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The Iron's hot, what now? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 days ago by BarrelsBallot@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

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The US aggression against Iran has generated even more political fervor. This is something I've witnessed in my closest circles with a Mamdani-lib sibling of mine commenting that "North Korea's also never done anything" which was a shock to hear given some of our previous conversations.

My partner has made even more progress. They've almost completely flipped on many stances in regards to countries amongst the "axis of evil".

This has all led me to wonder: What's the best way to take advantage of the turmoil, and push temporary-baby-leftists to a more concrete position?

Thinking of something like the guide's Cowbee puts out but even more digestible for entry level -potential communists, really want to create lasting impressions that generate questions.

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[–] BarrelsBallot@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Many great answers on this post, including yours. I definitely share the frustration you've experience in trying to get other's to read basics. I think what I want to pursue is "content" with an emphasis on impression generation- since I can almost guarantee this type of media captures the most attention of contemporary audiences (think tiktok, instagram, YT shorts, <10 minute YT videos). None of these mediums are stand-ins for the tried and true, (books) but I'd go as far as to say that they're the best for provoking questions. Especially since most aren't willing to dedicate an hour or so to reading / watching some blowback pod episode.

Perhaps there's some merit in taking a Cowbee-style reading list and matching the themes with short form content (1 min videos, images, tweets) sort of akin to the pamphlets communists of the past would create for the less educated workers.

Regardless, thank you for sharing your thoughts-- 🙂

[–] TheRedWedge@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 3 days ago

I have ADHD and my own shame pile of half finished books so I empathize with how hard it can be to just sit down and read the damn theory. I definitely think you have a good basis with the idea of compiling short and impactful tiktok/insta/youtube content as a jumping board for delving deeper. In fact, the thing that pushed me to make the effort and start reading in my very own political journey was watching youtube videos in my lunch break that had a bibliography in the description and directly cited the works during the clip. These are significantly longer than what you are going for and I know he is guilty of his own fair share of cringe, but I give a lot of credit to Bad Empanada's videos on the historical link between the USian concept of Manifest Destiny and the Nazis' Lebensraum and the one on the invention of the modern concept of the white race on this. I distinctly remember watching him lay it out straight from the books and thinking to myself "damn this is crazy stuff I really need to read more".

In a way, the strategy I pursued above is simply emulating that experience with my friends when the opportunity arises, except that I play the part of the youtube video in real life and hope my analysis is good enough to prompt them to want to learn more for themselves.

Good luck in your endeavors, hopefully we both get some extra comrades out of this. I'm actually quite hopeful myself after hearing my friends independently question the narrative on Iran, it really feels like the world is slowly changing. Right now, as communists, we need to do our best to reach people who are willing to listen and help them get started on the path of liberating political education.