The thing about exceptionalism is that it’s so deeply engrained that even if you adopt good politics, the exceptionalism will end up reasserting itself through the lens of those politics unless you are eternally vigilant. It’s rife on the Western left when you know to look for it.
that it’s so deeply engrained that even if you adopt good politics, the exceptionalism will end up reasserting itself
This is absolutely right, I see a lot of Americans communists who mention how people “flee Cuba to America”, these people have some residue to US chauvinism because unfortunately they are literally trying to deprogram themselves, it’s a political equivalent to asking a child to raise itself.
They need to continue reading theory, they need time and to be called out when they do fuck shit, it’s your choice on how much empathy you bring with the call-out, but imo being kind helps… contrary to some peoples beliefs (cough cough, Khmer Rouge, cough cough), comrades are friends
My point is though that even if you read theory, the chauvinism will still be there, mutating into new forms, trying to slip past your newly acquired immune system. If anything, sometimes the theoretical grounding can give people a false sense of confidence. I think really the key is to have a bit of humility — which is easier said than done lol
The thing about exceptionalism is that it’s so deeply engrained that even if you adopt good politics, the exceptionalism will end up reasserting itself through the lens of those politics unless you are eternally vigilant. It’s rife on the Western left when you know to look for it.
This is absolutely right, I see a lot of Americans communists who mention how people “flee Cuba to America”, these people have some residue to US chauvinism because unfortunately they are literally trying to deprogram themselves, it’s a political equivalent to asking a child to raise itself.
They need to continue reading theory, they need time and to be called out when they do fuck shit, it’s your choice on how much empathy you bring with the call-out, but imo being kind helps… contrary to some peoples beliefs (cough cough, Khmer Rouge, cough cough), comrades are friends
My point is though that even if you read theory, the chauvinism will still be there, mutating into new forms, trying to slip past your newly acquired immune system. If anything, sometimes the theoretical grounding can give people a false sense of confidence. I think really the key is to have a bit of humility — which is easier said than done lol
Well its a good thing communists call out bullshit xD
I mean I can see that to some extent but the idea of a Maoist supporting Spanish empire is so ludicrous to be laughable
No more ludicrous than western maoists suddenly turning into libertarians during the pandemic 🤷
I’m glad that in my life I’ve been able to avoid Maoists enough to not know what you are referring to….