I hate the United States. Simple as.

The weirdest struggle for me comes in the form of a thick line between the masses’ reality and my personal experience. I am currently pretty removed from the more severe aspects of capitalism failing (working as intended) but I also have the knowledge that the majority of people in this country (and the world, really) are just barely getting by. This causes some fear to strike in my brain.

The fear comes from:

a.) The possibility of having invested so much time studying politics and Marxism-Leninism just for it to be wrong, capitalism really does work and this was for nothing. Things aren’t really that bad, and (to paraphrase from DankZedong’s post similar to this one a few days ago) we Marxists are just missing the point. Conclusion: I am the insane one.

or

b.) The possibility of us being entirely correct and everyone else around me having bought into the game, this weird cult of capital. Conclusion: The society/system is insane.

Which is it? Are we really just batshit crazy? Or are we the few who have the time/capabilities/desire to understand Marxism and dialectical materialism? Why are we such a minority if what we fight for is directly in the interest of the majority?

I’m scared, send help and hugs

  • @Munrock
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    162 years ago

    You’re in a minority in the US, but in the world you’re far from it.

    And while American exceptionalism and propaganda might be overwhelming the people around you now, the US is decline is accelerating so rapidly that I doubt it’ll be true for too much longer.

    • @TeezyZeezyOP
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      102 years ago

      Yeah. I try to remind myself of that, but sometimes it gets hard to remember living in America.

      • @holdengreen
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        52 years ago

        Well do you have any communists you can meet irl? I can particularly in the bay area but other places too.

  • Kaffe
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    142 years ago

    I’m going to tell you my plan. Study as much as possible, without burning myself out. Lenin in What is to be Done? points out that a party structure is beneficial because people can commit to the organization at their personal ability of engagement, and those who want to work harder can be supported by the party, it’s important that we can build a structure so that potential revolutionaries don’t get trapped into wage slavery or worse. We have no such party in America, so right now we need to educate ourselves and then break out and educate others. We need to propagandize on the proletariat’s natural responses to the crises of Capitalism. We need to correct half baked Liberal criticisms of the crises. We need to talk to our families, friends, and coworkers of our analyses of such crises. Some of us will be focused on structural party building, some of us will be focused on education, some of us will be focused on unionism, revolutionary art, journalism, feeding communities and party meetings, organizing study sessions, and everything that a movement needs. We really need to push Scientific Socialism and get people to understand what it means to engage themselves in the motion of society, and how much power they have to change its direction.

    MLs are not the minority, just in the stomach of the Kraken are we depressed. There are hundreds of millions of us in the world, and billions of us waiting to be awoken. Those of us swallowed by the Kraken are not yet dead, and we who are inside can do the most damage.

  • ☭ 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗘𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 ☭A
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    2 years ago

    I was also insecure for a while when I was learning about imperialism for the first time, but at this point, the only way “a” could be true is if
    a) there’s an incredibly elaborate conspiracy to make Amerika look thoroughly evil, and Amerika’s various admissions of guilt (through internal CIA documents, etc.) are fake for some reason, or
    b) I’m imagining all of this and none of you are real, which isn’t exactly a materialist view

    also, here’s a virtual hug in image form

    • KiG V2
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      42 years ago

      Those are grumplie monklies

  • Bury The Right
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    2 years ago

    Being a ML in the United States certainly requires a lot of tuning out. The majority of people I knew and used to go to school with now make me clench my teeth (One keeps posting pics of himself and his army buddies occupying Korea, ugh) and I pretty much abandoned consuming all mainstream western media and entertainment. It is a thankless and lonesome job for sure, but I’d still take it any day over being a braindead drone for the sake of fishing likes on social media.

  • KiG V2
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    102 years ago

    Please remember that this abonimation of a country has birthed the most expensive and expansive propaganda campaign in human history. Americans you talk to today are the byproduct of over a century of anticommunist, procapitalist, pro American, pro Western propaganda.

    I will say I once was similarly doubtful of my beliefs in a similar way. It helped learning the truth issue by issue but stumbling upon Marxism-Leninism and learning the truth about so much history and geopolitics made it all irrevocably click and now I never doubt that I have found the one political body that can have some sort of claim to adhere to reality in every sense. I do not relate to being an ML doubting MLism. Please just keep in mind that it is very sensible for America to be the place with the least amount of communists out of probably every other country in the world past or present (besides, what, MAYBE Nazi Germany?).

