Has Being a Leftist Consumed Your Life?

[Clarksist]

I'm pretty sure this should go in here. If not, I am deeply sorry.

Anyways, I was sitting down thinking about you know communism and dialectical materialism and what not. And then I realized as I stared down at my black shirt which I hand-painted the hammer & syckle on... being a Leftist has permeated to every part of my life.

Now most capitalists don't think about capitalism 24/7 (although I realize capitalism is a BIG part of anyone's life in a capitalist society). But I find myself thinking about Communism all the time. Not just that, but when I see stuff on tv I almost always relate it directly to my Leftist beliefs.

I often critically think about if I have much in common with the "greats" of communism (i.e. Trotsky, Lenin, etc.). I often goto www.marx.org to read some literature, and almost every project I do in school I directly correlate with my Communist ideals. Not only that, but the other day my mom interupted me from just sitting around thinking about Communism... but I had been sitting there thinking for 45 minutes! My girlfriend is really supportive of my "condition", and is actually fascinated by my beliefs, as are my friends... but I'm worried about getting them sick of it all because I think about it so much.

I was wondering if I am the only person who does this, or if many to most people here have this happening. If not, is this a bad thing?

[Raisa]

Well shit man!

Check this out. Society is very influenced by economics....we know that...its a pretty logical and marxist concept, and society is full of capitalistic shit. If you were just complicit with the system then you wouldnt think about capitalism because you would just call it life, like alot of people do.

But as a communist you dont, you call it wrong and you notice alot of things because you dont just consider it life.You got a revolutionary perspective, you have a better standard to compare it to.


You just got to look out for what people's tolerance level with any subject is. Dont talk too much. Eventually people dont even hear you anymore and your words are just out there like whores. Find quick simple ways to make your point and even if someone is super interested in what youre saying, make sure you dont talk too long without hearing them say something to make sure it is still a conversation, because people learn and stay very interested with conversations.


If you really believe in something it should permeate into your life. Alot of people dont have alot to believe in really. Alot of people have love and it sure permeates their whole life and is all they talk about, other people its all about getting some ass. Everyone has something to live for, for you it is liberation...keep it real man!

[EneME]

It has consumed mine for many reasons, but mostly because I'm second generation leftist. I am a born and bred lefty. Been watching, talking, listening, and seeing leftist activity/information my entire life. I eventually got tired of it as a teenager, but I have come full circle,and am even stronger in my beliefs.

It has always been a fact, as my gender and my skin color are facts, but I've always kept it to myself because I know people will not understand. I've kept it quietly to myself all my life, having many personal boycotts since I was a pre-teen to this day. I seriously sometimes feel like I'm a "closet lefty" because it's very deep and personal, and I know if I began to explain all of it to someone...it would be like opening a dam. It really filters EVERYTHING I experience in my life, because it affects my goals, my everyday activities, what I eat, what I buy, what I wear, my world view....that's why the person I share my life with will HAVE to be of my same political persuasion.

Ironically, someone just asked me today about my Romero and Che t-shirts at work, and I didn't even know where to start. I got one sentence into it, and we got interrupted thankfully.

[BOZG]

Has Being a Leftist Consumed Your Life?

It is my life.

[Forward Union]

Because having the knowlege we have is like a burden...a burden we must carry always.

[ErikuSz -sXe-]

I have been a leftist activist for four years now and I have to tell you, sometimes its hard to rest your political thoughts. You know to much about the system, to little things change; infact they get worse, and thats very depressing.

There was a time I found it very hard to think about politics because it fucked up my mood. Because I found it hard to 'let go'. The problems of the world were my problems.

But not that long ago I read a book called: Buddhism, marxism & social involvement it was written by Jasper Schaaf, a Dutch marxist/buddhist.
In this book he explains how the political social involvement of leftists result in stress and mental pressure. He also explains how to fight this (by meditation).

He says its important for a marxist to 'let go' of their political thoughts form time tot time to enjoy other things in life and to find 'inner peace' with the world arround them.

I don't think there is a English version of this book but I can advice everyone here to read some about buddhism and Zen especially.

[Hiero]

Originally posted by Anarcho [email protected] 28 2005, 07:57 PM
Because having the knowlege we have is like a burden...a burden we must carry always.
Were you being serious?

[slim]

I think the knowledge we hold as leftists are a burden.

It gets me in a rage to watch the news knowing that the reporters are blindly pouring out capitalist propagandist bullshit into the minds of those i know and love. The media are deliberately killing the people's minds for profit.

[ErikuSz -sXe-]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2005, 12:43 PM
It gets me in a rage to watch the news knowing that the reporters are blindly pouring out capitalist propagandist bullshit into the minds of those i know and love.
Ignorance = bliss

[slim]

Ive written a sort of plan to a philosophy. The rule of "ignorance is bliss" applies on a sort of scale.

We dont have the wisdom to handle truth so we prefer to be ignorant. Those that delve into knowledge suffer for it unless they are super intelligent/ wise.

I have also developed a scale for intelligence in coherence with social status and insanity.

If only i could show the scales online... dammit.

[redstar2000]

Has Being a Leftist Consumed Your Life?

Yes.


I think the knowledge we hold as leftists are a burden.

I agree.

The burden is a heavy one. Once you realize how things "really work", then it's no longer possible to participate "whole-heartedly" in the myths and superstitons of our times...all the illusions that people normally use to comfort themselves -- "we live in an orderly universe where virtue is rewarded and vice is punished" -- are simply unavailable to us.

And that's hard.

