Does it ever just get to you? In a moment, do you ever just feel the gravity of this? The immense injustice, the vast ignorance, the endless machine we're up against? I try to keep up hope, and I've been convicted into action, but do you ever just think about how hopeless it feels. I mean, I'm sure you all do, but sometimes it just feels overwhelming and horrifying.
Comrades, real talk
Charles Morris
Ayden Richardson
I'm pretty sure all of us have felt that. It seems unlikely for anything to change after it's been this way for so long, but in single revolutions 1000 year old systems collapse overnight. There's also the huge and unprecedented factor of the internet contributing to radicalization. How many of us here would be leftists without the internet? Nevermind how we'd ever talk to each other, argue, hear different news. When people hated the status quo, they didn't know what else there could be; that's not the case anymore.
I think something will have to happen. Too many people are going toward radical ideologies for the system to stay intact.
Juan Robinson
a lot, but you have to just carry on, bear witness to this injustice, don't let the flame die out
Noah Garcia
must suck tbh
Ian Morgan
You need some Novatore.
"War is another thing. I am by nature warlike. To attack is among my instincts. So said Friedrich Nietzsche, the strong and sublime bard of the will and of heroic beauty.
And the second anarchist reason that serves to defend the terroristic, expropriating act is a heroic reason.
It is a a heroic reason that embraces theft as a weapon of power and liberation that can be taken up only by that daring minority of exuberant ones who, while belonging to the class of discredited “proletarians,” have a vigorous and lively nature, rich in free spiritedness and independence, who cannot accept being chained in the shackles of any slavery, whether moral, or human, or social, or intellectual, and so much the less, economic slavery, which is the most degrading, most mortifying, most shameful slavery, impossible to bear when healthy, leonine, and throbbing blood pulses through the veins; when the tragic flashing of a thousand impetuous storms thunders in the mind; when the unquenchable fire of endless renewal crackles in the spirit; when the shadows of a thousand unknown worlds sparkle in the imagination; when the quivering wings of a thousand unsatisfied yearnings beat in the flesh and in the heart; when the heroic thought that burns and destroys all human lies and social conventions flashes in the brain.
And these tiny, exuberant, and daring minorities, Dionysian and Apollonian by nature, now satanic and now godlike, always aristocratic and unassimiliable, scornful and antisocial, are the ones who, invaded by the anarchic flame, form the great perennial bonfires where every form of slavery is burnt up and dies.
And these mysterious and enigmatic, but always anarchic, natures were the ones who, willingly or unwillingly, wrote with letters of blood and fire, passion and love, the glorious and triumphant hymn of revolt and disobedience that breaks rules and laws, moralities and forms, pushing crude and heavy humanity forward along the dark path of the centuries, toward free human life together, which perhaps these anarchist heroes no longer believe in; they were always the blazing torches that cast the phosphorescent light of a new life into the dark social shadow; they were always the great heralds of the revolutionary storms disrupting every social system in which every free, uncastrated individuality felt itself odiously suffocating."
Xavier Young
yes. ultimately i think violence and oppression are easier to implement in this world rather than democracy and freedom, it seems like freedom is the size of a grain of sand, and oppression is the size of an ocean. People want to side with what will make their lives easier. The police don't mind following orders as long as they get a paycheck. Nationalism, racism, licking boots is easier to do than fight for true freedom.
Brandon Diaz
My cat recently hurt herself like an idiot and now my family is struggling to pay bills. Meanwhile some fuckwit who as never struggled finacially takes his fith vaction this year. Im pretty fuckin mad
Ayden Parker
Regularly.
However I have no hope. We're fucked. Hope for me is "The limits to growth" being accurate and collapsing back to the 19th century. Hope for me is fascism displacing neoliberalism. Hope for me is WW3.
And there's no backtracking. You can't just close the book on something like that and go "Well, politics sucks, ought to focus on something else." and return to ignorance.
Jesus Christ capitalism was a mistake.
Bentley Ramirez
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.
The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one. Don’t let it happen. It depends on you.
Jordan White
Update we just had to put her down, I'm angry and heartbroken
Nathan Gomez
I'm so sorry comr8.
Luis Butler
"How poisonous, how crafty, how bad, does every long war make one, which cannot be waged openly by means of force!"
Joshua Cox
You have my condolences. She was probably a fantastic ankitty.
Aiden Bell
Perhaps you should take a step back and think about the situation?
Jackson Gomez
She was fat and sounded like a pigeon i had her for twelve years, thanks for your support comrades
Jace Reyes
Yeah, today.
I was sitting at my desk and just got really, really angry all of a sudden.
