bearboiblake

I have been trying to talk to you for over half a dozen comments, but you keep treating me like I am some enemy. I totally understand that feeling of seeing the overton window shift towards the right and you are absolutely correct that there are liberal institutions who push that "well, let's be civil, and hear them out" bullshit. That's NOT what I'm saying. That's never been my position, but you keep treating me as though it is.

I'm saying we need to keep pushing back, hard, against the right wing, in any way we can, but the reality is that cruelly dunking on conservatives who are suffering the consequences of their political project doesn't help, and that it is counter-productive to the overall goal of defeating them. That has been my entire point in this entire conversation and it is honestly driving me crazy that you can't engage with it.

How am I mistreating the left?

Okay, now it's clear that you're just arguing with me for the sake of arguing with me. In the long run, I can only hope that my argument sinks in, and you consider acting with more compassion in the future, even if you can't acknowledge in this moment that you were wrong.

Can you explain for how showing compassion for someone means you have to kiss their ass? You keep putting words in my mouth because you want to argue with me. At this point I am beginning to wonder if you're a fascist just pretending not to understand this point to waste my time.

I am a leftist and I am advocating, as always, for solidarity across the working class, unionizing, getting organized, and participating in direct action. I encourage collective acts of sabotage and resistance against the authoritarian regime.

You can believe in false hope, or accept the reality of your situation and work towards goals which actually have a chance of succeeding, it's up to you.

Edit: To get involved in a real action that might actually improve our situation, join the IWW.

I defend leftist positions against liberals, centrists and right-wingers literally all the time.

To begin with, the whole democrats/republicans thing is kinda bullshit to begin with. There are only two sides that matter: the working class, and the ruling class. Unless you are able to survive entirely from profits of businesses/rental income, you are working class.

The entire purpose of political parties is to divide the working class. They are bullshit. None of the parties represent your interests, they all represent the interests of the ruling class.

The ruling class are your true enemies, and the members of the working class they manipulate and gaslight into fighting for them are not. We need those people to realize their true enemy if we want to win.

I am further left than you are. I am advocating from a leftist position. I'm not saying to give anyone any kind of chance, all I'm saying is that acting hatefully towards hateful people will only makes them more extreme in their positions.

As leftists, we need to choose an alternative to hate if we want to defeat it.

The total abolition of capitalism is the only thing that will end enshittification and fascism. Everything else is just cope and/or baby steps.

I'm explicitly not saying that. Please re-read my comment and try again.

Can you stop assuming you already know that I'm wrong for a moment to honestly consider my position on it's own terms?

I'm not saying we should soften our position politically, or walk back from our values, to be more appealing to them.

What I'm saying is that mercilessly dunking on conservatives for our own amusement is counter-productive. It calcifies their beliefs and drives them further to the right. We should, instead, take the opportunity to show them a moment of human empathy so that we can widen their perspectives. Or, at the very least, quietly enjoy the schadenfreude, without feeling the need to get a needless "told ya so" moment.

but have you considered that the line wouldn't go up if people weren't manipulated into buying things they don't need?