your thoughts? Don’t be shy and be honest, good or bad 💙
okay, but my parents are going libshit when it comes to any history. I hardline too much apparently and it leads to massive arguments with me trying to combat the liberalism, and them trying to subvert the communism. Its all very tiring. Otherwise im mostly okay.
Comrade, have you read up much on mass work from Mao or Pedagogy of the Oppressed?
You might find that starting from a place of going to the
massesparents and sincerely listening to their concerns and their issues then linking these individual or familial concerns to larger trends in society and situating them in a historical context would be less antagonistic and it might prove to be more productive.I’d avoid labels and commie “dogwhistle” style terms and just work on developing a dialog and a mutually deepened understanding of one another.
Think about it like this: you aren’t trying to convert your parents to communism, this is a perfectly laboratory for you to hone your skills at raising class consciousness and building solidarity. If you can practice it now and develop your skills then when you do future work in community organizations, when you are unionizing your workplace, when you are doing any sort of mass work then you’ll be ready for it from all the practice you got in working with your parents.
Good point. I’ve definitely tried to lay off the buzzwords but it’s hard sometimes, they’re just such easy shorthands. But yes looking at these scenarios as practice for bigger works is a good idea. I especially should do as you say in the second paragraph, I react to people’s grievances but should be more proactive with addressing them.
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Very fair, depends on the exact parent I suppose. I know I have some family members that the cost/potential benefit ratio is staggeringly bad and I all but completely avoid trying to engage with them. And then some “yellow lights” that I engage but very gently and on eggshells and never showing my whole ass.
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It’s definitely hard, I have been in much the same place with parents, other family, coworkers etc. I managed to move my mom from a socially progressive centrist to a Bernie Sanders lib but when I started being like “wait the USSR was pretty awesome” it became a little tougher. She’s also not one for politics and readily admits that. She has good core values though and I am blessed that she to an extent takes my word for a lot of things. I definitely had to lighten off for a while though, for a while I laid it on heavy and incessantly as it was all new to me and I just desperately wanted to share with anybody I could get my hands on. When I quit grandstanding so much that’s when things slowly shifted for the better because I wasn’t making it some big conflict. I think parents probably (not a parent so can’t say) just have a hard time wanting their kids to be more knowledgeable than them, especially about something that feels very intuitive and personal to most people love politics.
Hope you can catch a break! I also know the types that even when I lay off still try and instigate arguments with me, are they more like this or would they lay off too in a ceasefire?
Nah, I jump the gun a lot, but they reference it so goddamn much. I need to de-escalate more often, but they are so goddamn frustrating.
It’s hard, I understand. It feels like it’s just “the plain truth” and that you’re supposed to just let it slide. As if someone saying something equally wild and, in the long term, frankly dangerous to normalize wouldn’t be challenged. But yes, even if just for my own sake I’ve resolved to be more picky with my battles, although biting my tongue can hurt just as much.
I’m learning to bite my tongue, but they are sooooooooo libshit in their politics and I am dying here. I can do it though, they’re still my family.
Getting over a flu, and migrating here after finally getting a reddit permaban.
The flu sucks as much as reddit.
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In all seriousness it was. Day 6 of feeling like haggard ass.
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nice pfp! you make it yourself? The waffle I mean
I did, haha.
Oof, hope you recover soon friend, no bueno. I got a nasty sick myself a few months ago, I kind of enjoyed being lazy a day or two but I can’t stand sore throat. And salivating incessantly…I have no idea why.
Damn a permaban, what did you in?? I scraped by with just getting banned by individual communities, my thought crime was almost verbatim saying “you know China isn’t hell on earth right?”
Eh just eh. Im moving soon so that’s been a stressor plus I’m trying to finish up my senior year of HS so that’s even more of a stressor. Plus seeing all the bloodthirsty libs and censorship is worrying to say the least. But other than that pretty good just exhausted and unable to take a break. But hey at least I’m finishing up A Man in High Castle and I’m planning on starting *Blackshirts and Reds * week which I’m oddly excited for.
