Constantly trying to thread the needle of "my target audience is not other communists but "vibes based" leftists, punks, skaters, goths, etc.
Yet I am definitely not afraid to speak my mind, to be openly and unapologetically political. Yet I fear this will only end up alienating more than it will agitate or educate. We lack time, we lack will, so we need space, we can't build will without space. Space means culture, culture has been entirely co-opted by the system, thus you need to create a line of flight to the space (Deleuze), we can do this by working towards deterritorizing the "underground" (counter culture). In this way the 'brand' super structure itself can be detourned, re-worked into a rhizome, ergo "HOUDINI".
But thats all pretty heavy shit and I worry that the openly political nature of the detournément will alienate before the rhizome can grow. For example someone I consider to be one of the most important voices in the gaming space as it relates to the medium as an art form, that person offered to write some articles for the brand, to grow the rhizome so to speak.
This person is not openly political and I wonder to myself, does he not see the level of political discourse I attempt to engage in? If not, will learning of that push him away, limiting the growth and shrinking the space, thereby lowering the will?
"Hiding your power level" is the...15th? Kind of liberalism. You should be open and honest about the things you believe, don't hide what you think is important for society. Passion convinces people, not skulduggery. That said, you don't need to use the scary "Socialism" and "Communism" words to describe your ideas. Be honest about the ideas you believe, but you don't have to use the words that a century of anti-communist indoctrination have poisoned. Just talk about "ideas for society" and don't talk about "politics" or "communism" at first, most people are receptive to communist ideas as long as you don't talk about them as "communism" or "politics." let the ideas stand on their own, let the person digest and analyse them and then continue conversations in the future. There'll never be one bit conversations that "converts" someone into a communist, it is a lifelong slow, steady process where you just provide ideas for them to think about and discuss with you.