self-fulfilling prophecy

evolving political views of a working class white woman from the rural Midwest (USA).

[selffulfillingprophet]

Why a General Strike in the US Right Now is a Horrible Idea

Some so called leftists are calling for a general strike right now. I would have loved if they had been organizing and mobilizing for this years ago. But right now is probably the worst time to suddenly do this.

Capitalism is accelerating like a mofo thanks to the coronavirus and will likely implode on itself if we sit back and wait this out a while. 

Right now, there are still too many middle class people who have jobs working remotely and living pretty comfortably. Things are still not bad enough to radicalize a large number of Americans to the degree we need for real change.

Because direct action is NOT easy. It takes a shit ton of sacrifice and solidarity that I honestly don't think most Americans are ready for. It may seem so if you are in a leftist online bubble, but if you talk to regular non-political people, there isn't that radical potential yet. 

Things are bad, but not bad enough to risk losing their jobs or homes or to risk police brutality and jail. Because that is essentially what we are going to have to be willing to risk for this to work. 

And lets talk about coronavirus. Some youtubers are saying we need to get in the streets right now. How is that not a terrible idea? Our medical system is overwhelmed. Poor people and minorities are getting hit disproportionately by this health crisis with limited healthcare and testing in their communities compounded by many trauma/poverty related pre-existing conditions. Organizing in the streets right now will only accelerate the spread of this virus and the most vulnerable people are going to pay for it. 

How will the general public and the working class view this movement if they see it increase the problems they are currently facing because of coronavirus? 

Beyond this, if a radical movement happens but dies out like Occupy, while making the economy worse in the process, the movement and the left will be blamed for all the economic woes, when those economic woes would have happened anyway. 

The media will spin it in a way that will make the general public more prone to right wing views or even fascism. 

However, if we just wait it out a while (at least a few more months) and let capitalism do what it does best (fail!), it will be a lot easier for those who are currently comfy middle class Americans and far from radical to see that capitalism is the problem. And that will help our cause far more in the long run.

[selffulfillingprophet]

what the dirtbag left gets wrong about identity politics

“Our people may be British, but our cows are Irish.” 

Those were the words of Ian Paisley, the loyalist politician from Northern Ireland during the mad cow scare in the UK.

Loyalists in Northern Ireland will die just to have the right to fly the Union Jack and call themselves British, but when it starts to affect their bottom line, they often change their tune really quickly.

Materialism always underlies identity politics. Always.

People will hold onto their identity if there is a material, economic reason to do so. Give them a material, economic reason not to and they will reconsider who they are and why it even matters.

The loyalists in Northern Ireland hold onto that identity because they benefited materially from a constructed privilege created by colonialism for so long. And no system or ideology gives them hope for something better.

When a group is losing economic privilege, their natural instinct is to become reactionary - to long for a times in the past that were better for them, even if those times were horrible for other groups.

People almost always fight for their own class interests instinctively.

The nationalists hold onto their identity because they understand the material reality of being from an indiginous Irish family - experiencing the generational consequences of their ancestor’s oppression as well as the remaining structural inequality.

They can be reactionary, but it’s much more likely for nationalists to have forward thinking views. They are more likely to be socialist and hold many other left-wing political positions.

Why is this?

Because they know no system in the recent past has served people like them. They have no stories of economic success passed down from their well-to-do great grandparents to think about. Without those memories of “the good life,” it’s easier to be critical of the current system and open minded about radically changing society.

The same goes for the identity politics of America.

The most vocal racists/xenophobes these days in the US are from petty bourgeoisie backgrounds. These are the farmers and small business owners who have slowly been losing ground for generations due to the consolidation of global capitalism. They long for a time when they not only had more economic security, but they also had economic independence. 

Since the past served them and their class well, they become reactionary, longing for the past, even if women and minorities had it worse back then.

You will not gain their support by promising socialist policies. They don’t want socialism. They want their glory returned to them: the unearned economic benefits of being a white male capitalist in a world that perpetuates the myth that white male capitalists earn their money solely from hard work and resourcefulness.

In contrast to this, most of the working class today are from the least privileged backgrounds. The lowest paid working class workers have the most to gain from changing society and are the least likely to hold reactionary views. Even if they do, those views are flimsy and easily changed if there is an economic incentive to let go of those views. 

Even more, statistics show that most of the working class in the US are actually minorities and women. This is not an accident. This is how capitalism works.

If you are catering to racists/sexists in the hope of gaining support of some mythical white male working class voter who hates minorities more than their economic interests, or who actually thinks that minorities threaten their economic interests, you need to get out more and actually talk to the working class. 

The reality is that dirtbag left in the US is so petty bourgeois and PMC that they don’t even know who the working class is. 