Elijah Myers
the fact that we have no realistic prospects of "victory" is liberating in its own way. it allows us to focus on incremental changes, which is a more reliable method of change, rather than trying to overturn the whole system all at once.
also, i prefer being the underdog
Samuel Hughes
But it is fun.
I might be a bit fucked in the head, but I think it'd really suck to live after we're done. Simply because there aren't any worthy causes to struggle for anymore.
We live in an age where we are still able to struggle in a way they do in movies and comic books, where our options are not limited to different kinds of escapism to make life interesting.
No, we can MAKE our lives interesting, turn this part of time into a fucking historical epic and beat the big bad guy.
I'd almost feel selfish for taking that pleasure away from future generations if it wasn't also a necessary struggle.
Caleb Nelson
In this moment I am euphoric, because I know capitalism will end in my lifetime.
Owen Lee
Sure. Plenty of times. I refuse to let me be dictated though. I refuse to take reality as a subject, rather than an actor.
Samuel Morris
Honestly it just sounds like you base your whole life around class struggle, and thus believe it would be worthless without it.
Bentley Clark
This though.
Now I'm not saying I don't do the same but this is a bit militaristic, fighting a fight for the sake of a fight, rather than to achieve an end.
Julian Russell
Some people are born for war and not for peace and vise versa.
Landon Peterson
Yes I feel it, especially the vast ignorance you speak of. When I heard people talk shit about leftism without knowing what it is, I want to place a funnel in their mouths and shove books in it. Maybe it's just me being too elitist tho.
David Martinez
Waah!! Life is unfair!!!! Waah!!! O woe is me!! Let's just kill the rich because we suck! Waah!!!
Grow the fuck up you little baby. You have it easier than billions of people in the third world. They don't complain half as much as you do. They just get the fuck on with their lives.
Lincoln White
No. Well, not anymore. There is no chance of victory in my lifetime, therefore my task is a simple one: to secure material conditions for my children that will allow them leeway, if not freedom, and to learn in order to then teach. It's not very complicated.
Eli Thompson
yeah, because virtually all of them are in the same boat. not because they're noble savages or whatever the fuck you're suggesting.
kys Orientalist faggot.
Jackson Taylor
...
Benjamin Murphy
Yeah he should have real priorities like conservatives who whine about what 12 year olds are saying on Tumblr and Youtube. Or about the estate tax when you don't even own one home and make less than $45,000 a year.
Jeremiah Perry
I'm sorry man, thats awful.
Dylan Johnson
Fuck off people in the third world don't complain because many are spooked beyond all belief buying into reactionary belief systems.
Those that recognize they are exploited face much harsher repression and are in an all around more hopeless situation then us.. They have to overthrow their own govt. then defend there no state against our imperialist nations.
You don't give a fuck about people in the third-world stop using a situation you don't understand for points in an argument.
Asher Jones
btfo class cuck
William Wright
Kek grew up and embrace reality faggot
Luis Myers
Quite often. Usually I feel emotionally numb, with nothing really evoking much passion in me at all. But sometimes I'll think about the injustice of the world or see the victims of the system and I'll filled with rage and sadness both. I've been driven to crying just thinking of all the unnecessary suffering promoted for the good of a few parasites. I dearly hope to see the day when the sins of the past and present both will finally catch up to their entire despicable class, but I very much doubt it. More likely they'll drag everyone down with them to destruction. I'm not religious, but it is at times like this that I hope Comrade Jesus was actually right after all and divine retribution awaits all of these parasites who thought they got away with it.
Thomas Baker
OP Here, I suppose the hopelessness of the situation is a bit liberating in that it means there's really nothing holding me back in fighting with all my life - after all Marx said "All you have to loose are your chains." I've been moved to action already and am trying to read more leftist lit & take action when and where I can. I've actually gotten a leftist club off the ground at my college.
Still, liberating as the notion is, it's also a terrifying one. Just coming to grips with what's against us, such a huge system, such widespread ignorance. I do see a growing future for us, but it does just really hit me hard from time to time.
It doesn't help that my two closest friends are an ancap-leaning libertarian, and a former liberal recently turned libertarian by the first guy, and they both view my ideas with ridicule. They're great guys, but they very flippantly brush aside my points even when they're well made & also view my increased fervor for action with irritation. And my family's a bunch of conservatives.
Meh, I know many of you have lives much worse than mine (I come from the middle of the middle class lol) & I still haven't felt the full wrath of the system. Just knowing what's going on in the world and reading up on leftist works is enough to convince me that Marxism is the only viable way forward. But enough of my ranting.