We can't even watch a movie with the innocent pleasure that most people derive from the experience...or read a novel or listen to a song or...well, anything, really. We "spot the message" in everything that most people are not conscious of at all...even the people who put the message in often don't realize what they've really just said.

Even our most intimate relations are deeply affected by this; we are, for one thing, constantly distracted by "larger concerns". To just "settle down" and "raise a family" -- like "normal" people do -- is next to impossible for us.

And were you to count the close friendships among lefties that have come to grief over some political disagreement...well, the number would be very large.

We are not, by and large, "happy" people.

Except, of course, when we are doing some kind of harm -- however limited -- to the bastards who run things.

For a lefty, happiness is watching a police car burn.

Or taking part in what might explode into a revolution.

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[slim]

Th...That was a beautiful article...sniff.

[ErikuSz -sXe-]

Originally posted by [email protected] 28 2005, 02:17 PM
For a lefty, happiness is watching a police car burn.

Gotta love it though... :ph34r:

[codyvo]

The way I've always seen it is you don't become active because you're a leftist, you become a leftist because you're active. By this I mean that the people who care about anything political most of the time are leftist, or become leftist, not because the right is any more lazy than us, it is because the people that care and have a cause are 9 time out of 10, fighting the good fight.

[*Hippie*]

Because having the knowlege we have is like a burden...a burden we must carry always.

That's the perfect decription. I am just starting to learn more about my political self but it has been calling for awhile. When I discovered Marx and Communism, I felt like I just discovered a hidden secret or something. I try to enlighten others with the knowledge but it is disheartening to see everyone I once knew have been brainwashed by the society we live in. I just can't relate to many people the same way anymore.

[YKTMX]

We are not, by and large, "happy" people.

I'm not quite sure about this bit, Red.

In my experience, it's the ordinary person who goes on in the drudgery of everyday life NOT knowing why the world is the way it is or trying to pretend they don't care who is unhappy. It's those people that have, it seems to me, a real sense of powerlessness and hopelessness in their lives.

Whereas, "us", we hold, I think, a fundamentally POSITIVE view of the world, and of people. This gives both an insight into why people and the world is sometimes a shit place but it also gives us a "window" onto a future in which every human being can fulfil themselves. And that "window" is a incredibly useful and important tool.

[workersunity]

welp politics really is my life, i cant see my life without it

[codyvo]

I think that basically goes for everyone on this site, it is sad to see most kids my age though , their political intelligence really is sickening, but you have to look at the kind of society they grew up in. Well I guess my generation is nothing to brag about.

[kurt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2005, 02:15 AM
Yeah, every English essay and school project I have, my left wing view infiltrates it. For a French project, we had to draw a place with clothes, so I drew a African sweatshop with a evil looking boss overseeing starving children toiling in a darkly lit room with no windows. Underneath, I had the slogan "Neo-Liberalism is death!" in French. I got send to the office for that. :D

Yeah. I remember a few years back in a comparative civilizations course I was taking, we had to do a paper on ancient Rome, and were free to choose any topic on it that we liked. Of course I chose to do a class analysis :rolleyes:



Whereas, "us", we hold, I think, a fundamentally POSITIVE view of the world, and of people. This gives both an insight into why people and the world is sometimes a shit place but it also gives us a "window" onto a future in which every human being can fulfil themselves. And that "window" is a incredibly useful and important tool.

Agreed. I think if we held a fundamentally negative view of the world, we wouldn't believe in the possibilty of the revolution, and would probably just end up apathetic towards life, politics etc.

As for your question, I would have to say it does. I just can't look at the world in the same way many people can. Everywhere I go I see the negative effects of capitalism on the world, and I realize how all events are tied to it. Oh well, one day we shall rise up!

[enigma2517]

Meditation is great

But if you want to skip the buddism step there is an easier alternative: marijuana.

:)

Get high and listen to Bob Marley

Then go back to fighting capitalist despotism.

[ErikuSz -sXe-]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2005, 05:54 AM
Meditation is great

But if you want to skip the buddism step there is an easier alternative: marijuana.

:)

Get high and listen to Bob Marley

Then go back to fighting capitalist despotism.
Well, I'm Dutch, so you figure that I used 'some' marijuana before ;)

But I am also Straight Edge for some time now.
So I prefer a healthy way of meditating.

You are right though. I read an article in a buddhist magazine that explains scientificly why weed has the same effects as meditation. If there is some interest in the article here, I'll transulate it.

[encephalon]

Get high and listen to Bob Marley

Yeah.. that will make everything better :P

I'd have to agree with the all-consuming aspect.. once I started critically approaching things.. which just seemed to happen on the spur of the moment, like a light-bulb of some sort.. it's infiltrated every aspect of my life. I can't simply be happy with things the way others are.. what's worse, it's very difficult for others to understand that haven't quite reached some kind of epiphany, especially family members (so for those of you that haven't quite had the time to deal with family in this manner.. have fun). They simply don't understand why you don't just accept things and be happy with them.

Almost everything I do now has to do with the final goal in mind.. from personal interaction to basic day-to-day decisions. It's that way because it's important, I'd imagine.

[Donnie]

Being a Lefty has completely consumed my life although all my friends are staunch lefties so it’s ok.

But I find it very difficult not think about stuff that does not relate to capitalism or Anarchist idea’s

For example when I’m on the bus coming home from work I can go into "day dreams" about theory practice and tactics of left ideas.

For example when I sit down with my friends we almost always talk about politics and the capitalist system. I mean as a lefty what can I not talk about that isn't related to my staunch idea's.?

When I’m working at the garden center I always talk to my work mates about trade unionism or capitalist exploitation on us.