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!