They are throwing the identity-related concerns of the actual working class (who have the most left wing revolutionary potential) under the bus for a type of “Strasserism” that caters to the white male petty bourgeoisie. 

They are pandering to the same type of people who historically have always chosen to burn down their own business and farms instead of embracing collectivization. The same type of people who murdered working class people like me for simply asking for a little bread and equality. 

By the way, most of the people in the dirtbag left are these same white male petty bourgeois. The kind of people who turn on the working class, historically, because they will lose power and wealth in a transition to socialism. It’s not in their class interest to move beyond the most weak social democracy. So good luck with that “socialist” movement. You are going to need it. 

[selffulfillingprophet]

climate change is real, ya’ll

If you liberal motherfuckers don’t stop framing global warming as an issue of understanding science, we are all gonna die.

Telling people they are stupid is the stupidest persuasive method ever.

There are five bazillion ways to reduce global warming. You can frame those bazillion ways in an appealing manner that would entice the most conservative of voters.

Don’t like Muslims? Stick it to them by not buying their goddamn oil. 

Don’t like wasting money? Use renewables.

Love America and the flag? Energy independence awaits with solar power and like, some buses.

Coal is killing miners with black lung. Let’s finance some green unionized jobs in Appalachia.

But I’m pretty sure the Democrats don’t give a shit about global warming or they would have tried this method by now.

[selffulfillingprophet]

sex work is not work. seriously. it’s not work. stop. just stop.

There are interesting contradictions within leftist and feminist circles these days.

Sex involving coercion is rape.

Sex without enthusiastic consent is rape.

A healthcare professional such as a psychologist cannot have consensual sex with a patient due to the power differential. And sex between these two is rape.

But when a working-class woman, who is inherently oppressed within patriarchal and capitalist power structures, agrees to have sex for money, the coercion or power differential doesn't matter. She is not raped. She is empowered, somehow.

As Noam Chomsky has argued, consent can be manufactured by those in power in democratic and capitalist countries.

Capitalists argue that workers have a right to opt out of unions. Using doublespeak, they call this the "right to work."

But these same capitalists have the power to manufacture the consent of those workers through propaganda. This is why so many working-class people vote in support of anti-worker candidates and policies.

Are we treating these workers as children if we recognize the power structures that impacted their decision to give consent to exploitation?

Are we anti-worker if we fight against right-to-work laws?

No.

And no leftist in their right mind would call these workers empowered when they vote for Republicans or opt out of joining a union.

Yet those same leftists will fight for a woman's "right" to sell sex to men. They will tell you that people who support Nordic Model legislation are doing so because they hate prostitutes. And they you that as long as a prostitute believes she isn’t exploited, then we have no business being concerned with her possible exploitation.

They ignore the powerful media images and cultural propaganda that groom women to see themselves as sex objects. This same propaganda teaches men that experiencing a woman's submission through sexual acts encapsulates masculinity and status.

When sex-buyers are studied, we find that most men who buy sex already have access to consensual sex with their wives, girlfriends, women on tender, etc, etc, etc. This is not what they want. They want unfettered access to a body that lacks agency to say no. They want to participate in sexual abuse without consequence. This is what prostitution is about. It's not about sexual pleasure. It’s not the opposite of prudish or religious moralism about sex. It is an act of domination. A sick symptom of patriarchy and capitalism.

It is not empowering. It is rape. And just as we shouldn't support a worker's right to dismantle workers movements by opting out of unionization, leftists shouldn't support prostitution as a legitimate expression of female empowerment.

[selffulfillingprophet]

It’s interesting how many people are cool talking shit about special needs people and illegal immigrants to people they barely know. I guess not appearing disabled and being white AF makes them feel like I’m one of them. One day I will get the courage to tell them that my kid has ASD and my dad was an illegal immigrant for half his life.

[selffulfillingprophet]

Those Bernie Bros, Dontchaknow

When Obama won not one, but two elections, I don't recall Republicans rushing to point blame at the Tea Party or Libertarians or other conservative factions.  Yet Democrats are still complaining about Ralph Nader (ya'll that was 17 years ago) while piling on more alienating, gas-lighting complaints about every left of center person who runs for President AND their voters. Complain all you want about candidates, but alienating voters is not a good strategy. It didn't help Gore win. It didn't help Kerry win. It didn't help Hillary win against the least qualified candidate in recent memory. It didn't help Democrats take over Congress. Maybe I was out of the loop, but I don't remember any "spoilers" or potential spoilers during 2008 and 2012. Most people don’t even remember the Green Party candidate who ran in 2008 and no one talked about Jill Stein in 2012. Perhaps because there was a Democratic candidate that knew how to mobilize voters who otherwise would sit home? What a revolutionary tactic. Every time I read a post or article blaming Bernie Sanders or a third party candidate (and especially, their voters) for Trump, I inch further toward never voting Democratic again. And I have been a registered Democrat who voted straight down the ballot Democratic at every election since I turned 18. I am no longer registered as a Democrat, and the possibility of voting for one again has gone down quite rapidly in the last year, thanks to the Democrat officials and many of their outspoken voters who are cool with party corruption because, you know, Russia (I guess?). Think whatever you want about me. This is a democracy and frankly, telling people that they can’t vote for anyone other than a corporate driven candidate for a corporate owned party is anti-democratic.

