Cowbee

Not much to talk about if you don't explain what you loathed about it.

No problem!

As much as you can try, debatelords will be debatelords. You can be 100% correct with flawless evidence and debate skills, and some will cry and bleat about whatever. Those people typically are never going to be convinced by some magic formula of debate or combination of words.

Instead, I meet people where they are at. I let them know I can try to answer any questions they have, I can provide a basic reading list, etc etc. I don't speak about what I don't know, I speak on what I do. I pick my audience based on those who are receptive. My goal is to educate those who want to be, and help guide radicalization, which happens without my will simply due to dying Imperialism every single minute of every single day.

At the end of the day, there will be debatelords, you can chuck Yellow Parenti and Blackshirts and Reds, but that's about it unless you have a lot of time and can debunk every bit of gish gallop so others watching can see. Other comrades are great at that, so I try to fulfil a gentler role that catches others.

Socialism hasn't been perfect, the only people that think leftists are arguing for perfection are right-wingers. Marxism-Leninism is still correct analysis, and the USSR was still a massive improvement on existing conditions. It has not "lost," it is continued by Cuba, China, Vietnam, Laos, and more. Blackshirts and Reds debunks a lot of common anti-communist myths.

One thing you seem to be misunderstanding is the idea that because there are mom and pop shops, that there aren't fewer and fewer, with decreasing portions of the overall share of Capital. The barriers to legitimately compete with these megacorporations like Samsung are getting higher, you can't legitimately compete with their resources and design work.

Finally, your mark on the presence of new modes of production emerging from the old is a misconception of the Marxist argument. What is Socialism? explains that in further detail, and Productive Forces explains societal progression. Slavery resurging was an aspect of settler-colonialism, a notion that remains to this day, this was not a resurgence of old pre-feudal economics.

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I think everyone that can read needs this message too. There's a difference between knowing misogyny is bad, for instance, and knowing how and why it works and how to eliminate it forever.

Here it is, Cowbee's "Read Theory, Darn It!" beginner reading list. All except one work has an audiobook alternative linked, otherwise there are text links directly to said works. It starts off with foundations, then builds on said foundations, ending with some practical advice on how to conduct yourself as a Leftist in general. I also include intersectional theory regarding trans and enby liberation, gay rights and history, and decolonialism.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

I try to get people to read Marxist theory, and correct common misconceptions. Part of why people feel despair right now is because they don't see a way out of this, because they don't have a background in leftist theory. I keep a basic beginners reading list I can link, if anyone wants it, I'll spare the copypasta.

It also includes a section at the end with my own personal practical suggestions for how to conduct yourself in your daily life to remain effective and optimistic.

I also try to combat problems like queerphobia, racism, and misogyny when I see them.

It isn't "American indoctrination," the ideas held by people are largely determined by their social relations and material conditions. Understanding how people come to their conclusions and the beliefs they hold is a fundamental aspect of theory, because it illuminates how we can change those beliefs.

Liberals generally want the same things Leftists do, but don't understand the systems around them, their trajectories, or their weaknesses, and thus not how to overcome them or what needs to be done.

The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto is a good essay for that.

We can't bring the Democrats to where they need to be, they serve their donors, and their donors would rather the Democrats lose than shift left. The DNC cannot be infiltrated either, it sustains itself purely from its donors, and as such needs establishment figures that prop up the system with fundraising, while radicals are cast aside.

This is why theory is important.

Reading theory helps keep me from distress. If we know our enemy, and how it operates, we can struggle and defeat it.