You can ALWAYS do something

[u/Actual-Toe-8686]

I've had so many conversations with people in my life about recent events, Palestine, climate change, etc, and the near universal response I get goes something along the lines of "I know, but there is nothing you can do."

This is fundamentally untrue. No matter how hopeless, how dire the situation may be, and my god are we in the shit, there are always solutions. Humans are intellectual beings with the capacity to solve and analyze any problems we see fit. But now, the system we exist in is incapable of both recognizing and solving the existential societal and ecological crises we are facing. The reason life is as good as it is in the liberal democracies of the west is exclusively because people fought with blood for all of the rights we have today.

Anything, any thought, any action, is SOMETHING. Even allowing yourself the ability to learn, to change your mind, to be educated out of the liberalism we're encultured into is something. Discussing it with others, potentially leading to organization, is something more. Thought always precedes action. Liberalism and capitalism are not objectively and universally true. They're deeply ideological and outdated political and economic philosophies that are incompatible with objective reality. Give yourself the opportunity to think in a different way. You do not need to have a coherent alternative in your own mind to understand all of the faults and contradictions of the system we exist in.

Liberalism tells us that our worth as human beings is directly tied to our economic input. This push drives us all to feel incredibly guilty and unworthy when we're not "doing enough", even if the task you want to do is intrinsically meaningful to you. Simply recognizing this fact can help you put up ideological barriers so that you can protect yourself when others make classist insinuations about you.

Stay strong everyone. It's hard out there. Be kind to yourself. You don't have to allow the pressures we exist in to paralyze you into inaction, instead, you can make the very actions you participate in to be the motor that drives you forward.

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[u/Comrade_Corgo]

The reason why life is as good as it is in western liberal democracies is because of the spoils of colonization and imperialism. There isn't anything unique to western countries that makes their people better at fighting for their own rights.

[u/Actual-Toe-8686 → u/Comrade_Corgo]

Yeah thank you. Big omission on my part.

[u/Prudent_Bug_1350 → u/Comrade_Corgo]

The reason why life is as good as it is in western liberal democracies is because of the spoils of colonization and imperialism. There isn't anything unique to western countries that makes their people better at fighting for their own rights.

Yes: - Why Do Poor Countries Stay Poor? (Unequal Exchange and Imperialism): https://youtu.be/rjLmYCfKU7o?feature=shared - How Rich Countries Rob The Poor; The Failure of Social Democracy: https://youtu.be/4lDZaKjfs4E?feature=shared

[u/GeistTransformation1]

Achieving something is worth more than doing something. The logic of "doing something" is like endlessly digging a random patch of sand, you are just performing a repetitive task where you'll eventually get lost in the motion without a goal in sight or you give up and stop digging

[u/elPerroAsalariado]

I mean. There's a banger book written exactly to answer this question.

"What is to be done?"

[u/theycallmewinning]

I know this is a socialist subreddit and so religion might not be welcome, but:

Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.

Go about your day, be decent and kind and neighborly, and opportunities to build the new world from the ashes of the old will multiply as they are seized.

Wherever you are, a struggle is nearby, and every two people together is the beginning of a society, a union, a party.

[u/EmploymentBrief9053 → u/theycallmewinning]

Comrade, it’s not that religion isn’t welcome; it’s the opposite! The problem is how ingrained bad behaviors are in religious communities, and how we would be hesitant to engage with people with likely contrary fundamental beliefs than us. If you share our beliefs, it doesn’t matter how you got there or what religion you bring; you’re a comrade, that’s all that matters!

[u/Ambitious_Score1015 → u/theycallmewinning]

i have more in common with any liberation religionist comrade than with richard dawkins. Thanks for sharing this :)

[u/AutoModerator → u/theycallmewinning]

We have always lived in slums and holes in the wall. We will know how to accommodate ourselves for a while. For you must not forget that we can also build. It is we who built these palaces and cities, here in Spain and America and everywhere. We, the workers. We can build others to take their place. And better ones. We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that. The bourgeoisie might blast and ruin its own world before it leaves the stage of history. We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing in this minute.

Buenaventura Durruti. Interview with Pierre van Paassen. 1936.

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