So imo, it’s a bed argument to imply it’s futile to try. It’s no different than doomer speak of “well if we can’t fix everything we might as well not fix anything.”
Never something I argued at all. Like not even close. I literally linked to you a post where I said “If someone can get value out of it / can deprogram others effectively on there, more power to em. But for me, it was a healthy one to cut off.” What I’m saying is that some things are more effective than others. It’s little different in principle than saying that it’s more effective to try to recruit among the working class than to try to go convince Bill Gates that communism is good. I am also saying that people are in different places, both literally and figuratively, and it makes no sense to be pushing a one-size-fits-all, all or nothing narrative that we need to all be on reddit of all places and we’re being “silly” if we aren’t.
And at no point did I say we needed to wade into the cesspool of conservative and lib BS subs.
The entirety of my comment is I think it’s silly to run away from that site entirely, just because there’s libs and chuds there, on subs that can be blocked.
Then you are arguing being in an echo chamber??? Just one that is a compartmentalized part of reddit.
It doesn’t matter if you can’t change the minds of the masses, so long as you can change the minds of a few.
I can in good faith assume you meant in context “you don’t need to be popular on the western internet to have a net positive persuasive impact”, but at a glance, it’s reading more like a statement on recruiting in general. And in that context, although you technically “don’t need to change the minds of the masses prior to upending an existing system and replacing it with something else”, in the sense that it’s not like you need all of them on board, you absolutely, 100% do need to change people’s minds on a broad scale to sustain anything after that event happens. And part of that comes from real material help in their lives, not just words. But it cannot be overstated how important it is to achieve popularity at some point. In the western empire, we’re often working from a shit place as popularity goes, but that doesn’t make it any less important overall.
And returning to China for a moment:
Saying “we are going to develop our own forums so all our diversity can flourish, and we can teach and spread our ideas, without the hostilities of our enemies” is not an echo chamber. Furthermore they are now moving towards opening up even further. To allow their people to spread their ideas and knowledge. That’s the exact opposite of what many here are doing by trying to cut out more outside contact.
Except China has power now. Powerful, sustainable systems both in their own country and in partnerships across the world. Many of us stumping it out on the western internet probably don’t. We’re trying to work out the answers in an unprecedented situation. We can’t afford to be universalizing sloppy doctrines that we pass along on message boards. We need to be more flexible than that and we need to be both effective and compassionate. And we can’t be effective if we don’t examine what’s going on beyond anecdote and a sprint mentality.
Never something I argued at all. Like not even close. I literally linked to you a post where I said “If someone can get value out of it / can deprogram others effectively on there, more power to em. But for me, it was a healthy one to cut off.” What I’m saying is that some things are more effective than others. It’s little different in principle than saying that it’s more effective to try to recruit among the working class than to try to go convince Bill Gates that communism is good. I am also saying that people are in different places, both literally and figuratively, and it makes no sense to be pushing a one-size-fits-all, all or nothing narrative that we need to all be on reddit of all places and we’re being “silly” if we aren’t.
Then you are arguing being in an echo chamber??? Just one that is a compartmentalized part of reddit.
I can in good faith assume you meant in context “you don’t need to be popular on the western internet to have a net positive persuasive impact”, but at a glance, it’s reading more like a statement on recruiting in general. And in that context, although you technically “don’t need to change the minds of the masses prior to upending an existing system and replacing it with something else”, in the sense that it’s not like you need all of them on board, you absolutely, 100% do need to change people’s minds on a broad scale to sustain anything after that event happens. And part of that comes from real material help in their lives, not just words. But it cannot be overstated how important it is to achieve popularity at some point. In the western empire, we’re often working from a shit place as popularity goes, but that doesn’t make it any less important overall.
And returning to China for a moment:
Except China has power now. Powerful, sustainable systems both in their own country and in partnerships across the world. Many of us stumping it out on the western internet probably don’t. We’re trying to work out the answers in an unprecedented situation. We can’t afford to be universalizing sloppy doctrines that we pass along on message boards. We need to be more flexible than that and we need to be both effective and compassionate. And we can’t be effective if we don’t examine what’s going on beyond anecdote and a sprint mentality.