Yeah it's not much but it certainly isn't nothing. Also the crowd I saw yesterday on the way home was about 5-6 times what it was at the height of the No Kings shit and just now I passed the spot again and the crowd has at least doubled in size from what I saw yesterday. It is an absolute fundamental responsibility for us to go among the people at these actions and do outreach, education, and agitation.

It's easy for us to sit here and sneer at the libs but these are the most reachable people in our communities and it is tiring work and it will be like hearing some of the worst reddit tier or .world tier arguments but we have to do it (those of us able of course).

Another thing I noticed is the crowd skewed a lot younger than the typical old boomer radlibs usually dominating the scene. And the signs they had almost all were specifically about ICE and Palestine and a lot less focusing on Trump alone or even at all.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 22 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's easy for us to sit here and sneer at the libs but these are the most reachable people in our communities and it is tiring work and it will be like hearing some of the worst reddit tier or .world tier arguments but we have to do it (those of us able of course).

Don't forget that when engaging with these people even if they disagree on the spot many of them will go on to repeat the exact things you said later. There's a weird pride thing that happens with a lot of people where they refuse to admit being wrong in an argument but take on board the messages and repeat them themselves.

[–] Johnny_Arson@hexbear.net 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That is also an excellent point. My sister used to have some real questionable views about race and gender stuff and we had our disagreements, but one day out of the blue she surprised me by calling my mom out for reposting crypto fascist shit on social media and then in the conversation with me that ensued she admitted that I was pretty much right about all my criticism and that she recognized she had been a shitty bigot.

She still listens to the most god awful country music and married a Marine vet but he seems to be a potential comrade (it is basically my life mission to ensure he becomes a based antifa supersoldier). At least contact with the cooler side of my family is already working on him. We even got him to acknowledge the moral correctness of veganism even if I doubt he or my sister would ever commit.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 21 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I used to get "that's some tumblr shit" from people all the time when calling out their casual bigotry. Now those exact same people do the same callouts I did against them.

Whether they admit it or not the criticism does creep into their heads, next time they consider it the same thoughts pop up from the conversation that was had.

Nobody can escape becoming conscious of an issue that they were unconscious to previously. They may show anger and resistance to the fact you've brought it up but they will not be able to forget it.

In people who are not actively choosing to be horrible people, ignorance can only become consciousness. Only the genuinely bad people become conscious of an issue and then actively choose to be bad. The vast majority of these people are just ignorant.

[–] Johnny_Arson@hexbear.net 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

In people who are not actively choosing to be horrible people, ignorance can only become consciousness.

Beautifully written. You have always been one of my fav posters and this is the shit I love about this site. Buried under several kilometers of irony poisoning are nuggets like this that would have our favorite theorists agape at while hastily scribbling their own equivalent to a quote tweet.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 5 points 5 days ago

It's so important to remember too. Most people are good but ignorant, they can only go one direction and you just need to shout enough information at them for it to happen. Material conditions and interests still apply of course.