this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Will I ever stop having cringe takes? (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 day ago by dil@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Over the past few years, I've been sliding left ideologically, and as I move further left my old positions seem cringy.

That's expected when you change your worldview and realize you were parroting (e.g.) CIA propaganda, but it's left me feeling a bit ungrounded. I'm worried that in another year I'll look back and think my current views are dumb. Tbh, they almost certainly are.

Does this go away eventually? Or are y'all constantly refining your understanding, so you always dislike your views from a year ago?

Also:

If folks leave, where do they go from here? Are they just picking their preferred flavor of communism/anarchism? Are there other categories of leftism that they're heading to? I'm sure some backslide, but I mean heading somewhere new - like I didn't know people actually liked DPRK until I heard about "tankies." I saw a group that doesn't believe in objective reality?

I'm not really expecting to look at anything new and not be a Marxist, but I'd like to know what's out there to be sure.

I just wanna pick one goddamn worldview, never change it, and still be right about everything all the time. Is that so much to ask?

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[–] starkillerfish@hexbear.net 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does this go away eventually? Or are y'all constantly refining your understanding, so you always dislike your views from a year ago?

education is a constant process. but as you progress, the scale of the "cringe" decreases. so for instance my takes a year ago are not super different from my takes now. as opposed to my takes a year before joining a marxist org and a year after.

If folks leave, where do they go from here? Are they just picking their preferred flavor of communism/anarchism? Are there other categories of leftism that they're heading to? I'm sure some backslide, but I mean heading somewhere new - like I didn't know people actually liked DPRK until I heard about "tankies." I saw a group that doesn't believe in objective reality?

  1. what do you mean by leave?
  2. ideology is not a supermarket, you dont pick a flavor.
  3. im not sure wha "heading to other categories of leftism" means

I'm not really expecting to look at anything new and not be a Marxist, but I'd like to know what's out there to be sure.

i would really recommend to look at marxist orgs in your area

I just wanna pick one goddamn worldview, never change it, and still be right about everything all the time. Is that so much to ask?

thats not how self improvement and science work. it is important to always keep refining your understanding of yourself and the world

[–] dil@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

as you progress, the scale of the "cringe" decreases

That's kinda what I figured the best case was

What do you mean by leave

I guess like how I used to consider myself a liberal, but now I don't

ideology is not a supermarket, you dont pick a flavor

Fair, I just meant the different branches, e.g. ML vs MLM

im not sure wha "heading to other categories of leftism means

Yeah I mean honestly me either - the answer very well could be "that doesn't exist." Broadly, I went liberal -> soc dem -> anarchist -> ML, which I think is a relatively common progression, and I guess the question is whether some folks have "-> ???" Ultimately it's not important, but I think my curiosity comes from discovering new bubbles.

would really recommend to look at marxist orgs in your area

On it!

[–] starkillerfish@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago

I guess like how I used to consider myself a liberal, but now I don't

Ive met people who went ML -> liberal, but that to me means they never fully internalized what Marxism means.

Ultimately it's not important, but I think my curiosity comes from discovering new bubbles.

There’s a thing that if you ask 3 people about socialism you will get 5 different tendencies. They can be hyper specific on an individual level. But this is a very individualistic view of ideology. Treating it like a personality or a flavor.

This is why I encourage to join an org, because you will get to experience how ideology is actually applied.

For reading about other ideologies you could always look into Socialism Utopian and Scientific by Engels. Or Left wing communism: an infantile disorder by Lenin.