Friendship and Alienation

[Friesen]

I might be something of an oddity. Most of my friends are of a progressive if apathetic viewpoint whereas my politics have long been a major part of who I am. I therefore often feel alienated, despite having many friends, because few of them share of my political commitments. On the other hand, few of the activists I've met (there have been exceptions) have had balanced lives and I've had trouble establishing meaningful relationships with them.

I know a lot of activists tend to focus on the "big picture," but I tend to think that if one's politics don't speak to one's daily life then they're dead weight. It seems to me that if social change is going to happen it will have to be in part because people have made positive connections and broken down alienation in their lives. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has thought about these matters and wants to share their experiences and/or wisdom.

[capstop]

It seems to me that if social change is going to happen it will have to be in part because people have made positive connections and broken down alienation in their lives.
If you are feeling like that you are defiantly not alone and because you have the capacity to try and understand it, and express as well as you do, you are going to be a good friend to others who feel it, but cant talk about it. You feel like an oddity, but so do the hundreds of thousands who feel the same. We need people like you who will say what we can’t, or won’t. Expand it a bit if you can.

[Friesen]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I guess the best way I could put it is that a commitment to social change can lead to a whole variety of feelings. People sometimes assume revolutionaries are embittered people with a lot of unfocused anger, but the feelings that go along with being politically marginalized are much more diverse, and include feelings of isolation, self-doubt, and even depression. The left has put out all kinds of literature on issues of class, religion, women's emancipation, and so on, but there's not nearly enough literature that addresses the fact that leftists are three-dimensional people, not freaks who are devoid of feelings and doubts. I've looked for books that address the relationship between the personal and the political, but haven't found many good ones. If you know any feel free to let me know!

[Saint Street Revolution]

Originally posted by [email protected] 03, 2007 11:11 pm

It seems to me that if social change is going to happen it will have to be in part because people have made positive connections and broken down alienation in their lives.
If you are feeling like that you are defiantly not alone and because you have the capacity to try and understand it, and express as well as you do, you are going to be a good friend to others who feel it, but cant talk about it. You feel like an oddity, but so do the hundreds of thousands who feel the same. We need people like you who will say what we can’t, or won’t. Expand it a bit if you can.
Exactly.

Stay strong Comrade. :D :D :D

[Mkultra]

I used to think too much too

[capstop]

I can’t immediately think of any titles of the type you are looking for, but books like prison diaries ( ’Blood in my eye’ and ‘Soledad Brothers’ by George Jackson, the prison poems of Ho chi minh, or some of Oscar Wilde’s stuff like ‘Soul of Man Under Socialism’) might go some way to bridging the gap. We probably shouldn’t be surprised that the prison experience should be catalyst for this type of contemplation. Politics (the struggle for power) is generally a rude business whether focusing on the "big picture" or pathetically engaging in the mind numbing pettiness of so much of left activism.

I am guessing that this area of our lives is steered away from for lots of different reasons, not least of which is because it is (and has been) fertile ground for all kinds of opportunist manipulation. That said, I think this is otherwise a fiendishly complex field of discussion anyway requiring great patience in order to achieve any skill, and the levels of personal ‘subjective’ exposure are not normally associated with the ’objectivity’ necessary for revolutionary theoretical development. I think you are right to bring it up for discussion and if there are no satisfactory writings dealing with this area, then lets keep going and there soon will be.

You say: “People sometimes assume revolutionaries are embittered people with a lot of unfocused anger, but the feelings that go along with being politically marginalized are much more diverse, and include feelings of isolation, self-doubt, and even depression.” and you talk about people having “balanced lives”.

My experience is that everyone without exception is becoming more ‘alienated’ from each other in subtly different ways as well as the more obvious, and I suspect that “balanced lives” are perhaps an acceptance of that growing ‘alienation’, conscious of it or not. If we are all being forced into greater economic competition with each other, and we are, it seems logical that this economic contest will result in greater social and personal estrangement whether ‘people’ are conscious of it’s source or not.
And being conscious of its source in itself doesn’t change that completely. As you correctly say, it can induce feelings of “…isolation, self-doubt, and even depression.” That can be a dark place to be and a heavy burden to carry, and while conscious revolutionaries and others (scientists, artists, etc,) may be out of step with the “balanced lives”, our thinking is more in step with the general movement of all matter, “the universe and everything” as Douglas Adams put it in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’.

The more the world’s relationships ‘crack up’ the more we are being told to be “positive” and find individual “balance” in popular self help books, videos and pop songs. The makeovers and fixed grins on the faces of TV presenters etc is all part of a reluctance, either to face up to our precarious reality or an attempt to air-brush out the anguish of “…isolation, self-doubt, and even depression.” that is building up relentlessly in everyone, but as yet poorly dealt with.

I suppose what I’m saying so far is that these thoughts and feeling afflict everyone to some extent and it would be of great advantage to revolutionaries in particular and the world as a whole if we could ‘get a grip of them’ by understanding them and explaining them in more detail. I look forward to it.

By the way, we also have a "lot of unfocused anger," as well :angry: ;)

[Friesen]

I hear what you're saying. I think these personal issues are important to address because one of the turn-offs for a lot of people who might otherwise be interested in getting into politics is how bitter activists tend to be. I'm not saying there aren't sacrifices to be made, but if we're making ourselves miserable through our political committments then it's no wonder people aren't lining up. Like you said, alienation is definately a bi-product of capitalist society. Marx wasn't the only one to have noticed this.

I don't want people to think I'm for dumbing down politics or reducing political committments to a set of ethics for interpersonal relationships. All I'm saying is that wrestling with depression or one's own sense of marginalization are as much political as is attending an anti-war rally or whatever. Incidentally, I think getting involved with like-minded activists in some kind of cooperative venture (I volunteer at an anarchist bookstore) is a good way of simulateneously overcoming alienation and being productive.