source: unknown
“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town, and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”
Start with self-love friends, and then extend that love to the people closest to you.
While there’s some truth to that, I want to see self-love stop a fascist pogrom.
Also this whole “love yourself first” is nothing but another divisive distraction - keep people individualised rather than coming together as a community, and also perpetuate the idea that our problems are personal rather than systemic.
I don’t love myself, don’t think I ever have, don’t think I ever will, yet I don’t see how that would or should stop me from fighting fascism.
If anything, I’m able to recognise that in large part, if not entirely, my feelings come down to the world we live in and how, as an “other” in many categories, my life is seen as both worthless and also somehow such a thereat that, in both cases, it needs to be destroyed, and the idea that I shouldn’t act until I manage to “get over” all of that (and potentially get comfortable enough, or at least accept, the status quo), is beyond ridiculous. In reality it’s the exact opposite - I must act if there is any hope for others to have a world where they don’t feel like I and so many others are made to, because not loving myself has no bearing on my wanting good for others (and no, they don’t have to be “loved ones”, I don’t even have to know them, that’s the point of wanting a better society for everyone).
Also this whole “love yourself first” is nothing but another divisive distraction - keep people individualised rather than coming together as a community, and also perpetuate the idea that our problems are personal rather than systemic.
Or it’s just a way to contract a fairly simple truth, that a person who has their shit together can organize and commit to mutual aid to a degree than someone who doesn’t cannot.
You gotta know how to swim before trying to help others from drowning.
Fighting fascism is getting my shit together (if you’d bothered reading past that first sentence you might actually hear that my “shit” being the way it is is down to systemic issues, and no amount of “self work” can “get it together”).
Also what’s the point of trying to “swim” if you’re in a toxic pond? If we’re going to drag the metaphor out - get out of the fucking pond, help those around you out, so together you can all turn off the sewage pipe, and then get to cleaning up each other, and the pond. That is self care.
Fighting fascism is getting my shit together (if you’d bothered reading past that first sentence you might actually hear that my “shit” being the way it is is down to systemic issues, and no amount of “self work” can “get it together”).
The neat thing about generalities such as “love yourself first” or “you have to learn to swim before you help others from drowning” is that they aren’t specified towards anyone’s specific circumstances…
It seems that you are taking a general statement and making them all about your specific life circumstances, which to be honest seem fairly melodramatic.
my “shit” being the way it is is down to systemic issues, and no amount of “self work” can “get it together”).
Lots of us deal with systemic issues, you’re not the only minority in the US. Plenty of us still work to overcome the systemic abuse handed down to us by an uncaring or even malevolent state.
get out of the fucking pond, help those around you out, so together you can all turn off the sewage pipe, and then get to cleaning up each other, and the pond. That is self care.
No one is saying you should be a self centered ass who doesn’t help or care about anyone else. Just that people are fragile beings that need to be able to acknowledge they aren’t a bottomless well of praxis.
Lots of people burn themselves out of the leftist movement, mainly by throwing the entirety of their effort towards a goal for a year or two and then becoming bitter or jaded that their hard work is not only unappreciated, but ineffective.
Revolution is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to learn to pace yourself.
I’ve spent my whole life focused on self growth. It’s been a wise decision, because unlike self love it cannot be passive. It forces me not only to form community, but to form a community that I can grow in. Individualism without isolation, but rather striving to be the kind of person I want around.
It could’ve stopped fascism long ago, and today it may help. But it alone won’t. I must act. We all must.
Yeah the self-love schtick does feel a little bit reductive, and kind of along the lines of “oh that person has depression, so that’s why they’re sad” levels of incuriousness about like, the potential context and origins of “mental illness”, beyond just attributing everything to better ideas identification and purely physiological causes that are completely contextually devoid.
I dunno, I really do like. Find it absolutely fascinating, the degree to which your average person can be totally placated by a meaningless platitude.
First of all, “love yourself first” can be interpreted in various ways. bell hooks certainly meant it in a truly revolutionary, not a individualistic or distractive way.
What you describe sounds awfully much like how the boomer generation has approached live. For ever running away from personal problems by always keeping busy and distracting themselves. Sure, at least you are fighting fascism. A lot of leftists I know put all their energy into activism until they burn out. And often I suspect that they are running away from their own problems.
