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created by [deleted] on 25/06/2020 at 18:11 UTC
112 upvotes, 22 top-level comments (showing 22)
[deleted]
Comment by tony_simprano at 25/06/2020 at 21:06 UTC
92 upvotes, 1 direct replies
If you feel like a narrative is trying to tell you that you're on the winning side, but you can't name a single concrete victory in your favor, you're being taken for a ride.
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 20:07 UTC*
41 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by hhendjfjfjforkdn at 25/06/2020 at 19:44 UTC
63 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Make friends that watch football and get a new hobby. If you’re any kind of leftist then you know that these things take time and victories are small and slow. The only way to achieve any massive amount of change is with a lot of violence and organization.
Comment by plok07 at 25/06/2020 at 19:53 UTC
26 upvotes, 1 direct replies
i just had a call with a buddy i haven't talked to in a while. he was so optimistic about the movement and i had to sort of overplay my optimism as to not disappoint him, but it made me wonder whether i should feel more excited about everything going on and why i don't.
on some level, it seems like the major shift that people are reacting to is that the culture war on racism is being won. and the disagreement seems to be whether winning the culture war equals political change. to me, the fact that a majority of american support the protests doesn't seem to necessitate a change in our political dynamics. i don't see how this outpouring of mass anti-establishment sentiment does anything to fundamentally realign or change the country's institutions.
ross douthat made the point that every major american religious revival contributed to the formation of a lasting institution — for example the mormon church — except the religious revival of the '60s/'70s. since then, mass movements have not been able to create new institutions that challenge power and exist well into the long-run. there is probably more anger right now than there has ever been in the last several decades, but anger is momentary and easily exhausted. i don't see anyone really committed to build something new and lasting. or for that matter, having an idea or ideology which can sustain such an institution. abolition is the perfect example of this - it is not a positive ideology in any sense, it can only exist as an opposition to something, and therefore it's not capable of building an institution around itself. it will only ever be an idea, and its vagueness and insane idealism is perfect for that.
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 20:55 UTC
52 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Get off the internet.
It's a deadly void that sublimates energy and desire.
The techno-utopians were at best comically wrong about the internet's emancipatory promise and likely selling you a digital death cult
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 21:14 UTC
30 upvotes, 1 direct replies
cynicism is a completely understandable thing to feel given the year we're having, but it's also a very superficial/gut-level way to process events. It's very dangerous from a psychological standpoint to a) believe you have everything figured out and b) believe that everything is bad/corrupt/going nowhere. It's harder to feel cynical when you resist the narrative that you have a 'full read' on what's going on. Make it a habit to refute your own ideas, resist polarized thinking & 'all or nothing' formulations. Otherwise all this begins to bleed into how you think about your own life, which doesn't lead anywhere positive.
Comment by iseriouslygiveup at 26/06/2020 at 02:16 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Proper response to this situation is being theorized all over Twitter. Look into Christman's grillpill, Moldbug's clearpill, Marty MacMarty, Shia LaBeefsteak.
Good quote from KB: "There is no 'debate' happening. No war of ideas for the soul of society. The debate is a preprogramed, social psychologically engineered circuit wildly sparking as a mass of pseudo-conscious social agents wail and rend their garments at the silence of their symbolic idols"
There is no progress going on there is no conflict occurring. It is pure spectacle, emotional outbursts from psychologically broken people moving with crowd physics. Do you, the only thing we can do is opt out
Comment by princessofwherever at 25/06/2020 at 21:39 UTC
15 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Have a hot bath and eat some ice. Start reading a really long book, then when you finish start another really long one. get an ouroboros tattoo.
Comment by dumdum_alt at 25/06/2020 at 21:34 UTC*
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This kind of blind “optimism” (which at this point amounts to cheering on the removal of pieces of metal while the ruling class continue to laugh in their fortresses) is so amusing, especially when you know it’s mostly coming from people who have the least material investment in this movement: rich PMC white people. Is this “victory” helping slave laborers in the third world, indigenous people, the disappearing wildlife, or even inner city black people? No, but it makes rich white people feel good about themselves.
