It’s just going to be crabs in a bucket until we all die, huh?

People are just going to get more and more fash, aren’t they?

EDIT: Thank you all for reminding me there are things to be hopeful for, and that organising and community are important.

  • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netM
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    3 days ago

    Humanity is gonna make it. I think the whole humanity is selfish it’s evolutionary thing is wrong. Throughout history time and time again humanity has come together and made progress and I think it’ll happen again. All of this fascism is the empire dying. These are the death throes of global capitalism. It’s up to us to be ready with community hand in hand to pick up the pieces.

    Yeah it’s gonna be unimaginable levels of suck and we are not all gonna make it and that’s absolutely horrible. But humanity can do this. I believe in us

    • Not only is it a lie that “humanity is inherently selfish, that’s just evolution,” but the exact opposite is the case. Arguably the primary reason that humanity became as successful as it did, evolutionarily speaking, is because of our capacity for cooperation.

      (Just a side note, one doesn’t have to be an anarchist to appreciate Peter Kropotkin and Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution.)

    • Blakey [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      I mean yeah, we aren’t going extinct. But I’m starting to hear people talk about three degrees of warming as a more or less done deal and that’s fucking apocalyptic. I think it’s a near certainty that we’re going to see hundreds of millions of excess deaths minimum before the end of the century, just from climate change. Between the death throes of a nuclear-armed empire and of a global economic system, and the coming climate catastrophe, I don’t know what pieces will be left to pick up.

    • ChaosMaterialist [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      I think the whole humanity is selfish it’s evolutionary thing is wrong. Throughout history time and time again humanity has come together and made progress and I think it’ll happen again.

      I’m like a one-man army promoting A Paradise Built In Hell because she talks all about this. She even references US Military studies of the WWII strategic bombing campaigns being counterproductive because they galvanized the bombed populace. It is a great companion to the Shock Doctrine book.

  • Vampire [any]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    Community is the real problem.

    People don’t feel close to other people in modernised places. That makes it hard to organise collective action or sell collective messages.

    • TrashGoblin [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 day ago

      As someone who has been active in left activism for decades, I’ve come to have a visceral reaction to use of the word “community”. In my experience, it has come to mean, “Our liberal ComMMuNiTY will exploit your injustice sensitivity for labor, and then drop you as a weirdo as soon as we don’t need you.”

    • DragonBallZinn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      3 days ago

      Oh, you bring up an excellent point.

      With rising fascism, has anyone else felt themselves grow more misanthropic? I’m not saying this is a good thing, but this is a personal problem I’m having…which logically means I don’t try to build any community where I can, even online.

      This likely has cascading effects on society at large, because people then become more and more callous because they assume everyone is an asshole and……ohhhh look at that I’m describing the base and superstructure again.

      • dil [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Trump getting elected for the second time absolutely wrecked me, because (for me) it was the death of any last shreds of hope in the superstructure. It was my crossing of the Rubicon.

        As one person, taking on the entire superstructure is not possible. The goal (for me) is to build a different superstructure, one dedicated to leftist values. I’m trying to devote energy almost exclusively to things that I can make a meaningful difference in, and that has meant finding and organizing like-minded people at a very small scale.

        In that vein, I’ve been getting more plugged in to the DSA branch around here, and it has actually been super helpful for my misanthropy! There’s some stuff that I don’t necessarily think is a good use of time (e.g. electoralism, but tbf they focus on local stuff), but it is SO NICE to be around people who want to help and are doing something about it.

        Unrelated to misanthropy, but regarding groups with mid politics:

        There’s a spot in F.D. Signifier’s video on “hoteps” where he and a guest talk about their reluctance to condemn the movement as a whole, even though it has some bad politics, since they’re allies in organizing for black liberation. She says something like “if you don’t like their politics, just out-organize them!” And I think that’s the best attitude we can have on the left in general: don’t spend time talking bad about other orgs; work together where we can, set boundaries of acceptable behavior, and out-organize groups that have bad politics.

      • Wertheimer [any]@hexbear.net
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        3 days ago

        Doesn’t help that most people have decided to stop believing in germ theory, either. It’s hard to meet strangers when they’re all trying to kill you.

    • Orbital [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      3 days ago

      This.

      While The Money has no trouble broadcasting its messaging ev. Ry. Where. to unprecedented effect

      Build community. Support those who are doing the same

        • space_comrade [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          What’s the alternative? Shutting yourself off from the world until magically all the people around you have the correct politics? If I only associated with people that have zero bigotry in them I’d be talking to like 2 or 3 people IRL at most.

          • dil [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            2 days ago

            Definitely agree. Ideally you’d find people with your exact political opinions, but those folks will be few and far between.

            We need a mass movement, and most folks don’t have correct politics. That means we need to work with people who don’t currently have correct politics, and educate them.

            At this stage, that IS the work.

            There is no revolution without mass organization, and building mass organization means bringing people on that don’t already agree with you.

  • leftAF [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    There is a possible inflection point with the democratization of military technology, drones, as they become more miniaturized. A lot hinges on the development of technology and how we collectively react as the climate crisis materializes.

  • Jabril [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Now is a great time to find ways to enjoy your life and spend it with the people you love. The future isn’t guaranteed but even in hard times the present can be beautiful

  • Staines [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    The future is unpredictable.

    Western liberal democracy, once touted as the pinnacle of governance, is starting to swing towards reactionary thinking and economic stagnancy as the realization that the easy looting of the past 40 years is coming to an end. - The world has entered a state of flux - Out of that, however, I’ve seen a change in peoples attitudes as they realize that politics is not something they can ignore. Consider this: our enemies are making it increasingly obvious just how evil they are. Every time the chuds get the warm fuzzies from the latest truly heinous world event, somewhere, people are starting to realize that their liberal understanding of the world is very very flawed. Previously, I thought we’d just barely carry the torch through an age of stability, remaining fringe weirdos clasping the stale arguments of last century’s class-conflict.

    Now I think that actually, people will find their way to aligning with us as they scramble to higher ground trying to avoid drowning in fascism.

    Modern life can be extremely isolating, and that isolation will become dangerous in a world that keeps going the way it is going. Make friends. Build support networks. As the tide rises we will find new comrades. Be ready to find islands of safety. Be ready to help pull people to safety.

  • NovaOG [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    They’ve isolated us and then angered as many as they could. They turned the media faucet on high, as to keep them scared anxious angry and isolated.

    Don’t isolate. Get out and try to build community. Talk to people, organize eventually if you can. We can make a difference but it doesnt happen over night

    • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.netOP
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      3 days ago

      Yeah I think the people saying organise are correct. I used to, but quit when I went back to school. I’ve been putting it off because I’ve been busy with my degree and my mental health, but I think I have to start doing something worthwhile with like-minded people again, or I’m going to get depressed by how things are headed.

  • Mardoniush [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    3 days ago

    Nah, the Fash can’t help betraying their own and that will cause a crisis that the fash can’t solve. Most people are opportunists and narrativists, when the fash cut down the narrative they’ll back us. Some because we offer a story, others out of fear. We just need to look like an option.