And sure, spending all your time with trying to self-love is obviously not the solution either. But it sure would help so much if people would reflect more upon their own emotional state and be more compassionate with themselves and others. This is not to say that we don’t need activism to stop fascists though.
Insisting that the first step must solve all your problems at once is how you fail to take a single step towards solving your problems.
The first step is to embrace the fact that we’re taking a long walk.
Sophistry
Enough masturbation could solve that
Can’t choke fascists if you’re in bed depressed.
“When I was a young man, I decided to focus on myself. So did everyone else my age. We became known as the ‘Me’ generation. For some reason, the sum of all our individualistic self-help didn’t change the world for the better. A bunch of people who didn’t give up several times did change the world though, go figure.”
What the fuck does self love have to do with political violence.
Political violence comes from the desire to change the world, but caring for yourself and others close to you will bring a more effective and worthwhile change than violence.
As long as violence isn’t being actively enacted on me and my loved ones, I agree. But otherwise, I don’t see how this defends against people with a strong will for power. Violence does exist, and right now the state has a monopoly on violence to defend the interests of a select few and they are not hesitant to use it.
Relevant Owlturd/Shencomix comic
deleted by creator
I was 19 when I realized my parents were raised to be authoritarians. My grandparents would’ve been considered racists even in their time and both my mom and dad were raised in a little farm town. My parents are good people and generally want to do the right thing but explaining this to them and trying to make them aware of their biases has been a full time job.
I will not show the same love and respect to your parents. Go do your jobs so we don’t need step 2.
-Luigi
Nah, you need to realize your loved ones, and everything else you love is in danger by fascism, then use the power of love towards those things to gain inspiration in your fight against fascism.
If you ask: “gamergate” and similar things are just temporary things, usually just distractions from how capitalism decays art and “geek culture”, and of course a recruitment tool. But in reality, you would be lucky, if you could play some state-sponsored games on your choice of platform, and would likely have to parttake in some “book burning type of event”.
q aint anywhere near c bro, how’d you do that
There never was a typo in Ba Sing Fe!
I dunno though… The power of love is a curious thing.
I’ve heard that it can cause some men to weep and others to sing.
this is a great post. i think people have trouble understanding that great acts of violence can be born out of love for humanity. there are people in society that are threats to humanity. those people cannot be saved by love. many powerful positions are only achievable by people who lack empathy.
many people also have a hard time understanding that goose and gander arguments only confuse simple truths. we are not all equal. just because you use the same tools that evil uses does not make you evil. evil will use those tools regardless of your morals. just because you choose the high road doesn’t mean that evil will do the same.
we have an obligation as wardens of this world to insure that we don’t destroy it. that might mean weeding out those of us that would do irreparable harm.
I’m a combat vet and like some others realize it was for a bunch of bullshit. I’m pretty leftist and personally am pretty anti violence because of my experiences.
That being said, some systems and people only speak one language. Trying to talk to them in “human respect” and “compromise” is like trying to talk to a Frenchman in Chinese - if the options are violence or getting steamrolled then it is what it is. 🤷
I’m fairly anti-violence but I know it’s inevitable.
The world has a lot of social issues, and it’s going to take a complete upheaval before people become capable of empathizing with each other again.
The thing is it’s actually not inevitable. I suggest you read “How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them,” which is about exactly what it says it’s about.
I’m not necessarily thinking about just civil wars, although that is what the meme is about.
People are divided in more ways than just political view points. There’s a growing inequality that could potentially lead to a revolution of sorts, if people are willing. I can think of a handful of other issues that might lead to similar outcomes.
I appreciate the recommendation though, I’ll try to give it a read at some point.
Modern civil wars look nothing like the American civil war. What you’re imagining is probably within the scope of the book.
As everyone who’s ever read 8-Bit Theater knows, love is in fact the most powerful force in the universe when focused into a coherent arcane energy beam of absolute magical destruction.
Peace is never an option with fascism
What a twist! Really had me on the edge of my seat!
Seems like the next logical step though
Super based.
Does it count as love if I love violence? 🤔
This nonviolent stuff’ll get you killed.
It’s important for two reasons
First to build support and legimize a cause. if politicians actually listen then the violence would not have been justified yet Exemplified by schools that divested from israel without calling in the cops first.
Second it is the only way a movement can grow mainstream before turning to violence.The Black Panthers got so many members because MLK did his non violent thing for years.
Some men, you just can’t reach
Source: Luigi
