Am I Elitist?
Am I Elitist?
So I've found myself really having a lot of resentment building up recently against my fellow USian citizens. It's a very weird combination of genuine care + love for my working class future comrades, and serious anger with the way they think and behave.
I really want to avoid being the elitist intellectual asshole, but at the same time it is just so disgusting watching people not care about real issues, dismiss things, and just lack understanding or the effort to try. Just today I had a friend ask me sarcastically "so what's the news today, comrade?" and I responded with the Joe Biden story about how he's funding the fucking southern border wall. They acknowledged that it was bad for like 3 seconds and then said something along the lines of "Biden's going to do what he's gonna do, but I still get to go home and do X enjoyable thing tonight. We all woke up this morning. That's good news!" He then turned to my other friend and started talking about rep clothes they buy, like it didn't even phase him. Like he needed some distraction.
While I appreciate the sentiment as I've obviously been having a rough few months and he's trying to keep things positive, he has a long history of this even before my struggles. Constant disengagement with serious topics and overall apathy for making positive change. They all make fun of me for being educated on what's going on in the world and being a communist, as if either of those are bad things. They're frankly pretty ignorant when it comes to real world things. I'll reveal my age here (I probably already have anyways) but these are legal adults, granted some just turned 18 this year, doing this shit. And I don't know how to feel about it.
I should make a distinction here. I completely understand that many people's material reality prevents them from being educated on the matter or are simply too tired from being worked like a dog to develop critical thoughts + be exposed to good ideas about the system. But this is not the case with these idiots and most of my city at the moment. We are a relatively well off community with plenty of free time and are university-age. I constantly bring up absolutely abhorrent things that happen in society and they are just unaffected. They bathe in their relative privilege and can't understand that not everyone gets to just go home and play Minecraft under this system. They can't seem to demonstrate an understanding that things have real impacts on people's lives, because to them, status quo has been just fine under either/both party's rule.
The other day he talked about "I can't believe people have REAL BEEF over politics bro that's so crazy." I looked at him like he had 3 eyes while my blood boiled. This is how these people think. Like politics is some separate entity or a video game. I tried to explain that I'm not going to associate with someone who's blatantly racist or anti-LGBTQ+ and supports a party/system that has those mindsets.
Basically this ranty post is just asking what the fuck Americans who aren't politically aware think about, and how they do it? How do these people know the planet is being blown up for the sake of profit and do fuck all? Know that the global south is in unfathomable poverty because of us and not care? Know people IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY are in unfathomable poverty and go back to consumerist bullshit? Are they stupid? What the fuck are they thinking?
This is where you come in if you made it this far. Calm me down and let me know if I'm being elitist. Validate me in some way if I'm right in any way. I feel so surrounded by lunacy. Lunacy I tell you.
Sorry for typing so much lmao
You're viewing a single thread.
It's a coping mechanism on their part.
At some level they know that if they engage with politics like you do, and acknowledge and learn the things you learn, they'll end up like you. So they don't. They protect the narrative that lets them chill in ignorance, even if your talks with them make them aware that they're embracing self-deception. Why?
They can see how angry and frustrated you are, and how little there is you can do to change anything. And they don't want to give up the comfort of being dumb fucking liberals for that.
So thing is, you've got to be chill about your passions. No you're not elitist, you're angry and impassioned. Don't make being a communist look like the most frustrating miserable option available to an American. Lower your expectation of how much difference you'll individually make and let the pressure off. The reality is, where you are in the world, you can't do much more than educate and spread class consciousness, and trying to do more will sabotage your ability to do even that. Keep your cool when liberals open their mouths, ask questions that lead them to their contradictions.
Don't judge yourself as a communist by your results - you'll frustrate yourself. Judge yourself by the work you put in towards those results.
Don’t make being a communist look like the most frustrating miserable option available to an American.
I think I do that well. Most people around me probably think I’m mostly in it for the memes.
This sounds like a really good tip! I need to work on this myself.