Hello comrades and welcome to the third improvement megathread of February! bonfire

February 17th will be the first day of the Year of the Fire Horse, which occurs every 60 years in the Chinese calendar and is known as a period of rapid change. This is a year that rewards fearless courage, dedication and punishes indecision, hesitation or impassiveness.

Some discussion ideas:

+ How was your week?

+ Do you have some plans for next week?
Poster caption

Patrol along the Southern border

南疆巡逻

Nanjiang xunluo

skeleton-guns-akimbo

  • Clippy [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    i need to wake up and get out of my mental rut, i keep going back to this video by harper o connor and he quotes what i think is marx about how “theory without practice is sterile,” and to become a person on the left that people look up to and want to emulate.

    it reminds me a bit of why hasan piker generally tend to be a figure that people are generally receptive to, because he is a person that by cultural hegemon, most people can find likeable; works out, well spoken, articulate, clean.

    i could speak about my ill formulated life and the incoherent structure, but as this is a public forum - i will not allow for viewers to paint with a broad brush and, allow for the embarrassment of my ideological peers.

    • moonlake [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      become a person on the left that people look up to and want to emulate

      That reminds me of this quote by Brace Belden.

      And I agree about Hasan, a lot of it just comes down to the fact that he’s tall, strong and attractive. Matt Christman has a much deeper understanding of the world but his streams never got a fraction of Hasan’s views.

      What are your ideas on how to get out of a rut?

      • Clippy [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        hey, thanks for the response, i’ve been thiking about how to respond the last couple days - got pulled into the news cycle with the recent aggression on iran.

        i think i need to start to act like i am somebody i am taking care of. or do the things i think somebody is taking care of.

        i like the video you linked, thank you for that.

        recently was audiobooking atomic habits - hoping to incorporate some of that.

        • moonlake [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          I’ve read Atomic Habits, it’s a solid book! If you’re into that topic, I recommend Buddha’s Brain. The basic premise of the book is that “the neurons which fire together, wire together”. The author is a neuroscientist who suggests that we can use our neuroplasticity in order to strengthen the parts of our brain which are responsible for well-being. The book has a lot of practical and actionable advice, which I’m a big fan of.

          I also recommend taking this self-compassion test. I think that self-compassion is an essential skill in capitalism. We’re all being oppressed by a hostile economic system, no need to oppress ourselves on top of that. We’re all internalizing the capitalist oppression in the form of the inner critic and beating ourselves up. That’s why it’s critical for leftists to develop self-compassion.