Sorry comrade, I can't say much to comfort you. Really sorry.
Ayden Rodriguez
Yeah, that's why I wrote this post. I was in a bit of a bad spot the other night. It might seem kinda dumb (I guess not though, really) but if you ever try to just grapple with the suffering of this world & you have some shred of empathy, crying seems only natural. But I know I can't just mope around, action is needed. The problem is figuring out what to do.
Lucas Peterson
It why I'm an escapist with substance abuse problems. Its rough comrade and to make matters worse we're often attacked or ridiculed for being so affected by these horrific situations. Leftists are often depressed because we engross ourselves with the ills of humanity and we're often isolated from like minded people to keep us going.
I was feeling really raw about this sort of thing lately and I found this article really helped. I hope it helps you too comrade, best of luck out there.
nihilo0.blogspot.ca
Dominic Baker
Hope died in the 1920s, honestly. If the Red Army had defeated Poland and managed to link up with the revolutionary German working class, there was a chance for all Europe to be set ablaze. But reaction prevailed. Lenin realized this also, and was quite despondent when the dust had settled and Russia was the only socialist state left standing.
t. Tukhachevsky
Brody Russell
I wouldn't say it'd be worthless, it'd just mean I'd spend my life doing art, science or watching animu. The kind of things you do after you secured a nice society where these things can be facilitated nicely. The kind of things you do after you fixed the main problems.
Brayden Richardson
No. And there is no "endless machine" to fight against - nobody is in charge. Even the dreaded intelligence agencies don't actually care about anything - all they want is to justify themselves before the budget committee and get more money.
That's because your "Leftism" is hopeless. You don't have a coherent alternative, you try to do everything at once, and you need to have support from the indifferent majority. It's obvious that you don't have a chance at accomplishing anything.
Come to the Dark Side. Even if you fail to build Communism today, you get to kill some Capitalists and put the fear of Marx into the rest. The only thing you'll have to worry about is not having enough time to educate people to rule the state before Revolution happens.
Henry Hill
Create shit. I feel as though to be at peace you got to have a war nerve, paradoxically. Fuck the world for all its worth. I'm going to do what I like until my spirit isn't willing. Smoke weed, that helps too.
Connor Scott
What hope is there for ML in the West where everyone considers it to be a failure and Stalin is considered Hitler the Second after decades of propaganda? Much more likely for people turn to other ideologies.
Alexander Jones
Time to buy some more means of production and exploit a worker or ten. It's a safe investment.
Liam Thomas
I'm really sorry to heat that comrade, my family's cat was put down two years ago, he had a tumour in his bowels and it was treatable, but the treatment was an operation we simply couldn't afford. The Bourgeoisie will hung from the lampposts one day, I promise.
Landon Gomez
Thats not what I said. The original question was how to deal with the depression of this whole fight. Its what works for me. Don't be so obtuse.
Hunter Jones
Yes, I feel like the Right is rising faster than us.
On youtube everyone is all over the alt-right and sees them as heroes.
Almost every site I go to is full of right wing idiots.
Other than this board I don't feel like my political ideas are accepted.
I feels like a mission impossible sometimes.
Benjamin Martin
Actually, "in the West" Stalin is considered to be worse than Hitler. But it's absolutely irrelevant: before October Marxism had worse reputation than it has now. It was considered absolutely impossible for Socialists to assume power.
All talks about popularity aren't worth anything. It is the ideology that provides practical solutions that will win in the end, not the one that seems to be the most politically correct. Moreover - in my opinion - distance between official ideology and ML is a very good thing.
Other ideologies don't work. It is either SocDem "don't change anything", or Fascism "helicopter rides will solve everything", or Anarchism "must do impossible reforms".
Lincoln Perry
Honestly, I'm rarely not aware of that fact. I don't think I ever felt hope and ardor in my adult life.
Tyler Bennett
So many things that went wrong. If only the Communards had expropriated the bank funds instead of peddling like good proles… If only the sellouts in the Second International hadn't chosen to support a fucking genocidal war… If only…
Zachary Diaz
Dont be so undialectical
Lucas Adams
The tide seems to be(very very slowly) turning
Reading the comments in hbbomerguy and contrapoints I see a lot of people are seeing the light very recently. We just need to keep pushing
We probably need a greater array of youtubers besides badmouse, bomer, and contra too.
Bentley Scott
Yeah but on youtube a lot I see it flooded with far-right trash.
I hate it so much. Even Jontron is one of them now. Fuck…
Jack Moore
everyday son
Adam Young
a little bit, but then I just look at memes and feel better