I’m a bit of a recent convert and still have a lot to learn, but wanted to get this discussion going while its fresh in my mind, and to possibly aid/shut down a lot of the arguments I anticipate when advocating for a lot of the beliefs held here. I got a ton of benefit from reading through https://hexbear.net/post/279801 but don’t feel I am anywhere near capable of having that hard discussion with people who have lived their entire lives in an American 3d commercial (me included).
I think one of the biggest hurdles I had was dealing with the hypocrisy of capitalism. Yes, we’re all guilty under capitalism. Yes, that’s a feature of the system to make us all complicit. When right leaning individuals use their talking point, I have this underlying dread that I will be called out as a hypocrite for enjoying all the glorious gadgets spewed out by oppressing workers worldwide. I feel like there is more to this than what I’ve just written and would really appreciate some further contributions to it because it’s still bugging me.
Like if you find out that what you’re doing is contrary to your held beliefs, you can
- status quo and live with yourself - hypocritical?
- reject your current action and live by belief - great, but maybe not realistic
- reject your current belief and live by your actions - fucking terrible but probably mentally freeing?
I feel like the 1 state is not sustainable, but I also realize that individual action will not work without communal restrictions on consumption of problematic goods. Maybe that’s all there is to this point but if I missed something there would appreciate any feedback. Again, looking to shut down these kinds of arguments before they go on their own tangents.
Lastly, in my limited time thinking about it with the above in mind, I’ve come to the limited conclusion that being taught that hypocrisy is “bad” may have some inherent flaws? I have observed with myself and others that lefties seem to view hypocritical behavior as “bad” while righties wear hypocritical behavior like a badge. It suppresses discussion of more liberal topics while letting the fascist discussions dominate. I think it became really clear to me when I was discussing the slavery education stuff in Florida with a friend and they sarcastically responded with “Oh yeah I’m sure they’ll develop the best scientists over there in the future.” Maybe sarcasm is a coping mechanism for when we feel powerless to stop something or maybe my friend is a lame-o, but a year ago I might have said the same shit?
Anyways stream of consciousness tldr - looking to shortcut all the thinking about “no ethical consumption under capitalism”, and would like to have the ideas on hand to be able to not only shut down accusation of hypocrisy, but make other libs feel comfortable with owning their own mental entanglement with their own guilt without letting it stop them from rejecting fascism.
And obviously if there’s any existing reading material that covers all this and more would be psyched to read. Thanks!