I fucking HATE HATE HATE moving so I feel that. Every part of it. If I see another cardboard box in my life labelled “KITCHEN MISC” I’m gonna vomit.
Finishing up high school also feels scary cuz everyone puts so much pressure that it’s the grand entry into an entirely different life (at least in my experience). Not to sound like I’m sure everybody else does right now but do you have plans already or no? Is moving related to that?
Yes, I always knew censorship and war propaganda were ugly fuckers in theory but witnessing it in such intimate detail as I have with this Ukraine fiasco was definitely…different. I guess I never actually truly believed in my heart that I would in 2022 be getting banned for ever-so-gently providing a counter narrative, after years of it being okay to talk shit about all the other insane things America & Friends did and does.
Hell yeah!! Is MitHC good? I heard mixed reviews. Take care of yourself, don’t burn out!
For real this will be the second time I moved this year. Last year I moved down to Mexico with my grandma to save money for college and because our apartment raised the rent to almost 2k a month. Which is a little out of reach for a household that doesn’t even make enough to pay taxes. Now I’m moving back up to cali so I can attend college and hopefully I won’t end up homeless. I saved up enough so I should be fine though. But yeah it’s just been insane. I didn’t know how quickly people could become genocidal racist mf. Like I always thought that most liberals would probably oppose someone like Mussolini or Hitler but now I’m almost certain they’d be roman saluting with them. And MitHC is pretty good. It took a while to get going but the worldbuilding was really interesting. Thanks I’m trying not too but Im the final stretch of hs so I don’t feel like I have a choice. Anyways have a good one comrade these kinda free chats are a nice addition to Lemmygrad.
Started reading State and Revolution so we do a little educating
Also finalized where I’m going to grad school so that’s the next ~2 years of my life set in stone.Nice! I imagine that’s got to be a relief, yes?
Very! I kinda wish I had gotten in somewhere better but when your GPA is like 3.3 you take what you can get. It’s tuition plus a small stipend that will at least cover rent, so I shouldn’t be too deep in loans by the end of it.
Major congrats!! What’re you going for?
Hydrogeology, I’m gonna be looking at aquifer conservation and recharge. It’s cool stuff and I don’t have to feel guilty about my future career which is extra nice
I discovered Patrick Lancaster’s videos this week. Needless to say there was some sobbing done with the first few videos I watched. How are you?
I am unfamiliar. Which videos?
Sobbing is good every now and then. I had a particularly big cry for the first time in a long while and I’m happy I did. It can be hard to let loose in small increments so it builds up which I know is unhealthy.
Other than that and the surrounding circumstances I’m pretty solid. My videos of choice have been shitty YouTube tattoo tutorials, I’m tryna learn (it’s not some huge passion, tattoo in particular, but I love drawing and they make excellent money and it beats 99% of my other career prospects). I tattooed a unicorn on a banana yesterday 😅
Patrick Lancaster has been an on the ground video maker for the war in ukraine on russia’s side
Interesting! Will have to check out sometime!
Ay im on vacation visiting my home country and family (Turkey) and its great. But feeling wise it’s 50/50. Beeing here helps my mental health a lot (I’m living in Germany currently and that shithole of a country is so draining, not saying turks have it better but I just like their culture way more, fuck Erdoğan BTW piece of shit hope you get killed off soon, feels good being able to say this here without having to fear any repercussions). Having said that losing my best friend still is on my mind and i just can’t get her out of my head. So every day is a new battle. But whatever life goes on with our without.
What about you g
My father’s family is from Palestine and I’ve visited several times from America (where I’ve spent 95% of my life) so I relate lmao. Haven’t visited in quite some time though (nasty divorce and adjacent fallout, me and him and are getting better though it’s a little superficial).
I’ve never really heard that take on Germany, could you elaborate? Unimportant but I was born in Weiden 😎 what do you like about Turkish culture particularly?
