Hexbear has been getting a lot more attention and activity as of late, and while it is very fun to dunk on the new people posting on the site in bad faith, a post to appreciate the new good faith users contributing to the site seems like a great idea.
So, what new users do you appreciate, and what should other potential new users do to get the same reception?
Been lurking for a few months but this is first online space I haven't gotten those fucked vibes from
I'm still getting through my list of theory so I don't feel confident joining certain conversations yet but I'd like to think being open-minded to deprogramming all the western propaganda bullshit I've ingested over a lifetime has helped me discover this community
Don't feel like you can't join conversations because you don't have all the theory down comrade. We've all got plenty gaps in our knowledge and people are pretty cool about explaining things if required.
Sometimes the best discussions are kept going and reach greater depths because someone asks an 'obvious' question or contributes a 'basic' point, too. The simple shift in perspective can help everyone to see things from a different angle, which is hard to do even if it's the crux of diamat. And we all learn when a question or contribution prompts an even more knowledgeable comrade to swing by with more theory, etc.
Say the wrong thing some time. Folk will set you right. Its a bit rough on the ego but nothing stamps out brain worms quite like a stern rebuke and as soon as you say "oh shit you are right" everything is good.
Even after reading loads it's still possible to be wrong. It's good to be humble and see knowledge not as an individual thing but as something that it takes a community to work out. That helps a little with the hits to my ego, anyway. It's still hard not to take a stand due to the way liberalism shapes the mind before it's freed.
I'd almost consider it like an online anxiety lol. Mustering up the strength to not revert back to being a lurker after not expressing a thought succinctly and powering through the posting to stamp those worms out.
I had that until hexbear. Right now I'm possibly getting torn apart by a comrade who seems to have raead more than me. Otherwise how do I figure out what I don't know? And this comrade is cool about it
A related question: do you ever get that feeling where you say something (if you're lucky you might stop yourself first) about something that you learned before becoming a commiewithoutorgans and realise it's ludicrous? I do that so often. It's like only the new memories and information have been re-framed. Much of the old memories and information is sat in an archive in the back of my mind, complete with a perfectly intact liberal outlook.
Back to your question: when this happens to me it takes a [span of time] to realise that although I have an answer, I don't actually know what I'm talking about. If yours wasn't a rhetorical question, I don't have a great answer other than to say: try to recall where you learned what you think you know and when. If the answer isn't The Collected Works of Lenarx Dengping and/or 'recently', I try to err on the side of caution.
Or go back and revisit something you loved from childhood and realize it’s shitty and reactionary and you didn’t have any idea at the time.
Dark Knight, CGP Grey, a bunch of anime (like 99% of it), Lion King, etc etc. There’s so many things dripping with ideology and it doesn’t even cross your mind until you have a Marxist lens shift
I dread consuming old books, music, and movies etc that I loved when I was younger in case I realise it was trash and I ruin the memory. It's a shame because I want to re-live those memories. But you have to balance it: is it a risk you want to take?