doomer

Trump getting elected for the second time absolutely wrecked me, because (for me) it was the death of any last shreds of hope in the superstructure. It was my crossing of the Rubicon.

As one person, taking on the entire superstructure is not possible. The goal (for me) is to build a different superstructure, one dedicated to leftist values. I'm trying to devote energy almost exclusively to things that I can make a meaningful difference in, and that has meant finding and organizing like-minded people at a very small scale.

In that vein, I've been getting more plugged in to the DSA branch around here, and it has actually been super helpful for my misanthropy! There's some stuff that I don't necessarily think is a good use of time (e.g. electoralism, but tbf they focus on local stuff), but it is SO NICE to be around people who want to help and are doing something about it.

Unrelated to misanthropy, but regarding groups with mid politics:

There's a spot in F.D. Signifier's video on "hoteps" where he and a guest talk about their reluctance to condemn the movement as a whole, even though it has some bad politics, since they're allies in organizing for black liberation. She says something like "if you don't like their politics, just out-organize them!" And I think that's the best attitude we can have on the left in general: don't spend time talking bad about other orgs; work together where we can, set boundaries of acceptable behavior, and out-organize groups that have bad politics.

Not misanthropic, but I'm feeling more hopeless toward people in the imperial core, especially the "middle class" treatlerites. The optimist in me says that all that's needed is to activate the class consciousness in them and then a real revolution could happen. However I'm starting to give up hope as capitalism is just designed to deflect all alienation towards commodity consumption and imperialism is designed so that stopping the exploitation of the third world means less treats, which apparently is a huge deal breaker for all of them. . People get very uncomfortable whenever you broach those topics. The banality of it all also depresses me, as people still talk about whether AR is going to replace smartphones, or AI doing some bullshit in the future as it destroys the environment, and not whether we'll ever get a society that can house and feed everyone.

All revolutionary potential seems deflected at this anti-elitism which is totally non-materialist and just about what the last podcast episode you listened to said to believe in.

Is this what a third worldist believes in? I think I am becoming one.

Doesn't help that most people have decided to stop believing in germ theory, either. It's hard to meet strangers when they're all trying to kill you.