I think to further refine @yogthos@lemmygrad.ml’s comment, one important skill as a leftist is to build on one’s ability to think dialectically. One way to overcome liberal propaganda is to engage with it, process its arguments and still come out saying “No.” The failure to do this is why you have all those “Why I left the Left” grifters where their origin story is that they were once the “model Marxist Leninist” but then were enlightened because some redditor one day spammed them with the NATOpedia article on Tiananmen.
If everyone could do that, there would be no need for AES to protect themselves from the modern West’s propaganda system, the most comprehensive discourse hegemony in history.
This is why, if you read Marx and Lenin, they sound at times like they would be the most terminally online debate bros today because a bulk of their writings are just constantly dunking on Bakunin, Kautsky, The Economist or various other political talking heads. Yet in spite of their obsession in exposing themselves to slop, they maintained the integrity of their beliefs.
On the other hand, the alternate side of dialectics entails that this does not mean you need to spend your day reading just NYT or FT articles. Some “leftists” do this, where they have clearly never heard of Parenti/Losurdo/Amin or even the 20th century heavyweights like Fanon, Rodney, and Sakai. We need to support leftist information and content, especially because in the West, they are suppressed and leftist authors/platforms are suffocated of support like African Stream was. That’s why it’s also just as disappointing to see leftists who get all their information from liberal media and academic materials.
I think to further refine @yogthos@lemmygrad.ml’s comment, one important skill as a leftist is to build on one’s ability to think dialectically. One way to overcome liberal propaganda is to engage with it, process its arguments and still come out saying “No.” The failure to do this is why you have all those “Why I left the Left” grifters where their origin story is that they were once the “model Marxist Leninist” but then were enlightened because some redditor one day spammed them with the NATOpedia article on Tiananmen.
If everyone could do that, there would be no need for AES to protect themselves from the modern West’s propaganda system, the most comprehensive discourse hegemony in history.
This is why, if you read Marx and Lenin, they sound at times like they would be the most terminally online debate bros today because a bulk of their writings are just constantly dunking on Bakunin, Kautsky, The Economist or various other political talking heads. Yet in spite of their obsession in exposing themselves to slop, they maintained the integrity of their beliefs.
On the other hand, the alternate side of dialectics entails that this does not mean you need to spend your day reading just NYT or FT articles. Some “leftists” do this, where they have clearly never heard of Parenti/Losurdo/Amin or even the 20th century heavyweights like Fanon, Rodney, and Sakai. We need to support leftist information and content, especially because in the West, they are suppressed and leftist authors/platforms are suffocated of support like African Stream was. That’s why it’s also just as disappointing to see leftists who get all their information from liberal media and academic materials.
well put