Comradeship // Freechat

Anyone feel the same way?

All the time, but I live in a constant, unyielding state of rage at, contempt for, and genuine hatred of this country anyway. I'm hoping I stroke out in the next couple years honestly

Instead of mainstream social media, I've been directing the energy that ongoing events in Palestine stirs up in me into educating myself on related topics, and just engaging the topic in conversations with the people closest to me. Similarly, when I feel too tense or riled up about news coverage and commentary, I focus on long-form content not directly concerning the current bombing campaign, like history books or YouTube lectures.

What I probably need to do more of generally is just disengage altogether, but overall I do feel like it serves my mental health better when I avoid the punditry in favor of more substantial content.

Anyway I think that advocacy is important and valuable, but I think it's absolutely your prerogative to limit that or pursue that in a way that supports your overall mental health.

And it's not just you. Mainstream discourse on the ongoing slaughter of Gaza, and indeed the whole Palestinian struggle and situation, is fucking exhausting and infuriating here in the imperial core. And the facts of what's happening, even aside from the way the situation is discussed, are just plain heavy and painful.

There is no reason to engage with the topic anywhere on normie internet. You won’t get into a good faith conversation, you won’t change anyone’s mind, and you wont learn anything new. Everyone is either astroturfing, repeating astroturf talking points, or is a Zionist/Nazi.

The irony of this extreme flattening of the discourse is that there’s no reason for anyone to participate. If you’ve read the official communications from the Israeli government, you’ve got all the information that anyone is willing to discuss. Everything else - including primary-source reporting, photos, videos, UN reports, NGO communications, and even established facts about the history of the conflict - is considered suspect. Want to learn more? There’s nothing else to learn. Want to make a distinction between Palestinians and Hamas? There is none. Want to discuss whether Israel’s strategy is or will be effective? Shut up.

I’ve honestly never seen anything like this since 9/11. It makes the initial response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine look like a nuanced discussion.

I used to not follow any people in my party, and not even follow my party on social media, but after everything in Palestine, it's become crystally apparent that normalizing socialism in the minds of your peers is gonna take a lot on our parts. Most importantly though, it helps to know there are normal everyday people who are socialists. TBF, for the friends in my life who do know about my political life, I don't tell them I'm a Marxist Leninist per se, but I am open about being a socialist to them. I've been able to China and even North Korea-pill 2 of my close friends.

Besides a select few subreddits, the discussion around Palestine is really awful and alienating. I've been attending protests and whatnot for the past few weeks, and I've yet to encounter a single person who says the kinda stuff people are saying about Palestine on the internet. You're probably doing yourself a favor by avoiding it. I sometimes engage with zionists online, but i'm always hostile about it and very unrelenting 😊. Probably not the best use of one's time, things must be explained. Pick and choose your battles of course.

i feel the same, but over time that rage has been building up and getting crammed down and suppressed. anger and hatred of injustice acts like the fuel for my politics

Everyone has their limits. Some of us are really really sensitive to injustice and have a hard time managing our empathy. It's a factor that led us to communist thought in the first place, but it's also something that needs to be managed. Especially, we ND comrades can have this problem. There are times where I read about some massacre, or I watch some horrible clip or see a photo and I'm crying for hours, emotionally exhausted, and end up having no energy or focus for tasks that I need to concentrate on. I feel you.

You can still be knowledgeable, participate in actions and educate where you can. But pick your battles and where you can be useful. I learned a long time ago, nothing really good comes from arguing with liberals on the internet. You're not going to convince them. And unless you're some charismatic content creator, you're likely not going to convince people lurking these arguments either.

It's not an excuse to disengage completely, but you also gotta attend to your happiness. You may feel weird or guilty about it, so it can be difficult. But you have to optimize happiness the best you can. Because otherwise you'll suffer mentally and physically. It's your health. And if you're unhealthy, you're usefulness towards building revolution suffers too. This shit is a long game.