Be smug and blame me for election results and conservative policies as I vote for whoeverthehell I want. I’m cool with it. As are a shit ton of other former Democrats who have been pushed out of the party. And regardless of whether we hold some blame or not, at the end of the day, YOU are the person who wants more Democratic votes.

You can continue to gas-light people for their vote in a previous election, demand anyone who isn’t center/center-right to just fall in line, and post on social media about how Ralph Nader, a person who has literally saved millions of lives, somehow ruined the world in November 2000. Or you can look at yourself and your party, owning what you did and didn’t do, and taking real action to mobilize voters. The former has been working out well for you, no?

[selffulfillingprophet]

whitey

There are a shit ton of white people in this country who, overall, have good intentions. Consciously, they don’t see themselves as better than others based on their skin color. They believe in racial equality. But subconsciously, they also hold some racist views due to living in a racist culture, they often lack close relationships with non-white people and non-Christians, and they don’t have an intellectual understanding of racism and privilege. With the right information, circumstances, and propaganda, these people can easily move in either direction: toward outright white supremacy or sharp anti-racism and white self crit. Which way are our tactics moving these people?

[selffulfillingprophet]

an observation for the american left

gerry adams 1972: low key terrorist.

~lives through 68 years of anti-catholic bigotry and institutional discrimination, 45+ years of leftist political and activist experience, with 30 years of political violence in his city~

gerry adams/sinn fein 2017: telling their followers to be polite, don’t swear, and avoid negative confrontations online.

[selffulfillingprophet]

What if there was a viral video of a black woman celebrating her “Trump phone?” Since Obama never even started that program, but had it attributed to him....why can’t Trump get the credit now? And how would that make his reactionary racist authoritarian supporters feel about him?

[selffulfillingprophet]

I discovered that if a government brutally repressed nonviolent left-wing protesters, participants indicated they would become significantly less authoritarian. If inducing left-wing protesters to become violent is the 'Nixon trap,' inducing a government to use violence against nonviolent protesters can be called the 'Gandhi trap.'

Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter

[selffulfillingprophet]

cash me outside, patriarchy, how bout that

I heard that there were zero arrests during the Women’s Marches. At first this made me excited about the possibilities of organizing women for all types of political change, but then it hit me that there could be several other things going on:

1. Benevolent sexism among police.

2. The march was primarily made of Bougie women who have no reason to cause much of a ruckus because the status quo is still pretty good to them.

3. Women just aren’t a threat to the patriarchy, the US government, and global capitalism (or the powers that be see it that way). 

On another note, today was a bit wonky at work. We have someone “pay it forward” every once in a while, paying for a stranger’s meal anonymously. Maybe a few times a month. Today it happened like five or more times. At the same time, I had multiple complainy pants type customers, which are rare for me as well. We had one ask for a manager which rarely happens. We were not making mistakes or doing anything differently that would warrant complaints. And then I got one of the nicest tables I’ve ever had, and it was two furries. Then received one of the largest tips ever from another table. So shit is weird, ya’ll. 

[selffulfillingprophet]

I side 94% with Bernie Sanders https://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidential-quiz?from=HZxVh8Mmf

[selffulfillingprophet]

sexism

I have never told my son that he should never hit a girl. And I never will. PEOPLE should not hit PEOPLE unless it is in self defense. And then the intent should not be to harm but to keep yourself from harm. Period. Making an exception for women is part of the patriarchal mindset that causes violence against women in the first place. 

[selffulfillingprophet]

story of my life.

[selffulfillingprophet]

i ain’t got no cigarettes

It’s been two years now since I quit smoking. I still get cravings nearly every day, but at least they are not unbearable. The good news is that I no longer fear getting a terminal illness as much. Because once I do, Imma gonna smoke the hell out of some cigarettes because what will I have to lose at that point. And it makes the cravings easier to deal with because one day I may be able to smoke again!

[selffulfillingprophet]

religion of peace

Christianity is no better than Islam in the violence department in the grand scheme of things. The main redeeming quality of Christianity is that humanism has sufficiently infiltrated it in western society. Stop deluding yourselves, white peeps.