Dealing with high-school pressure to conform?

[Soviético]

Hey comrades. First off I am new to RevLeft, so I'm not sure if this is the correct category to put this thread in, but I feel like it's a pretty close guess if not.

Anyways, I'm a senior in high school at the moment, and I'm stuck in a position where I get more and more frustrated every day. I currently have U.S. Govt. and Marketing, both classes that not only make out free-market capitalism to be one of the keys to freedom, but also - of course - make communism out to be a sham; an evil ideology that's killed millions. This is where I get irritated. You see, today was a perfect example: my govt. teacher said that we fought in Korea and Vietnam because of the infamous "threat of communism" and that we won both conflicts (yes, Vietnam too), but not without communism killing millions of innocent people in the process. She also jumped to the common conclusion that North Korea is a communist dictatorship (which, to me, is an oxymoron, because in communism there isn't one leader dominating all aspects of life like Kim Jong-un is). You see, I could easily point out why she's wrong (North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, etc. aren't truly communist by the Marxist definition) and why communism is my preferred system, or even my distaste for our country's imperialistic policies, but I don't bother because I know that everyone would think I'm an insane commie, "anti-American terrorist" or that I'm just bullshitting them. My classmates just recently went on a group-rant about why the rich shouldn't have to pay any taxes because every single one of them "earned their wealth" and the poor "brought it upon themselves to be in poverty." Next semester I have U.S. Economics, and I also have a feeling that college might not be much better, so this probably won't be a short-term issue. I'm sure it's not completely the teachers' faults; this is the curriculum they have to teach according to the federals. But every day I feel trapped more and more, and frustrated, and I have a feeling that one day I'm going to have some sort of freakish outburst because I'm so tired of hearing this propaganda that completely misrepresents the beliefs I'm the most passionate about.

Do any of you have any tips to help me overcome this, or at the very least be a little less irritated? Surely you've all gone through something like this before. Thanks. :unsure:

[RedWorker]

Well, it all comes down to one binary choice. You either tell them about you or you don't. If you choose the former, then you choose how you want to do it, e.g. just telling your opinion on specific issues. If you choose the latter, then it seems what you're asking here is how to not care about other people bullshitting. Here, nothing more than "just don't care" can be said.

Unfortunately, U.S. society seems to be almost totalitarian from what I hear. I don't live in it, and although I don't just go and start shouting "I'm a communist!", in such a situation as you describe I don't feel I need to hide anything at all (in most likelihood, people wouldn't even care). In fact, people similar to us are not rare at all here. I can't even conceive of how bad it would feel if I felt I needed to hide myself like that.

[Anarchisteve]

...we won both conflicts (yes, Vietnam too)

Although the US didn't achieve its' ultimate goals in the Vietnam war, it did prevent the country from having any possibility of being a model of development to other countries in the region. American casualties were somewhere in the region of 60,000-70,000 (IIRC), while Vietnamese casualties range from about 1-4 million. Vietnam was also sprayed with the carcinogenic herbicide Agent Orange, which is causing increased rates of cancer in the country today, and left the ecosystem in ruins.

Sorry to drag the thread off-topic, I just thought that was worth considering.

[Soviético]

Well, it all comes down to one binary choice. You either tell them about you or you don't. If you choose the former, then you choose how you want to do it, e.g. just telling your opinion on specific issues. If you choose the latter, then it seems what you're asking here is how to not care about other people bullshitting. Here, nothing more than "just don't care" can be said.

Unfortunately, U.S. society seems to be almost totalitarian from what I hear. I don't live in it, and although I don't just go and start shouting "I'm a communist!", in such a situation as you describe I don't feel I need to hide anything at all (in most likelihood, people wouldn't even care). In fact, people similar to us are not rare at all here. I can't even conceive of how bad it would feel if I felt I needed to hide myself like that.
You know what? You are actually right, RedWorker. Even if people oppose my beliefs or find them stupid, etc. it will only help me learn to defend them even better. I guess something I shouldn't have left out in the original post is that a huge fear of mine is telling my dad I'm a communist and managing to not get trampled in a debate (he's a really intelligent guy who usually wins in arguments). Having been born in the aftermath of the Red Scare he's a lifelong supporter of the Republican party and has said on multiple occasions that capitalism is the best system. I really just need to figure out how I'm supposed to go about convincing him communism isn't just some evil, overregulated system like he thinks it is. Maybe study up on the common arguments against communism and how to defend against them? :unsure:

[RedWorker]

Really intelligent or just has mastered Schopenhauer's 38? ;)

[Kubehiz]

Your situation doesn't sound too dissimilar to mine. My father was an actuary, and almost the embodiment of a noeconservative, hates anything that is even slightly leftist. He is also an absolutely avid supporter of my countries Prime Minister (Abbott), with the pièce de résistance of being a climate change denier. He is an incredibly smart man as well, although incredibly deluded. The Australian curriculum was similarly warped on things like historiography and modern history, with its representation of Marxism, the Cold War and Bolshevik Revolution. The only thing I have found to help is to not be afraid of others judging you, and being able to stand your ground. In reality, almost everyone who I have encountered who directly opposes Marxism has never read a shred of it, falling back on Cold War propaganda and pathetic platitudes. Challenging others preconceptions about your ideology is handy for mutual development (provided they aren't bullheaded) in my opinion. Potentially find others who are also in a like mind, they may not be radical or revolutionary, but maybe slightly consoling.

[adipocere12]

I generally try to avoid using words like Communism because people's ideas of what it is is pretty far from reality. Quite often, when I describe aspects of it, in particular worker self management, I get a lot of support. I don't hear the kids yelling at Valve Games for being evil communists for believing in horizontal organisation.

[Rafiq]

You're taking it too seriously. Teachers dont care about you senior year. As a matter of fact I barely showed up to classes a lot of the time.

Your problem isn't any of the direct, isolated ideas about Communism they are telling you. it's a matter of legitimacy. They can be saying something as stupid and groundless as Stalin ate old women every night and it would still have the same effect on you. It's the fact that an expression of the state apparatus, the harbingers and carriers of "official truth" are telling you this.

If you want to think about it like this, remember that all attempts at industrialization resulted in mass death. Its just the Russians and Chinese didn't conveniently have colonies to take the load for them. The Bengal famines, the Irish potato famine, the Native American genocide, and so on are simply remembered as "accidents".

My advice? If it's you're senior year, relax. Don't even argue with the teacher. It's not worth it, you will accomplish nothing and your classmates don't give a shit.