My friend is relatively progressive (pro LGBTQIA+, anti-racist, etc) but he fails to have more than a surface level analysis of things.
Example:
I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about in the first place but we ended up in some dumb debate about whether ethical companies exist (AriZona tea and Tony’s chocolonely specifically), because some are ‘progressive’ and apparently don’t do ‘bad stuff’ like others do… I immediately replied to him that these companies inherently uphold the capitalist system and operate within its exploitative structure. And that just because a company is pro LGBTQ, doesn’t use slave labour (lmao), pays their workers slightly more, etc, doesn’t mean theyre progressive. He, of course, completely ignored me, either because he didn’t understand what I was saying or was just wilfully ignorant (I’m in favour of the former).
It’s just so tiring talking to people who have no understanding of how these processes work. No matter how much I try to ‘deprogram’ these kinds of people, they just block it all out.
I think it’s good to remember that “progressivism”, at least as it exists in the US, is not a left-moving political force, but a cutout of liberalism designed to capture anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist (left) political movement, and push them back into liberalism (right). It’s structured to be a specific counter-force to socialism. Progressivism offers superficial appeasement on a variety of humanist-sounding issues which are not in conflict with the interests of capital (until they are). It is one half of the culture-war treadmill that redirects people’s political energy away from addressing their material conditions and onto cheering on rainbow capitalism and voting for liberals. Reaction with cute stickers.
As much as you think you’re trying and failing to move your friend left, they’re also trying and failing to move you right.
I think my approach is “idc if a couple companies are slightly less bad than all the others. Companies by nature are driven to exploit people and resources in order to increase profits. Individuals can vary, but by and large that is the incentive of the system. Most of the products everyone relies on from day to day are completely unethical, and the “more ethical” ones are more expensive and only people who benefit from this exploitative system can afford them and do to feel better.”
I’d recommend sending them this crash course.
And if they’d prefer a video, this one:
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Opening your mind to a completely new worldview is not easy. It has taken months for my closest friends to be convinced that capitalism is the problem. That doesnt mean they are convinced of socialism however.