That’s very rough. I can’t possibly imagine losing my best friend right now. I hope you can still feel her with you in a positive way without the pain as much in the future.
As for me, I’m okay. I’m kind of going through some stuff myself. Much of the last 9 months have been the happiest of my life but I shot my relationship in the foot. I’m (temporarily?) kicked out staying at my moms tryna be productive as much as I can (she has plenty of work for me to do so no worries there). Freestyling as I walk dogs. Staring at birds. Keep it real young blood.
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Life is h*ck
Capitalism is a fuck
410,757,864,530 ████ CAPITALISTSJust focused single-mindedly on the “optimism of the will” part of “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will” equation.
How are you OP?
Sounds about right 😎 I’m solid, I have a laundry list of things I feel perpetually behind on and I just for the love of all holy do NOT feel like going to work today but I’m pretty solid. Just made a kickass burrito 😳
Burritos make everything better
Same shit i do every day of every week for the last year, delivering 30l clean water gallons to homes on a bike for 12 hours because drinking my country’s tapwater will give you either ass parasites or aids
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It does make it easier actually, I’d rather keep doing this than go back to a minimum wage remote bullshit data entry job that sucks your soul and produces near zero actual value.
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I am doing really well, which is a nice change of pace. I’ve made a couple new friends, and I should hopefully be able to move out really soon, which I am looking forward to a lot.
That sounds doubly awesome! I hope that all goes well for you! Circumstances of moving?
My family isn’t accepting of my identity or my political beliefs, so I plan to move out before they get sick of me and throw me out, I don’t feel to upset about it though because I don’t feel close to them.
That’s good. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s stressful and difficult. I hope you can escape and start a new better life with a minimal amount of obstacles on the way. Best of luck!!! I hope your family can change their ways as well!
I wish I woke up and won the lottery today. I stopped school some months ago because I had no motivation and I was flunking a class. I don’t think I’m dumb or anything, but I find it hard to see any future in it all :/.
My 2nd best bet is probably starting a mushroom cultivation business, but like…I just hate the idea of having to monetize every single thing I find interesting and worthwhile in this planet. I’ve saved up a bit of money having been able to stay with mommy all this time.
I kinda wanna get fired deep down so I can go travelling for a bit, because I hate waking up and going to sleep in the same ghetto every…day…
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I’ve been on an old game kick myself in recent months, I played some old RTSs (namely Red Alert 1+2 and some Lord of the Rings one) and an old flash game (tower defense). I really hoped I wouldn’t slowly become a stereotype of milking my own nostalgia but I’m only human 😩
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I am the Eternal Mutlidimensional Glorylord of procrastination so I know how that is! Far, far too well 😁
What was your essay on? Also, where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking (feel free to be vague or ignore this entirely)? And the nature of your identity crisis?
I’ve moved around a lot (almost entirely all in the US) so I never really “put down roots” and this has been a source of my similar issues. I also am the “black sheep of the family” in both of my families so this makes it hard to identify with my cultures I come from, among other factors.
Best of luck on your exams!!! Crush that shit!!! 💥💥💥
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My PTSD is as worse as ever thanks to living in the most depraved nation on earth: America. Trying to take my mind off my trauma with some exercise (walking my dog) and VR games. Larcenauts is fun but I got burned out.
I’m submitting my first semester project on Thursday (that’s technically today, as of writing). Bit anxious, didn’t get to implement all the features I wanted, but I’m still proud of the work I’ve done
You did as well as you could! I have no doubt you did good!
Just submitted it. It could’ve gone better, but I’m going to hope for the best
Definitely sounds nerve wracking!! What was the topic? Best of luck!!!
Thank you! We were supposed to develop a desktop application and a web application. The content was our choice. Though in the end, my idea didn’t really mesh well with some of the concepts we were taught
Last week I started an internship at the IT department of our local utility company. After 3 months I will have to write a report and present it at my school to graduate.
