I don't really get why people are engaging with it. It's a young Canadian Communist organizer with 7K followers. Who cares? Am I missing something? (Or am I just immune to being triggered by Communists with bad takes on history because I went to Berkeley?)
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Eh, really? I have not seen this, in terms of actual card-carrying Communists and all. They're their own worst enemies; they universally lack a sense of humor. Democratic socialists, sure. But they are a far cry from Stalinists (fears of the Right notwithstanding).
I just think the response is disproportionate to the alleged threat. People say dumb things on Twitter all the time, who cares? They aren't an "influencer," and magnifying fringe opinions (even to dispute them) just gives them more attention than they deserve.
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Separately: I have never seen any Americans but a card-carrying Communist express belief that the USSR was some kind of great place. Even the CCC's tend to say it corrupted Marx, ruined the revolution, etc.
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I have no disagreement that knowledge of USSR/PRC history in the US is very low, but I don't see too many people advocating for Soviet or Chinese-style Communism here. Fringe movements around big college campuses exclusively, regarded as dopes by most students, it seems to me.
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I'm going to (partly) agree with both of you. "Tankies" who advocate Communism and Stalinism and such seem to be a thing. But I haven't seen them on my carefully curated timeline.
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I mean, everything under the Sun is a thing, on the Internet. There are people who believe everyone in power is secretly a lizard. But if you spend time debunking every dumb idea on the Internet, a) you'll run out of time pretty quick...pic.twitter.com/KAm3SPO6R7
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and b), you end up giving these fringe ideas more attention than they deserve, inadvertently promoting them as "something serious people should be engaging with." Which gives them more weight than they merit, as ideas.
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If the person advocating this was Someone Of Substance (define how you want), sure, debunk it. But if it's just a random college student on their Twitter feed... you know, don't feel the troll, etc.
End of conversation
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