A few days ago, I had a realization about certain authors of leftist media I enjoy. Before I go any further, I'm gonna say that I like these people that I'm gonna talk about. I think they're good people, and that we have alot of the same things on our wishlists for society. However, there are things I think they can do better. They have a duty to do these things better. Not just as media figures with large followings, but as leftists, or at the very least, people who believe a better world is possible and have any desire whatsoever to see that world come to fruition in one way or another.
I think there are certain leftist creatives that are extremely pessimistic about the state of the world AND rarely , if ever, offer their listeners any course of action they can take to make things better.
Please pay special attention to the AND operator in this sentence. It's both of these behaviors in tandem that I have a problem with.
I need you to to read the footnote in the previous sentence. I made it super big it's comically unignorable. I'm gonna refrain from naming any specific examples here. Because I think the problem is common enough that if I leave it open-ended enough many of use can think of three or four different examples.
and also because I don't want anyone's fans harrassing me off the internet.
Again, for emphasis, I like most of these folks that I'm thinking of when I describe this. I think they're funny, smart, insightful, and have good moral compasses overall, but this is something I wanna call attention to because I think it's something that is harmful to our spirits.
It's a pattern of media authorship that is unknowingly destructive to the psyche of those that care about these issues and want something done. Think about whatever creative you know that follows this pattern....
- Talks about the national news (it sucks)
- Talks about the national leftwing party of your country (they suck)
- Talks about voting in your country (it sucks)
And they're usually not wrong. Again, smart insightful, funny, sexy people these artisans are. they make good work. But I think something that is easily missing from the media these kind of folks produce is that they rarely mention something that you, the listener, viewer, cxntxnt
I will never type the C word in full unironically
engagerer can do to make things better. Maybe it's not voting, maybe it isn't any sorta of electoral politics and instead should be some radical shareconomy made powered by everyone that frequents your local library. I don't know. Again, I'm not as smart, sexy, and clever as these people to have good ideas on how to bring down the brutal thunderdome of capitalism we currently live under. One thing I do know is that these kinds of messages with no prescription for a positive action forward is fucking poison.
Here's my advice to you: If you are someone that considers themselves any flavor of leftist and you only consume news on a national scale, then you're gonna be miserable. I don't care how much you believe in the fruitiger aero queer solarpunk economy we all deserve. I don't care how much theory you've read on the feasibility of full blown communism and how we can do it tomorrow if the collective will was there.
And I believe it's possible too, even though the only theory I've read was like ten pages of Kapital before my eyes glazed over.
But only consuming news on a national scale will drain your energy, because nationally, leftists are not powerful. I think the consciousness may be there in bits and pieces. I think people are more openly identifying as leftists than ever before, but leftists don't have power, so any national news will only disappoint and sadden you. Things are sad and they suck.
Hooooowweeeeeeverrrr, if you become more involved in local mutual aid groups, organizations, and activist efforts, you'll be happier, because those guys are getting dubs. They're not any closer than AOC or Bernie to bringing about the moneyless, classless society many of us desire, but they're getting wins, and seeing those wins are possible and happening will improve your mood and make you feel better overall. Waiting for the leftist revolution to happen at a national scale is like watching the grammys every year thinking your local DIY glitterpunk band will get awarded a grammy after a year. That not how things work. I wanna caution myself to not sound like I'm saying hoping for a leftist revolution is a pipe dream. Maybe one day we get UBI like that
*snaps fingers*
, but this kind of political project is a bottom-up movement, and you can't keep you eyes on the skyline when your team is still in the trenches.
I also need to specify that this isn't an order to only pay attention to the national politics of the day. So many brave students put their lives and future careers on the line protesting for an end to the genocide in Gaza. Keeping up with the national news is important, but it can't be the only part of your media diet. It's gonna crush you eventually. An antifa supersoldier that's despondent, inactive, or too depressed to do anything isn't useful to the cause.
This brings us to the problem I have with these makers of great cxntxnt. going back to a previous sentence. About how they are incredibly pessimistic AND
Pay special to the "AND" here. it's very crucial.
offer no courses of action their audience can take to make things better. Even within the small slices of community they live within. I think the realist analysis of how the democrats suck is a useful informational tool, and I'm not saying to stop, but follow it up with something people can do after you spend an hour skewering the libs. They can tell you to like & comment, subscribe to their patreon, and buy their live show tickets, but I never hear these type of folks say "hey i know things are tough, but you should join your local food not bombs chapter" or "yeah I know all that stuff was rough, but you gotta be a good ally and cashapp and trans friend $10 to help em out." I'm not super held up on what specific action they ask their community to take, but it's the fact that there's almost no attempt to convert their audiences to higher action as far as I know.
I just want them to do something! For all the deserved criticism these wordsmiths can give to the Democrats, they are also fumbling a bigger bag by not converting these angry and disappointed masses that listen to their work every week to take greater action to make their local community better.
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All the facist and nazi content creators
I've opted to called them content creators because I don't respect them
have a strategy for converting their audience to greater action. I'm not just talking about about ghouls funded by big oil money, but even 10 subscriber anti-woke Youtubers will convert what audience they get to a greater project beyond supporting them financially. They'll say "join my racist discord" and that eventually leads to a few of their fans that were just mad about the new Sony game attending an interest meeting for the proud boys. I think leftists need to have that kinda forethought. There are podcasts with 50k+ listeners that don't make even half the effort to convert their audiences. If only 1% of your audience heeded your advice to join their local foodbank, that's 500 folks minimum going out and making a difference in their communities.
