"...but then again there will always be the Synemas and Manchins and the party’s inherent bias towards them…."
Manchin caught some heat recently for telling the press that the US as a country is politically center/center-right and always has been. Is he wrong? And if he's not what are the implications for any left of center political movement?
I've limited my YouTube consumption to frivolous crap like board games, and I think I'm smarter for it. There's just no reason to go there for politics.
The left perhaps needs a heavy dose of Irish sensibility. Bleak humor, but there’s room for the dirges and the battle hymns too. But the thing you go to battle for has to be real, to be comprehensible, to *many*, because it’s not a flaw to look for yourself or someone like you in the causes you support.
Example: I firmly support trans rights. But my continued support of biological women and girls and my concern over medicalization of gender dysphoria for teens makes me…an enemy to trans people, somehow? But the battle cry we could all get behind is anti-discrimination law and making sure it’s enforced. That’s not good enough anymore.
"The problem is that there is no real socialist movement in 21st-century American politics. All we have are entertainers."
Bwahahaha. I think it was George Carlin who said it right, in America right now (back then as now) there are two types of people, pimps and whores and only one culture: hustle.
I have a project: raise minimum wage to $20/hour. Lefties are so arrogant, they always think they know better and to help people then create crazy bureaucracies that waste money. Ask poor people what they want and I guarantee it is a simple answer and always the same: money. Of course there will be a considerable loss of jobs in the compassion-based industries and the lies would be ferocious as they try to save their jobs.
Does Natalie Wynn claim anywhere to be popularizing or leading a movement? I don't recall any such, but there's plenty of her stuff I haven't seen. You're right that she's a good teacher!
1. He once said America deserved 9/11 (and got a lot of (well-deserved) shit for it).
2. He bought a very expensive (2.7M) house (and got a lot of (maybe less-deserved) shit for it).
3. Some of his livestreams are just other people's YouTube videos he puts on while eating or not even being on stream (and he got some shit for that too).
Regardless of if he believes in socialism or not, he isn't the kind of person I'd want being considered a leader in my movement in the same way as Richard Stallman in the Free/Libre software community.
This is such a great post (and illustration!). One problem confronting every political cause is that we only need a few people to do the fun jobs (writing, talking, strategy) and we need a lot of people to do the grunt work (phone calls, knocking on doors, collecting signatures).
When I was younger, I was excited to get involved in politics. I thought it would be like West Wing—we’d sit around debating the “right thing to do” and then come up with a strategy. Meanwhile, we’d mock the other side and revel in our coolness.
As a political science major, I was sure that any campaign would be excited to have me on board. I had so many ideas, plus I was a “writer” who could help with the blog…
Then I found out what volunteering is really like. They give you a list of addresses and send you to knock on doors. People think you’re selling something, and when they realize it’s politics they’re even more annoyed. Don’t like that? Well, you can stuff envelopes or do data entry. That’s fun.
This has always been a problem, but now it’s even worse because an entire generation has grown up thinking that scoring likes on Twitter = activism. Everyone wants to produce content and gain followers, so it becomes a vanity project and a source of dopamine rather than actual work.
"...but then again there will always be the Synemas and Manchins and the party’s inherent bias towards them…."
Manchin caught some heat recently for telling the press that the US as a country is politically center/center-right and always has been. Is he wrong? And if he's not what are the implications for any left of center political movement?
I've limited my YouTube consumption to frivolous crap like board games, and I think I'm smarter for it. There's just no reason to go there for politics.
The left perhaps needs a heavy dose of Irish sensibility. Bleak humor, but there’s room for the dirges and the battle hymns too. But the thing you go to battle for has to be real, to be comprehensible, to *many*, because it’s not a flaw to look for yourself or someone like you in the causes you support.
Example: I firmly support trans rights. But my continued support of biological women and girls and my concern over medicalization of gender dysphoria for teens makes me…an enemy to trans people, somehow? But the battle cry we could all get behind is anti-discrimination law and making sure it’s enforced. That’s not good enough anymore.
I joked with the copy editor that there would be one big glaring mistake we both missed, the first time, and there'd 'thing hard' sitting right here
Hey Freddie, great article. I just subscribed.
"The problem is that there is no real socialist movement in 21st-century American politics. All we have are entertainers."
Bwahahaha. I think it was George Carlin who said it right, in America right now (back then as now) there are two types of people, pimps and whores and only one culture: hustle.
Seldom discussed and maybe below the radar of many people or maybe because "Catholic" is off-putting to intellectuals--
There has been, since 1933 The Catholic Worker est. by Dorothy Day. The newspaper is still published (from NY) and there are 160 communities in the U.S. https://www.catholicworker.org/communities/directory-picker.html
Terrific writing.
Socialist is a verb, good thought.
I have a project: raise minimum wage to $20/hour. Lefties are so arrogant, they always think they know better and to help people then create crazy bureaucracies that waste money. Ask poor people what they want and I guarantee it is a simple answer and always the same: money. Of course there will be a considerable loss of jobs in the compassion-based industries and the lies would be ferocious as they try to save their jobs.
Breadtube is a cancer. If Breadtube isn't some kind of insane CIA psyop, it might as well be.
Does Natalie Wynn claim anywhere to be popularizing or leading a movement? I don't recall any such, but there's plenty of her stuff I haven't seen. You're right that she's a good teacher!
Is Michael Harrington remembered today?
There's three things I know about Hasan Piker:
1. He once said America deserved 9/11 (and got a lot of (well-deserved) shit for it).
2. He bought a very expensive (2.7M) house (and got a lot of (maybe less-deserved) shit for it).
3. Some of his livestreams are just other people's YouTube videos he puts on while eating or not even being on stream (and he got some shit for that too).
Regardless of if he believes in socialism or not, he isn't the kind of person I'd want being considered a leader in my movement in the same way as Richard Stallman in the Free/Libre software community.
This is such a great post (and illustration!). One problem confronting every political cause is that we only need a few people to do the fun jobs (writing, talking, strategy) and we need a lot of people to do the grunt work (phone calls, knocking on doors, collecting signatures).
When I was younger, I was excited to get involved in politics. I thought it would be like West Wing—we’d sit around debating the “right thing to do” and then come up with a strategy. Meanwhile, we’d mock the other side and revel in our coolness.
As a political science major, I was sure that any campaign would be excited to have me on board. I had so many ideas, plus I was a “writer” who could help with the blog…
Then I found out what volunteering is really like. They give you a list of addresses and send you to knock on doors. People think you’re selling something, and when they realize it’s politics they’re even more annoyed. Don’t like that? Well, you can stuff envelopes or do data entry. That’s fun.
This has always been a problem, but now it’s even worse because an entire generation has grown up thinking that scoring likes on Twitter = activism. Everyone wants to produce content and gain followers, so it becomes a vanity project and a source of dopamine rather than actual work.