I just had an encounter with Grail, they were badfaithing in an ask socialism thread, but I don't remember what comm. I didn't know they were badfaithing and wrote long comments in response just to have them be like "nah imma debate bro".

I fall for this shit way too often. I don't like how hostile some people get toward what appear to be good faith posters, and I also want to help good faith posters work through their questions about socialism.

But then I engage and get burned. Ive sdrastically slowed my effort commenting, switching to more quippy and sarcastic comments, and I don't like how cynical it has made me. But now that I think about it, usually people who are actually radicalizing ask specific questions, often stuff like "what is the long term plan" because they still think too abstract and think their hesitance is due to some logic, when usually its more complicated than that. They also say stuff about how a lot of people don't want to read theory or that the left should update their terms and jargon. And to be fair, I don't dislike any of those comments. So maybe I just need to start with asking questions before spending an afternoon crafting 1000 words on how the April thesis connects to the previous 70 years of revolutionary struggle in late 19th - early 20th c.

They don't usually want to court controversy, so they don't go after like Lenin, which Grail was doing, albeit in a way that came off like a misunderstanding. It really demonstrates the thought process of these bad faith posters and commenters. Like there are comms like "meanwhile on grad" and "meanwhile on world" and "the dunk tank", maybe this comm but i haven't spent much time here, where people find examples of the other camp saying dumb shit, and everyone memes on them. But leftists (almost) never pretend to be liberals to bait out random bad takes. Bad faith posters almost always do this.

Leftists want to project strength and confidence, to educate or defend. Even in cases where it is a little selfish and individualistic, its honest. Bad faith posters will often pretend to be innocent or just asking questions, when they're actually manipulating people in order to snipe a few bad comments and farm karma on their dunk comms.

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But then I engage and get burned. Ive sdrastically slowed my effort commenting, switching to more quippy and sarcastic comments, and I don't like how cynical it has made me.

I can relate to this especially. I try to catch myself, edit out quips I may make, and try to reframe myself towards revolutionary optimism. It's a regular internal battle.

[–] Juice@midwest.social 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think you do alright. We've been at odds before on a few small differences and never came away feeling like you completely lost the plot. You genuinely come off as someone who wants to educate, and who cares about socialism. I think you sometimes are a bit too invested in apologetics, but I'm also averse to rhetoric and most forms of propaganda, which makes me a bit of an outlier I think; lots of Marxists are principled practitioners, whereas my approach to Marxism I think was sort of unusual and I can't guarantee that I'm the best comrade because of it.

But I enjoyed your Dialectical Materialism post a lot, you put a lot of work into it and as someone who has written extensively on the topic, albeit mostly secretly as I'm not prone to share much of my writing, I think you covered the topic In a practical and informative way. And you even handled my slight criticism quite well.

But you post and comment a lot, I'm certain you run into the issue more than I do. But in my view, it shows that you care about more than just reacting to takes you dislike or defeating a debate opponent or whatever. Youre a comrade

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

Thanks, I appreciate it! And yea, I know we've butted heads before, but I never got the impression that it was in bad faith from either side. There's a huge difference between comradely disagreement and the sheer vitriol reactionaries have for us. I don't really like rhetoric, which is why I intentionally try to take arguments, no matter how flawed, at their best interpretation and break them down regardless.

And thanks for the appreciation on my diamat post! I made it sort of to flesh out my own understanding, and to try to help inform others. I see many people getting tripped up on the dialectical part even with good intentions, and made it a point of focused self-study before making it. I'm glad you appreciated it!

Thanks, comrade!