It's the dunk tank.
This is where you come to post big-brained hot takes by chuds, libs, or even fellow leftists, and tear them to itty-bitty pieces with precision dunkstrikes.
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The Communist Manifesto? Is that a video game?
Leon Trotsky? What's his Twitter handle?
Antonio Gramsci? Did he invent Instagram?
me, before federation: "fuck dude, I've gotta skim through these books I read way back when, wanna be on my top form during arguments with libs"
me, now: "oh. these people haven't read books since high school, and even in high school they were 'the curtains are just blue' dweebs"
The power of perspective
Instagramsci 
Jokes aside, we might have better success with Parenti or asking them to watch Klein's "Shock Doctrine" for a quick primer
Agreed, maybe add in David Graeber's 'Bullshit Jobs' and 'Debt: The First 5,000 Years' as a starting point towards leftist ideas. It might be a good idea to create a 'leftist 101' reading list to ease them into it. Theory is great, but it tends to scare newcomers.
Bullshit Jobs has a lot to say about the immediate experiences of most first world workers. Debt is very readable and important, but it's also abstract and a fuckin doorstopper. Like based on the title alone I don't know that most normies would have an interest in what presents itself as an economics textbook.
bullshit jobs also comes as a much shorter article that introduces the book, which is incredibly useful. in fact reading that article when i was 15 is what really started my radicalisation and lead me to reading theory. the key to cracking libs is just letting them know that yes, that vague feeling they have is right, something is wrong, and people (graeber or perenti at first, then marx/lenin/etc) know why. bullshit jobs is fucking great for that.
Hot take: telling a lib to read State and Revolution probably won't work or radicalize them.
Agreed. The Lib --> Leftist pipeline for westerners needs to start with youtube videos that seem inoffensive on the surface, like Second Thought, Hakim, etc. Then after the more approachable video content, they might be willing to dig into theory. It's like trying to convert someone to Christianity by telling them to read the Book of Revelations.
Honestly, Second Thought is what started my lib->leftist pipeline. I owe them so much, lmao
Yeah no one really reads theory until they're already a socialist and are curious to learn more about it
"Let's all rush to judgment, yeah" says guy who rushed to judgment
https://hexbear.net/comment/3708784
Be nice to them, they're just not as submerged in these things as we are.
The average non-marxist has probably only read Marx and Engels' introductory works and maybe a little bit of Lenin.
e: I know there's nothing that really indicates this but I was joking
The average non-Marxist has heard of the Communist Manifesto and thinks that is the extent of the philosophical canon. The average Liberal has not even read any Liberal philosophy, like Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Paine, etc.
The average non-marxist doesn't know that "Capital" and "The Communist Manifesto" are different things, much less that the latter is a pamphlet and not a book.
100%
I remember reading the communist manifesto in university twice because I was sure I must have missed something. (This was extra curricular, I was in engineering) Like it was fine, but it didn't really live up to my expectations of reframing history by analyzing it through the lens of class.
I only recently figured out that it wasn't Capital. (It was before I read your post but probably within the last year, so ~15 years from when I read the manifesto).
I haven't gotten around to reading Capital, would it work as an audio book?
I haven't gotten around to reading Capital, would it work as an audio book?
Here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUW6cjZgi7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Cpj_wXF88
I would also recommend David Harvey's supplemental explanations of Capital, he is very down to earth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5vu4MpYgUo&list=PLWvnUfModHP9Ci8M1g39l4AZgK6YLCXd0
Reminds me, I've been thinking about pivoting to audiobooks since I do delivery driving for a living. Wouldn't be able to focus totally on the material, but possibly more worthwhile as learning material than podcasts.
I want to say Capital was serialized in magazines in France for similar reasons?
Capital is pretty difficult, though if you're enthusiastic than go for it. I just thought I should include what I said to the OOP:
Personally, I think the best introductory work for someone who doesn't have the patience for The Principles of Communism (and I don't have that patience myself) is Engels' Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, here as text and here as an excellent audiobook.
It's personally my favorite audiobook (not that I listen to a ton), but that's because I think the reader's dry tone is charming and works well with the type of humor Engels occasionally employs.
I've been working my way through using this reading by Professor David Harvey. In the beginning he mentions that he taught the work for a couple decades, and for a first go round with the work I really appreciate having someone experienced to hold my hand through it, lol.
They are way more likely to have read Voltaire or even Montaigne than they are Montesquieu unless he substantially overlaps with their field of study, at least to the best of my memory. Swift is another.
I thought it was a great joke.
thank you, that's kind of you to say
Relevant xkcd?
i can't find it now but yeah :p
found it!
In what country? In the USA, a lot of people don't read books unless it's required for school or work. If they do read for pleasure, it's often young adult, bs 'self help' (ie Rich Dad, Poor Dad), or shallow non fiction that reinforces what they already believe.
i was doin a dumb joke sorry
Gramsci? thats like the metric system?
Gramsci is the abbreviation for Gram Science, the study of mass.
Libs love to flaunt their L's for some reason.
"I'm actually too important to bother knowing things. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed for you for taking the time to read something."
Huh I wonder if there was any way I could click a link and find out what someone was referring to?
Maybe in the future, but it is impossible now so I shall remain ignorant thanks to your inability to describe something that you provided a link to that had a full description.
I bet they've read the entire Harry Potter series 3 times though
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain taught me everything I need to know about revenge as a motivator. Namely that it's cool and good and drives you to clean up landmines