Like I'm not asking your faves to have all the answers. I'm very without the answers and things are mad confusing right now. I can barely suggest what should be done next, let alone whether that proverbial next move will be the best move, but I think If you're a leftist, if you believe the world can be a better place, you should act like you believe in it.
I'll always remember something a friend from cohost said that went something like...
“what does it mean to be a leftist if you don't believe things can change and get better? why even get out of bed if you think we're fated to doom?”
That's not verbatim, but it gets at the main point of what she wanted to say, which is why even identify as a leftist if you have no hope that the neoliberal, imperial order will ever change? And if you don't believe such a thing, are you behaving like someone that holds suchs beliefs?
I'm too lowly and cringe to bring this question directly to the avant garde sculptors of quality leftist media, but I think it's something we as audience members should ask ourselves.
Is this media I'm consuming serving me to have a better understanding of the world? and are they encouraging me to take some kind of action in the real world? This answer isn't gonna be the same for everyone, but I've asked myself this question about one or two folks I listen to often and I'm making the choice to unsubscribe. I'm wishing them the best, but I also hope they do better.
This probably isn't gonna help if someone is so inclined to harass me, but I wanna reiterate that I don't hate these folks. I genuinely like them and their work. I also think they're generally good peeps overall
I just added a comment section to my site this week, do not make me take it down with t < 1 month.
. I think just think they should use their work to encourage more of their followers to take more direct action that will make a difference in the world. This isn't to say they don't do enough. I don't do enough. there's plenty more volunteering and mutual aiding and direct actioning I could do. This question of doing enough isn't the problem. The problem is there's ways they can better support the movement without much more effort, and I believe continuing to patronize them is harmful for my outlook on the future of the world. This is nothing personal.
A short guide to taking some kinda action in your town.
Because I'm not a complete hypocrite I wanna leave readers with something they can do to try and get involved in their local communities. These may not all pan out due to where you live and the activist environment, but these should help you get started in some way, and help you be an instrumental help to the people in your area.
1. It's more important that your contributions are consistent than big.
I put this one first cuz I think it's the most important one newbies don't consider very often. Regardless of whatever you decide to do. Whether that's giving out food to the homeless, prison abolition , or even if you just donate a few bucks per month and do nothing else. Make sure that your contributions are something you can repeat again and again. Week after week, month after month, potentially forever. We don't want to have to do this kind of work forever, but thinking about it in that terms means that you're giving something these local groups can depend on as long as they're fighting the good fight. It's better you volunteer 30 minutes a week at a help line for years rather than do 8 hours of work one time and never show up again. Being consistent means you're being reliable. And being reliable means these groups can build their strategy around the fact that you'll be there. Your small and consistent contributions will be the building blocks to greater action.
2. Start somewhere basic like Food Not Bombs and look around till you find something that fits.
If you're new to action, then it's gonna be hard to just look up what your local commies are up to. It can be even harder to confirm how effective or well run some of these organizations are. It's tough. My suggestion is to start somewhere easy like food not bombs, or even a local protest or collective action around a salient issue. Activists often run in similar circles, so being able to dip your toes in a little will let you network and meet people that are doing various other things and can point you in the right direction. Again you may not fully fit in at the first place to try. That's fine, but feel free to play the field till you get a good match.
3. Think about your unique skills and try to use those to help how you can.
If you're especially good at something and you think it can help a certain cause, then try to put your efforts towards that. If there's a cause that especially animates you in one way of another, try to act towards fixing that problem. Another bit of adivce this dovetails with is if there's something you wanna do to help, it's likely some group is already doing that work, and you just need to find them and join forces. If such a group doesn't exist, then it's gonna be hard to make such a group out of nothing, so building a rapport with other like minded activists will be important in enacting the particular flavor of chagne you wanna make.
4. Be a good person
If you're reading down this far and actually interested in contributing to mutual aid or other direct action orgs, you're probably already a good person by some measure or another, but I mean be good more so like be cool, or likeable. As you get out and do more action with other lefties, you'll get out into the community and run into people that don't have a political affiliation that is directly tied with left or right. When you go out and meet people, you'll be something like a spokeperson for your beliefs. If you're someone that's cool, people will be more likely to support or even be interested in what your beliefs are. Sorta in the same way producers of political media do PR for their political beliefs, you will be unwittingly doing the same. Maybe you're not good with people, and that's fine. You just sorta have to know that by being someone people like, you can encourage more folks to join your team.
Other resources
- Mutual Aid Hub - a map of America mapping out mutual aid resources and collective action groups across the country. Not an exhaustive list, but it's somewhere to start.
- The Mutual Aid Podcast - a podcast that talks about mutual aid theory, practice and hosts interviews with various activists across the country. more useful if you wanna learn the theorectical underpinnings of mutual aid, but their homepage has some resources for mutual aid projects in lebanon you can contribute to.
This is all hard. I don't think anyone has all the answers, but I think the most important thing for anyone to do, especially any leftist, is to do something, anything. Don't just sit in your room paralyzed by fear and despair. Take a breather or two if you need it. The revolution won't come on the backs of exhausted activists, but we need to make sure we're doing something. Whatever we can.
However we can.