What does Socialism look like to you?

[patrice]

124. I don't mind people disagreeing with me; what I don't like is being mis-understood.

I would prefer that they disagree with what I actually think instead of acting out these manufactured propaganda wars.

I feel like there's such a strong power-struggle going on that "disagreement" is cultivated even amongst ourselves. There's a difference between disagreement and differences and I don't know how our disagreements can be authentic if we don't even allow anyone to discover what their authentic differences are, because everyone gets classified as either this, or that.

That bothers me because it CAN result in LOSING ON THE ISSUES and that's horrible because winning on some important issues is what the Left needs more than anything else right now. The big focus on numbers of persons will mean 0 if we can't actually deliver on the issues (i.e. policy development and design) and I fear the different issue constituencies are going to cancel one another out with intolerance and competition, so even if there's a win it'll result in a bunch of potemkin villages as far as the issues go. People are going to get used some more and nothing will change.

The truth, positive and negative, is how we could be different from what has preceded this moment. It's what we could have going for us; that's why I liked the DU. "We don't need another hero . . ." not Obama, not Bradley Manning, not Edward Snowden. Let's tell the truth, ALL of it, good and bad, call on people to decide for themselves, and stop punishing people for ____________________ . (I was criticized for bringing a corporate-logo "American flag" to a Bradley Manning rally recently. Several old-timers from "the peace movement" were part of it.)

I can't stand this "shut up, no public thinking, just repeat the prescribed memes" organizing tactic and what calls itself "the Left" does it too. Tell the truth about Bradley Manning et al, and ALL of the social issues, positive and negative. Respect people's minds enough to set them free. That's how a socialistic movement can put down roots and discover what's next. Anything else runs a strong risk of being the same old shit and we ARE running out of time.