What you just said is completely incoherent

Trans people probably don’t spend much time reading stuff describing why they are human and debunking arguments to the contrary so might not have such sources on the tip of the tongue.

That is like, half true. I’ve talked with people who are skeptical about aspects of trans experience or something, I’ve written essays about it. Usually people are just curious. In you post, there is just not much info that you have provided to debunk. Like do they actually think that a part of the population is not human? That is pretty far gone, I’m not sure there is anything to be done.

As others have noted in the comments, “bourgeois decadence” is simply absurd and not a marxist approach to organising. For the TERF point, they are aligned purely with right-wing groups, I don’t think the distinction between “actual old school feminist” and fash is relevant. When you are aligned with anti-communists in your goals, I think there is some major self-reflection to be done.

If you want to give up a habit you have to replace it with something else. Reading or arts have low barriers to entry

guy in your English class who loves David Foster Wallace

I know precisely who you are talking about. And I agree with your assessment, though I would say that sci-fi and fantasy still have a (mostly white) male appeal, even if considerably less than in the past. To me there are two sides to this: the grindset mentality devaluing fiction, as well as fiction becoming for video game-y / marvel-esque in order to compete for attention. I will need to think more about it, media politics is a dear topic of mine.

Your analysis is completely vibes based exceptionalist doomerism that presents Putin as this great magical glue that keeps Russia from collapsing any second. Do you hear yourself? It is no better than the Western propaganda that you refer to, which claim that Putin is personally responsible for every piece of the Russian social and economic fabric, writing every day that surely this time Russia will collapse if only Ukraine gets a billion more $ and drone strike Putin’s house. Consider that maybe Russia is more complicated than a constantly collapsing country held together purely by the will of a single autocrat. This is all I’m asking.

I feel like books are still incredibly male-centric. Like the front section of the Barnes and Nobles is usually “10 steps to DOMINATE everyone in your life”, “Manly WARRIORS of Saturn” and “Napoleon’s (ALPHA MALE) biography” or something like that. And I actually see people reading it on public transport or whatever. Of course it’s part of the grindset culture that you mentioned, I just don’t think it’s fair to say that men are completely absent from book culture. The grindset/video game culture spills over into the literature world.

thats some good bread

dating apps tend to attract a special type of men

Sometimes. I think each has its own culture/vibe but yeah, I think it’s hard to acclimate if you are not a club/bar person from the start.

Can you please chill with the dramatic doomerism about Russia.

getting affection post transition is a super cool feeling

real. not a big fan of a lot of cishet relationship posts on this forum lately

Made me think of how train tracks in cities are incredibly annoying, since they divide neighborhoods and cause a lot of noise to anyone living nearby.

macklemore collab

As Cowbee commented, depends what you/the group likes. Leftist is a broad topic. If the group is interested in geopolitics, works on imperialism would be more suited, for climate change - ecosocialism etc. There are a lot of ways to approach socialist thought. Also I would recommend picking works from post-2000 since the language and context is usually easier to understand.

For recommendations (apart from the basics that Cowbee has mentioned) I had success with “Talking to my daughter about the economy” by Yanis Varoufakis. As you can guess from the title, it is geared towards youth and goes through the really basic tenets of exploitation under capitalism in clear and modern language.

Angela Davis also has a collection of essays called “Freedom is a constant struggle”. It goes over a lot of topics, so I’ve found it very good as a discussion starter because people relate to it easily. She talks about abolition and connecting it to other struggled (Palestinian liberation for instance).

I would only suggest reading in a group if people don’t have time to read on their own. In a group you would only have time to read and discuss one chapter, so it kind of limits how much you can cover, but it does make it a bit more accessible. If you do read in a group and want to read out loud, make sure that every one is comfortable with it. Usually there would be one or two people who are not, so I we just all read silently. It goes faster that way too.

I’ve been running a book club for a while so feel free to ping me if you have any further questions.

Russia will collapse any day now, trust me

There is a similar thing in Belgium! Manifiesta

Pure doomerism.

Interestingly, GDR was getting quite progressive on lgbt issues around 1989. In the USSR, some gay rights groups were formed around the same time. The problem with perestroika and glasnost was that reactionary currents/topics/speech far outweighed any progressive movements.

Maybe a bit of both? I wouldn’t underestimate the reactionary ideology part though. After 1991, “traditional values” have firmly replaced socialism to explain why Russia is better than the west. Since the country was brutally transitioning to capitalism, there had to be an ideological reasoning for the suffering (blaming marginalized people of course). The Orthodox Church had a lot of influence on it, as well as patriarchal criminal gangs that were very prominent in the 90s and very connected to the ruling class. So it’s not like the people on top are disconnected from the reactionary elements, they came to power through them and continue to benefit from it.

Is there a part that doesn’t care? Maybe. There are quite a few oligarchs who have permanent residencies in europe, or send their kids to study there. But to me it is kinda like Republicans sending kids to Ivy League but then saying that they teach Marxism or something. Benefiting from privilege doesn’t necessarily mean than you’re not culturally conservative.