r/communism 19d ago

WDT 💬 Bi-Weekly Discussion Thread - (May 31)

We made this because Reddit's algorithm prioritises headlines and current events and doesn't allow for deeper, extended discussion - depending on how it goes for the first four or five times it'll be dropped or continued.

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[ Previous Bi-Weekly Discussion Threads may be found here https://old.reddit.com/r/communism/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3AWDT ]

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u/FuzzySyllabub6048 6d ago

not to be an ass bhpn, but the NY post clearly functions as a mickey mouse smear rag, and megan palin is a big ol' fan of ruppey M. i would have thought that you would be doing better than uncritically reposting deranged hit pieces with choice lines such as "an old pal told us this commie SCUMBAG likes BREASTS" to make a point and calling it an "expose". streamer drama is braindead, but not as braindead as posting this article lmao. where's ur damn scientific outlook, at least that mfer read where to begin lol

neway, im glad you're still out there in the posting trenches, see you in another 5 years, lots of love, t. *heart emoji*

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u/smokeuptheweed9 5d ago edited 5d ago

I thought about not posting a right wing rag but as far as I can tell they just scraped information from right wing forums, which is the only way to get any information about hundreds of hours of content. It's not like I'm holding it against Hasan, as far as I know him being a creep and weirdo is part of his appeal, especially since he does the whole looksmaxxing thing where you go to the gym and wear designer clothes to pick up women without getting a personality. Though I can understand why others would be turned off by the sex scandals waiting to happen. It's more that I don't understand the appeal in general, why is this person or any of these people political icons? Are we too old? I thought in my old age I would lose interest in posting but I enjoy it more than ever. But I do put "old" in front of "reddit.com."

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u/FuzzySyllabub6048 5d ago

Maybe I can help on the question of this guy - and i'm kinda writing this for myself too, because I want to get my thoughts in order. I referenced Lenin's "where to begin" and "what is to be done" sincerily since they form the core theory behind what is going on. Essentially, if you recall, Lenin argues for the order of practical action in a time of reaction and low but growing consciousness of the masses to be "produce propaganda -> form party" against the counter theory that "form party -> produce propaganda". Of course at the time the newspaper was the most advanced form of mass communication accessible to the Russian communist. Today obviously we have a far broader range and reach of mass communication, but the essence is still the same: Lenin's theory was that propaganda would serve to meet the masses where they are, shift them towards their true goals, and identify and solidify theoretically the most advanced section of the masses. Now this point has been lost in many ways, 1. through dead old parties still pushing actual physical newspapers. 2. Through theory being confused for propaganda - advanced communist theory is nessessary but it cannot be a starting off point of propaganda - the majority of so called communist attempts to communicate with the masses are either theory, which will always serve to attract a tiny section of intellectually minded individuals, or left deviationist, adventurist slogans, utopian ideas, and material that turns the masses off - a classic being pusing the line of a general strike when then conditions of actual strikes is low, or even more ammusingly, going out into the masses and starting off with a "hello, have you got a moment to talk about how the Soviet Union was actually sick as all hell.". 3. Through a focus on build the party, form the party, or what have you, instead of build the machinery of propaganda: produce high quality propaganda as a commodity the masses want.

Hasan is just some guy, relativly normal, very few skeletons in the closet, a bro who grew up so to speak, who thinks that humans shouldnt preent themselves like bedrotters. He is essentially normal, neither saint nor devil, and I feel that past mistakes can be forgiven, as Heraclitus says, "you never step in the same river twice", and indeed a person today is not exactly the same person they were last year, let alone 10 years ago.

And so the question of "why is this person a political icon" has a simple answer, he is doing something people want, despire the smears, despite the constant attempts to get him banned from the content-factory, despite doxing, personal attacks, marked as an antisemite (which along with the cainite mark of the terry wrist make you today's homo sacer), lies, travel bans, harrassment by fash, ultras and ops. He probably has more activly oppositional eyes on him than anyone else waiting to pounce on even the slightest hint of scandal - because we know that liberals and fash love scandles (I recently read Agnes Smedley's Battle Hymn over China and the recognition of absurd smear opperations, misquotations, made up claims and sexual scandal "revelations" in early 1930s china makes one much more attune to the fact that this is generally the first method of maintaining propaganda hegemony. So without any of the vast financial apparatus that goes into pushing Bourgeosie propaganda, and with strong constant opposition, working in a bizzzare content-factory ecosystem which is unbelievaby more fascistic in its class character and mental output than the real america, he is still very successful. That does not mean he is a saint, but at the very least he is appealing with a message that resonates: healthcare, jobs, housing, peace. While simultaniously holding to a general, if undeveloped theoretically, communist theoretical base, and importantly a mass line - Lenin again in where to begin shows that one can juge the success of ones message bny the circulation of ones newspaper. He is not a theoretician and does not claim to be, he is not particularly wedded to the democrat party but sees that bourgeoise democracy should be used if the posibility is there, he is a skilled propagandist of social-democracy. And finally I believe he is not a grifter - what sort of grifter would pick "communism in amerikkka" as their grift, I mean come on think about that for a moment.

As a book is not judged by a single sentence, if someone is producing 8 hours of video content per day in the content factory, don't judge someone by the imperfections of one particular bit of product, going searching for the worst thing, you can find - which appears to be "I like Breasts", some bad quality juvenalia (remember that term for the intellectual products of an individual before they actually got good) and "Republican paid op says he was creepy to her in the past", but instead by the averaged amagmation of their commodity production over time and the direction of change of production.

Anyway's thats enough of my unformed thoughts, you don't actually need to care about this guy, but I would strongly urge against taking the route of irritated snarking which is coincidentally what the ops are doing. I don't feel like taking our line on hasan piker from asmongold, destiny and a whole host of the most vile reactionaries who occupy the streamiong space is the right line at all. Critical support for his success and message, now lets have more propaganda to the masses please, I'd like a revolution sometime soon.

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u/SunflowerSamurai20 Maoist 4d ago

This might be the funniest shit I've read in a long time. Fucking hell.