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Comment on Is there any way I can study Marxist theory in a way that wouldn't seem too boring or dry?

Things seeming boring and dry is your mind telling you that you’re trying to learn something that isn’t interesting to you. Fancy tricks to hide that core truth won’t undo it.

Why do you think you want to learn Marxist theory? To have status among leftists? Go punch a Nazi. To understand modern or historical leftists? Their actions aren’t guided by Marxist theory. To have status among political theorists, economists, and liberals? Lol. Lmao even.

To gleam a better way to have a succesful revolution that results in a better society? Okay, cool, do you have a community of people that won’t starve to death within days of trade being cut off? If no, congratulations, now you know all Marxist theory that you need to know until you do have such a community.

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wassup@kbin.melroy.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
There is value in learning things that at first glance seem boring or dry.

Why do you think you want to learn Marxist theory? To have status among leftists? Go punch a Nazi. To understand modern or historical leftists? Their actions aren't guided by Marxist theory. To have status among political theorists, economists, and liberals? Lol. Lmao even.

It's also possible that OP is studying this stuff simply because they are interested in political philosophy

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- Tiresia@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  If they are interested in it, then why is it boring to them? Genuine question.
  
  There is value in learning things that at first glance seem boring or dry.
  
  Is there? If the school system is any indication, people can spend literal years studying things they find boring without retaining them. Plus they can develop a hatred for the subject. Plus all sorts of bad intellectual habits like pretending they know the answer so they’re allowed to move on.
  
  I agree that things that feel boring to someone can turn out to be important to them, but that’s a contextualization issue, not a nose-to-the-grindstone one. As the game design adage goes; you have to show the lock before having them hunt for the key.
  
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  - wassup@kbin.melroy.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    If they are interested in it, then why is it boring to them? Genuine question.
    
    Being interested in something is not the same as being entertained by something. You can value the knowledge you gain from studying something even if, while you're studying the material, you find it challenging.
    
    Is there? If the school system is any indication, people can spend literal years studying things they find boring without retaining them. Plus they can develop a hatred for the subject. Plus all sorts of bad intellectual habits like pretending they know the answer so they're allowed to move on.
    
    Yeah you can have some bad outcomes studying stuff you're not interested in, but it can also be very rewarding. I can't really argue with you about this because I'm just pulling from my own personal experiences here. If you've never had the experience of studying something dry and finding it rewarding, then there's not much I can say.
    
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    Tiresia@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Boredom isn’t a lack of entertainment, it’s a lack of interest. Learning something challenging feels frustrating, captivating, even maddening, but never boring.
    
    I can’t really argue with you about this because I’m just pulling from my own personal experiences here.
    
    In the business, that’s called “anecdotal evidence”. The reason you can’t argue with me is because anecdotal evidence is kind of irrelevant compared to the statistical observation that children spend decades reaching a median fifth grade reading level.
    
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DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
While I do strongly oppose fascism in all forms, I prefer not to fight. However if I do know martial arts, and some fascist hooligan comes at me, I would probably kick their ass in self-defense.

I’m looking to study socialist theory because I’m getting very sick and tired of capitalism going unchecked, as well as the conditions of the very archaic bourgeois-capitalist system that enable people to push others around because of who they are.

Do you have a community of people that won’t starve to death within days of trade being cut off?

I assume you’re talking about the famines that happened in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin - there are factors into why that happened such as the bureaucratization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and lack of the agricultural tools needed for farming. If the US were a socialist country and they’d bring them a bunch of tractors and such (like in the alternate history story “Reds! A Revolutionary Timeline”), the famines wouldn’t happen. NOT being rude, NOT being insensitive, just saying.

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- Tiresia@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  I assume you’re talking about
  
  No, I’m talking about you, dear liberal hippie, having a community that can survive a transition away from capitalism. Once you have that you can talk about the finer details like what to do once you’ve survived or what to do with the labor left over after you’ve done what is necessary to survive.
  
  Unlike the USSR, we now live in a world where food production is highly commercialized, globalized, and industrialized. What if John Deere used Starlink to brick every tractor in your revolutionary polity with a malicious software update? What if the same happened with every food processing factory and food warehouse?
  
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  - DylanMc6@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    So are you saying I should study socialist theory a little bit more? Just asking.
    
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    Tiresia@slrpnk.net ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I’m saying to check theory when and only when you have a problem you don’t have a satisfying answer to. That will happen a lot, but each time you will be motivated by the problem, and eventually you may learn to trust a theory enough to appreciate reading about problems you haven’t faced yet.
    
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