Edit: and I don’t see any of these “optimistic” liberals covering the story of Milwaukee BLM protestors discovering a pedophile ring with a lot of smoke to suggest the police are involved
Comment by kid207 at 25/06/2020 at 20:29 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
NBA playoffs returning is gonna rock.
Building a deadlift platform in the basement this weekend so I can go heavy. It costs about $150 and I get to feel like a man doing shit.
I’ve got next week off from work so I’m gonna clean, list shit on eBay and read some novels.
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 21:03 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Since about 1990 American monoculture has become steadily more and more multicultural, to the point where “white” and “black” popular culture substantially overlap in the US more than anyone would’ve dreamed 30 years ago. Sports, music, politics, cultural commentary, education, etc.
That is the background for the breakthrough here, which is the widespread acknowledgement by white Americans that, yes, black Americans have it rough, in ways white people don’t appreciate, and that while the truly bad acts that started all of this happened long ago, they resonate today in important ways. This is an important turning point and I am optimistic people will be a little more empathetic.
But - I don’t believe there is any chance this will lead to more than police reform. Americans are just too wedded to their phones, and will do just about anything to not be uncomfortable. For generations that have always had access to so much, I think it would be inconceivable to live in any sort of deficiency, even for a little while. And economic disruption like you’re referring to would have that effect, I think.
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 22:59 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The point this thread helped me develop is : I think cynicism about this moment is just as reactionary as triumphalism
As others said I think the key to overcoming both is comfort with contradictions, ambiguity, and the limits of our own knowledge. But the structural way the internet promotes hot takes and manichaean tribalism discourages this. In the resultant discourse economy we’re all made to feel we have to choose a side, simp for aimee terese or simp for... whoever the opposite is (I’m out of the loop...Benjamin Dixon? Idk). either choice is stupid but I think a lot of people are opting for the former because it seems like the smarter way to view things which is comforting. But I’m trying to find a way to get beyond that which I think means rejecting wholesale cynicism and opening up to appreciating the ways that what’s happening right now might actually be for real good
Comment by AldoPeck at 25/06/2020 at 20:41 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is how I feel when reading Vanity Fair or People Magazine during breaks.
Liberals know how to make you feel infuriated with their stupidity even if it’s for a good cause.
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 23:40 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
What's to be excited about when the end goal is Biden Harris?
94 crime bill and the top cop? Yuck.
Comment by OperationSherwood at 25/06/2020 at 19:56 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’m right there with you. It all seems so futile and now this wave of people thinking that Biden will be our savior makes it even more insufferable. The only thing that gives me hope is that maybe shit will be better in a hundred years or so, but I have resolved myself that it won’t be happening in my lifetime or at least anytime soon. I think shit will have to get much worse first.
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 23:36 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/the-revolution-comforts-the-comfortable/
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 20:10 UTC
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The world economic forum is going to reset the social contract how could you possibly feel cynical about that win?
Comment by superlovingnoalcohol at 25/06/2020 at 21:00 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-4rJmYEfU[1][2]
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-4rJmYEfU
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-4rJmYEfU
Comment by builderbob93 at 26/06/2020 at 00:26 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
become a marxist and put that cynicism to work. revolutions have happened before, it's the only thing that keeps me going. obviously a lot of bad shit is ahead and most of the victories right now are symbolic. but getting lost in the idea that people are too dumb to fight for a better world is equally myopic as the people who think "we're winning".
Comment by [deleted] at 25/06/2020 at 20:37 UTC*
-2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
" i can't fake excitement about this stuff and its affecting my relationships with people who we're living through a beautiful victory. "
Get better friends or hobbies then, no one who is actually cool or interesting gives a shit about what is currently happening. Being "political" is a cancer.
Comment by controlfreakavenger at 25/06/2020 at 22:50 UTC
0 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In the end, none of us can predict the future. Maybe it is the start of something new, maybe not. Only time can tell that.
Comment by [deleted] at 26/06/2020 at 14:28 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
you see legislation all over the country that never would have been passed a few weeks ago. There's also a lot more political awareness and mobilization. If you can't celebrate those victories, maybe it's because you're not invested in your community or don't care about the people who it benefits?