No. History started a month ago. Everyone protesting has never heard of Palestine until the twitter man said something

So many supposed deep profound insights and beliefs from techbros are old shit that they never realized was old shit because they had to bumblefuck around with drug retreats and discover a clumsier and less developed version of such things.

One of the things that I took up as a thought habit was to invert the messages that advertising conveyed and nine times out of ten it works really well.

Sometimes it's just a simple reversal like "I'm loving it" -> "I'm hating it" (or to elaborate a little bit more, "Eating here is a hateful experience") but sometimes it's a legit inversion like "Because you're worth it" -> "Because we're entitled to your money".

When it comes to political insight from armchair experts like this, I think taking the same approach works really well.

for many of the NPC "protestors"... it's just a social thing

= "I can't understand why people would gather unless it's to socialise"

They just go along

= "My politics is an act of following"

There is no deep understanding about the issues they are marching for

= "I have no understanding about the issues they are marching for"

It is all just slogans

= "The one feature I have noticed about protest marches is that they have slogans"

Am I doing a reverse armchair expert analysis of their psychology? Without any doubt. But not all armchair expertise is identical and I think this gives some insight into what's going on for people like this. All of liberal politics is projection.

He's not really brighter than and shares the same "last person in the room that kisses his ass can likely change his entire opinion of something" trait.

And is decidedly more charismatic in a crude way overall in a way that nazis can more openly go for.

It's all about dehumanisation, that's all it is. It's removing the humanity from their enemies so they can justify their own violent thoughts for what they want to do to "the enemy"

Elite means any group that thinks a very divorced apartheid prince is too fucking cringe to bearably hang out with.

"elitism" in American political discourse is almost entirely aesthetic imo. Anyone who's interacted with conservatives knows they're just as smug as liberals and share the same love for "I told you so" and "they just don't know any better'. We joke here about libs droning on about "the adults in the room" but conservatives actually do think that everyone that disagrees with them is a literal child.

The difference is that liberals watch TV shows with higher production values. They don't listen to country music. Right wingers in my area are putting chuck norris on their campaign posters.

I mean, obviously.

Nothing garners more social acceptance than openly being a communist and there isn't a single interest group which requires less study, less effort, and whose acceptance is more unconditional than a communist org.

that most people in youth communist groups are there because they want to belong somewhere

That's typically said by validation-seeking status quo warriors that want to be normal in performative ways while bullying the unhinged and deranged that need to touch grass.

that most people in youth communist groups are there because they want to belong somewhere.

I don't know if that's the primary reason, but it's certainly valid to want to belong. It's why people join gangs, terrorist organizations, etc. Perhaps it also applies to commie groups, we shouldn't think of them as holy mystical orgs free from real life issues. I get that your friends have no idea what they are talking about, but I do think that people join orgs not solely for helping others, but also helping themselves ('it's better to be together with like-minded people than to suffer alone' king of thing).

is going to have some terrifying consequences.

Unless they were born rich and connected, though maybe you mean consequences for those they dehumanize.

The Japanese call it Chunibyo.

I think it qualifies as both, considering it necessiates a "prime mover" that started and established the parameters of the supposed simulation.

A lot of them never really got over their former religious beliefs before they became euphoric Reddit New Atheists. They don't stay there, often filling that unhealed god-shaped hole with "singularity" nerd rapture prophecies or maybe just substitute themselves as solipsistic deific beings destined for greatness or even rebound back to religion eventually with

They want all of the things. There's nothing else at their core than that.