Can’t deprogram people if people who need deprogramming never show up. Those same listeners who think China is “authoritarian state capitalist” are going to find themselves reading comments like the one in the above-linked thread and interacting with people from communities like ours, and they’ll be receptive to those people because they’ll see them as fellow members of the Deprogram Community and not as Tankies. If and when they discover that they’re sharing community with MLs, they will have some personal contradictions to resolve about the values overlap.
It is evident that he is very conscious of what he is doing and why, clearly his views are nowhere near as ambiguous as some of his or the Deprogram’s content would superficially suggest, and he explains that he purposely takes a more subtle approach in order to be able to break step-by-step through the anti-communist indoctrination that so many people have.
And it is also clear that their content, even the more “advanced” stuff that goes beyong the socialism 101 videos that JT himself does on his main channel, is not really trying to “preach to the choir” as it were, i.e. it’s not just for those of us who are already firmly in the Marxist-Leninist camp but tries to reach a broader audience. I just think that even if there still needs to be some hand-holding when it comes to getting people not to be afraid of communism, as far as the topic of Russia and China goes the conflict that is brewing in the world today is too important, its implications and potential dangers too great to continue fencesitting.
An anti-war movement urgently needs to be built up in the West, and you cannot credibly oppose war, sanctions, etc. so long as you still allow people to go on believing that Ukraine is “just defending itself”, or that China is somehow mistreating its people. That opens the door to justifications for war no matter how much you insist that you are against war.
Can’t deprogram people if people who need deprogramming never show up. Those same listeners who think China is “authoritarian state capitalist” are going to find themselves reading comments like the one in the above-linked thread and interacting with people from communities like ours, and they’ll be receptive to those people because they’ll see them as fellow members of the Deprogram Community and not as Tankies. If and when they discover that they’re sharing community with MLs, they will have some personal contradictions to resolve about the values overlap.
👏 👏 👏
By the way, this interview with JT showcases how he actually thinks about these things: https://www.youtube.com/live/GwgR4Q-rBpc
It is evident that he is very conscious of what he is doing and why, clearly his views are nowhere near as ambiguous as some of his or the Deprogram’s content would superficially suggest, and he explains that he purposely takes a more subtle approach in order to be able to break step-by-step through the anti-communist indoctrination that so many people have.
And it is also clear that their content, even the more “advanced” stuff that goes beyong the socialism 101 videos that JT himself does on his main channel, is not really trying to “preach to the choir” as it were, i.e. it’s not just for those of us who are already firmly in the Marxist-Leninist camp but tries to reach a broader audience. I just think that even if there still needs to be some hand-holding when it comes to getting people not to be afraid of communism, as far as the topic of Russia and China goes the conflict that is brewing in the world today is too important, its implications and potential dangers too great to continue fencesitting.
An anti-war movement urgently needs to be built up in the West, and you cannot credibly oppose war, sanctions, etc. so long as you still allow people to go on believing that Ukraine is “just defending itself”, or that China is somehow mistreating its people. That opens the door to justifications for war no matter how much you insist that you are against war.