    A core attribute of MLism is being able to adapt to the circumstances. So don’t get lost in the sauce of what is already established, these are rapidly changing and in many ways unprecedented times in a country that has, in many ways, unprecedented circumstances. New theories will need to be had. The American path to MLism–if it is even physically possible without a total collapse of the empire–will require new ways of thinking, new methods, new epiphanies. If American MLs are “missing the point” it is not because the core, MLism, is wrong, it is because they are not adapting to the times and the circumstances. MLism is a science, this would be like if you were a physics researcher working on some unprecedented physics problem and you questioned Newton’s Laws when things didn’t work out. Don’t questiom the basics, the sky is blue and the Moon is not cheese. But we must begin building a new branch, because the data and conclusions and spreadsheets of how an apple falls from a tree will not be sufficient in figuring out how to build an interdimensional wormhole. I hope this metaphor makes sense.

    It is very sensible to feel scared about the future as an American communist, to feel like you are in a schizophrenic, sociopathic bastard civilization. But do not blame yourself or this ideology for this feeling of fear. That is exactly what the capitalist elites hope. To sow fear and confusion and doubt. These motherfuckers will try to convince you you are evil and stupid for not throwing puppies in a blender. Capitalism is a necessary part of human civilizational development, it is better than a monarchy, but only just. It is a bastard and it has, through its own internal logic, produced a ruling class of psychopaths that have r**** the world and robbed us of our humanity.

    Find a way to come to peace with the situation, because the system will continue to try and use its illusory evils to make you despair, to make you doubt. We each require a unique understanding to come to this peace, focus on the small battles in this war of information. Okay ramble over, best wishes.

    • @FuckBigTech347
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      52 years ago

      Great post, comrade. I too was once on the fence and unsure about ML. But the more theory I started to read and digest, the more things started to make sense. Until eventually it clicked in my head and now nothing can sway me anymore.

  • Red Phoenix
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    92 years ago

    I think we both know the answer is b. Have you ever watched The Matrix? The brainwashing is so insidious yet so subtle that most people don’t know it’s happening. If they do clue in, usually they only ever see a small part of the con and miss the forest for the trees.

    The war for the hearts and minds of humanity is fought between dedicated minorities. We have to use our resources and abilities to contribute as best we can to the revolutionary cause. Even though the struggle sometimes seems bleak, who knows how our efforts might affect the world. The butterfly effect and all of that. It takes many people to topple the empire, but eventually it comes to the point where one small push will be the tipping point, the straw that breaks the camel’s back. We have many allies around the world, even if we can’t always see them. So keep struggling, we’re right here with you.

  • @mlcolo
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    1 year ago

    Removed by mod

  • commet-alt-w
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    72 years ago

    right there with you. i feel the title of this post so much everyday.

    it’s not useful to look at it from a crazy or not crazy point of view.

    and honestly, to stand against this empire, in anyway, you really do have to be at least a little bit crazy, in an in-jest kind of way.

    • @holdengreen
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      62 years ago

      and honestly, to stand against this empire, in anyway, you really do have to be at least a little bit crazy, in an in-jest kind of way.

      No I think it’s a point of dignity and self respect.

  • @CountryBreakfast
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    2 years ago

    I think there is a bit of random chance to people developing or changing their worldview. And I definitely dont think it is a conscious, sovereign choice. I dont think you, or we, are crazy but some of us might be more unlikely than others. If you think about it, its pretty natural that a system like imperialism could produce genuine self hatred, even among those it enriches.

    • KiG V2
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      52 years ago

      Oh, the ruling class are miserable self hating wretches for sure. Look at those mfers and tell me they are happy, loving, loved, and self actualized.

  • @PolandIsAStateOfMind
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    2 years ago

    History already proven us correct multiple times. It’s just our enemy is very powerful.

  • @cult@lemmy.ml
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    22 years ago

    This is the reason minority identities are unsustainable. My personal philosophy is to stick to the specific things I know and avoid as much as possible wearing hats and trying to label my beliefs and also just generally resisting the temptation to make large-scale generalizations.

    Even in this post you didn’t really say anything you specifically believed in. You “studied politics and Marxism-Leninism” but what does that mean? Those are both massive nets. What exactly stuck out to you? What were the most important stories, facts, and individual lessons you learned during that time? Was it the Iran-Contra scandal, learning about the 1917 revolution, reading about how witchhunts in sixteenth century Europe were used to control women’s labor, or realizing that the capitalist mode of industrialized agriculture is ecologically exploitative and unsustainable?

    Now that you’ve got the “building blocks” remind yourself what are the lessons you learned form that. What is the massacre of banana workers by the United Fruit Company in 1928 an example of? What is the bigger picture it ties back to?

    Lessons are learned but they are also forgotten. You have to constantly re-learn lessons when you live in a society that is spending constant effort to teach you opposing lessons. So you have to revisit the things that matter to you and reanalyze them and relearn them

    That being said, I think the only sustainable way to do this is by living in a community of other people with these same goals and values. Find your peeps