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Is there any theory that can be distributed that helps deprogram western chauvanist brainworms directly?
(hexbear.net)
I know blowback is amazing for that, but, does anyone know of any good books or articles that can contribute to coming to a truely international perspective?
It's been studied that being presented with contradictory facts don't change people's opinions or beliefs. Source
If you're going to try and make sense of Western chauvinism from a Marxist standpoint, then a plausible conclusion to arrive to is that it is only natural and in fact, intelligent for Westerners to hold the chauvinistic and racist attitudes that they hold. They materially benefit from imperialism, and the material conditions in the West are also nowhere near bad enough for many but the very worst off to develop any revolutionary character
Based off of what I've personally seen, trying to get hawkish Western leftists to empathize with the victims of the imperial core doesn't work because at their core, they genuinely don't care
Because let's be honest, 99.99% of communism sympathisers are only in it because it would improve their own life, including me and you. That's why Lenin had the theory of material conditions must be severely degraded before a nation's people can have revolutionary character
However, I have seen many accounts of Western leftists that have found international solidarity once they've discovered the success of what China has built and how in many aspects, they're much better to live in than the West. Unfortunately the USSR doesn't quite seem to have the same effect despite having similar incredible success since it's no longer here and the past achievements have all been surpassed by the West by now
It completely shatters their Western superiority to find out that an alternative governance and economic model actually works better. They get jealous and want to have that life at home. It gets a lot easier then to get them to understand why foreign country govern and have revolutions the way they do when they see the material benefits and results from it
Who do you think is easier to convert to international solidarity, the Bernie bro Redditor that regularly browses r/all, r/worldnews, the frontpage and truly internalizes all the propaganda they read there, or the Tiktoker that is in awe from constantly seeing Tiktoks of China's beautiful landscapes and futuristic looking cities
I think an important thing to focus is not just the way that you try to convert people, but also who you convert
The Cuban revolution started with 82 people and ended with 3000, Nazis got 30% of the vote, I think the Chinese revolution at one point had a couple dozen thousand but ended with 4 million, and the October Revolution started with 400,000 people
Not that I think the West will have any revolution in our lifetime
YOU DON'T NEED TO CONVERT EVERYBODY. You don't even need to convert most of the people. And realistically, there are many people that will be the enemy. Pick and choose carefully who you talk to. You only have a limited amount of time and energy to spend educating others. Use it wisely. For example I've personally given up on any highly educated office worker that makes >150k because theory, experience, and even scientific studies have shown me that this group of people are far more likely to be arrogant, xenophobic, and racist than other groups and it's largely a waste or time
Yes, exactly. Talking about people's beliefs as brainworms takes away their agency as actors capable of rational thought. Most people in the West are aware that radical critiques and thinkers exist. They don't pay attention to it because they know on some level that it's against their values and they don't think they benefit from it.