Ryu289 - Untitled

If I may add to the discussion, I think a big issue with online activism is that people are so concerned with looking like a good person that they don't understand the reasons why someone might do something that technically goes against leftists principles. It's so easy to judge someone for not boycotting certain establishments that are objectively bad (and I'm all for boycotting if possible don't get me wrong!) but people often seem to forget that not everyone has the means to boycott. Where I live, the only way I can get basic necessities is often through Amazon or other big retail chains. I'm not proud of it but I literally don't have a choice right now. Like you and a couple of the other anons have said, a big issue with online activism is that people are so concerned with doing things that they believe are the markers of a good person that they forget that part of being a good person means being open to conversations and understanding why people do or don't do things. And this includes the people they have deemed as "bad people."

Yes that is a good point! 'There is no ethical consumption under capitalism' is not an excuse to never even try to be ethical in your choices, but it's also not actually a progressive position to demonize people with no effort put into understanding their practical, structural realities.

News headlines from this past week 3/23/25

This has one of the most heartwarming historical trans stories I've ever read. In 1971, Carl Macmichael and his cis son spoke to the Sunday paper. Not only did Carl's 15-year-old son support his father, but he was delighted to have a trans dad: "I think he's very brave. It's quite handy to have mum and dad the same person."

Shortly after transitioning, Carl asked Thelma O'Sullivan to become his nurse in 1969. She helped Carl medically transition for 2 years while realizing her feelings for him. "Many people have ridiculed Carl, and I suppose some people will think me odd for falling in love with him. But I don't care," she explained. "He has gone through a great deal and I hope I can give him a little of the happiness that he is seeking."

Like most trans people at the time, Carl claimed to be intersex. Having XY chromosomes and being capable of giving birth is extraordinarily rare, leaving us to wonder if he told this to newspapers for legitimacy. All the names in the article are pseudonyms so there was never any follow-up after 1971.

"White male conservatives want to be oppressed so badly."

This isn't true at all.

If they're working class, they're oppressed by the rich.

Many of them could easily be neurodivergent in some way but undiagnosed.

Very likely a majority of them were abused by their parents.

So if they wanted to be oppressed, they most likely already are. They could easily speak out against their actual experiences with oppression.

What they want isn't to be oppressed. What they want is the feeling of victory over oppression without actually having to experience the oppression. Fighting back against the ways that they're actually oppressed would be hard work, would be met with massive opposition, ridicule, and possibly even violence, and would be an ongoing battle that only once in a blue moon results in victory. But if they claim to be oppressed as a white man, then they can feel victorious whenever they see a woman or a person of color suffering.