Samz

#15DaysofFatT day ten: READ THE ROOM (Ibex) #friendsatthetable @15DaysofFatT

I feel like there's a way to have something that genuinely looks and acts like socialism (or, I should say, like socialism ought to) that's also genuinely compatible with mainstream American culture

Basically, I think the way to do this is to excise 100% of the jargon, visual symbolism, incomprehensible Continental philosophy, claims about historical inevitability, etc. etc. that has accrued to the concept of "socialism" and reduce it to basic, easy to express and understand principles like:

• We should transfer wealth and power from those who have too much to those who don't have enough
• Everyone should be guaranteed a basically adequate standard of living
• Workers should own the companies they work for
• Political decisions should be made collectively by regular people, not by wealthy elites

and once you've done that, you're left with something that's not just pretty much fully compatible, but actually even identifiable with mainstream American ideals like personal liberty and individualism and civil society

Because now you have a situation where average people will be freer to express their individuality and join in civil society, since they no longer have to degrade themselves all day to "just get by." The only freedom it would really curtail would be the freedom to get extremely rich, which seems like, uh, an acceptable loss

And when it's reduced to these principles, it doesn't require some massive dehumanizing state bureaucracy either - just a way to systematically take in wealth from the rich and spread it around, and probably some watchdogs making sure that no one's out there defrauding the workers of their rightful share of the places they work. It'd probably be way less of a bureaucratic thicket than what we currently have in place to (mediocrely) regulate business and support the welfare state

Something like this wouldn't even have to be framed as "socialism" at all, which is after all tainted by the Cold War and easily "other"-able by the American right. You could call it, I dunno...normal-person-ism. Which is after all basically what it is

Very specifically the part about dropping the technical terms. Use small words. Explain very clearly what you mean in complete sentences. Don't even call yourself a communist, or feminist, or whatever the frick else, because everyone you will ever talk to has already formed Opinions about those Words.

The phrase "I think everyone should be treated fairly" is something no one will argue against, and you need to start talking like that when you're trying to convince those who aren't on Your Side yet

don't mistake anger and motivation for eachother, and don't mistake someone else's calmness for apathy. anger isn't inherently a morally good quality nor a requisite for being revolutionary or demanding change.

all too often i see people, intentionally or not, just using that as an excuse to take our their anger at the system on their peers and friends. then getting burned out to a crisp, or pacified as soon as things get better for them personally, or getting avoided by the people they've just hurt along the way.

you cannot be viscerally angry forever, you have to have more than in-the-moment hate and frustration driving you and your politics.