Yep I’ve been on Deep Facebook again…
I can’t stay away it seems. It’s really been an enlightening (and disconcerting) experience. As I talked about in my last post, being in these spaces where every view will be challenged adamantly has forced me have to put lots of my own views to the test, evaluate and present evidence, and has allowed me to get outside my bubble and see all these other perspectives that aren’t held by my friend group.
Some of these views I’ve encountered are reasonable and thought-provoking and some are…well…batshit crazy, racist, bigoted, truth-averse, and deeply problematic. It’s not for the faint of heart.
This post was inspired by a particular comment over there and something I’ve been seeing a lot of in Deep Facebook:
Frequently interacting with self-proclaimed “socialists” from “Leftist” persuasions and being familiar with the general set of beliefs of people of that persuasion, this claim raised my eyebrows and sent my bullshit meter to just about 11.
First off…
No discussion of power in the modern world can be complete without talking about colonization (and decolonization) and systemic/structural racism that is still alive in this world today. I’ll have to elaboration on what is meant by “decolonization” and “systemic racism” for some people, since even bringing up those words in certain spaces triggers deep reactions. I’ll still have to prove to some of you how this is still a reality in today’s world, so please hold your judgments for now while I have a chance to write about those rather large topics in themselves (soon!)
Using a textbook definition of socialism:
“a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.”…
I would say that we’ve never even had a true lasting socialism in this world in the sense that WE THE PEOPLE have never had any sort of real power in a long time (perhaps since the invention of political systems), whether that is power held at a local level within our communities or through larger structures that represent the will of the people.
Every time the people have risen up to create a more equitable, democratic, and just society, it gets derailed by the real fascists and oppressors of the masses. The masses have yet to see our day where our interests are represented and freedom and abundance is enjoyed by us all.
So who plays what role in today’s society?
Given the ideologies of the Nazi and Fascist Regimes pertaining to nationalism, war and colonial pursuits, corporatism, suppression of labor unions, and racial hierarchy it seems ludicrous that they could be called tenets of socialism. Yes they tend to be populist movements, but that’s just one aspect of socialism that propagandists point to and say “Hey look, socialism is populist and so was Nazism and Fascism so socialism=Nazism/Fascism!!”.
The people I see on “The Left” are those who are fighting to free us from the grips of fascist government that combines nationalism, corporatism, normalization of extreme inequality, white supremacy, and destruction of our natural world.
To be honest, the “Left/Right” duality seems like bullshit handed down from the propaganda ministers to keep us divided and on a two-dimensional political spectrum that allows us an illusion of choice in many regards.
There is enough for everybody in this world but the real powers that be have us fighting for crumbs and have us at each other’s throats instead of focused on the real enemy and threat to our well-being. And how is their dominion solidified in place? I have my theories…
Some related reading:
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