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Is there an explanation for why westerners who follow an anti reactionary ideology have a loud purist minority? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I can't communicate words right so here's what I'm trying to say, I have interacted with people from the global north who identify with ideologies such as anti-colonialism, feminism, socialism, veganism etc... And I've noticed a minority of purist/close to being reactionaries always being loud (not literal loud) who don't represent them well and mainly exist online.

You've prolly already seen the "feminist (TERFs etc), socialist, vegan" ones. the anti-colonial thing I've seen in like Afrocentrists spreading hate to light skin native African groups (especially North Africans) which misses the point of who's the evil white man.

This has obviously spread and I've seen this in global southeners influenced by western media or something else.

It neither worries me nor make sleep less at night, but it bothers me whenever I'm trying to vibe online, is there an explanation or a cause for that happens? Is it due to competing in who's gooder? Is it because of propaganda? Are these people a psyop made to depopularise a movement? Is it because of liberalism? Is it because of the lack of theory or historical and political knowledge?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I'm not quite sure what you mean? Can you elaborate a little bit? These groups you've mentioned aren't really related in any way and aren't really socialists.

Groups like TERFs are reactionary, co-opting socialist rhetoric, as openly reactionary rhetoric tends to turn people away, so they just lie about their true intentions and motivations, pretend to care about people when all they want to do is spread hate. A certain group of "national socialists" in Germany in the first half of the 20th century are probably the best example of these sorts of hateful people using empty, vaguely socialist sounding terms to get broader appeal.

As for groups like Afrocentrists, it seems to be mainly something to do with them unfortunately just lacking proper historical knowledge, they know the way history is taught in schools is wrong (i.e. Eurocentrism) but lack the knowledge to understand why, so they end up concocting elaborate conspiracy theories that just reframe Eurocentrism instead of actually learning about true African history. They don't understand that the alternative to "All the important stuff in history happened in Europe" isn't to just replace Europe with Africa, but rather to reframe history into understanding that all history is valid and worth studying and isn't some kind of competition.

For a more general sort of analysis of people who are very..."militant" about their beliefs, it is often because they feel morally superior, and may feel a desire to "save" others, not realizing that proselyting about veganism or communism or whatever just turns people away.

As for psyops, that is possibly true for some. A group who have very strict and rigid ideas and are very hostile to outsiders won't ever convince the masses of the benefits of socialism, and so make for excellent controlled opposition.