Race, Communism, Anarchism, Environment, & Capitalism

[Keith2]

I am considering being communist for environmental reasons. My reasoning is that capitalism is based on expanding profits which results in frivolous consumption being encouraged which results in environmental degredation. An example of this is how cars are built to break so that car companies can keep selling cars whereas in the 1950's they were built to last a lifetime.

So I checked the revleft forum and noticed that "white males" were consistently bashed. I am uncomfortable with a gender or racial group being bashed, it is racist and sexist to do so. There were white males who have done bad things but there have also been white females who have done bad things and there have been males and females of all races who have done bad things.

So I would prefer if people are going to critique capitalism that they critique the system of capitalism itself rather than scapegoat an ethnic group or a gender.

And so being a white male this makes me hesitant to be a communist even though in traditional communism issues regarding race and gender are not prominent. In traditional communism the rich as a social class are scapegoated and I am not comfortable with this either, again I would prefer the system itself be criticised.

My major problem with communism is I have found many government employees to be rude and so would everything being state run spread this rudeness?

So I have investigated anarchism and I like some of its basic foundational ideas but I do not see how it is possible to implement such a political system. In America anarchism seems like more of a cultural movement than a political one. And so I do think anarchism in America is valid as a cultural entity and it is valid in being able to achieve certain political aims but I do not think anarchism in America would be able to achieve anarchy as a form of government on a national level.

If anyone has any thoughts on any of these issues please share them.

 

[billyriot]

As far as Anarchism being implemented on a nationwide scale, I find it pretty implausible; though I do advocate and practice Anarchism, as you stated, as a cultural movement-- seeing as how it's the most practical way of going about it at this given time in my life. I fully understand that with any given ideal, there are bound to be negative approaches (I guess you could call them variables) that could potentially come into play that would sort of compromise the legitimacy of an Anarchist society (e.g. 'anomists', people psychologically unprepared to live in a free state, exploiters, etc.); but I have found that I can apply it to my own life and have been doing so for years in hopes that other people will be able to take action and integrate theory and practice into their own lives.

I'm fully aware that it can and never will happen overnight, at least for the vast majority, so it must by a step-by-step process of educating and understanding.

As far as racial/sexist bashing, that can be expected from almost every demographic conceivable-- people were just brought up that way, unfortunately. And unlearning something you've been conditioned to believe your whole life isn't an easy task. That, and scapegoat tactics are easy when you cannot readily point blame to any non-tangible entity such as 'the economy' or 'the government' (mind you I use the terms loosely). Blame takes the responsibility out of the hands of those being affected by change, and as I've learned-- no one likes to clean up the mess, especially one they didn't create.

 

[Gudj]

Save yourself some time and skip to complete political nihilism.

 

[Mankini]

Never mind "implementing things on a national scale". Anarchy is first and foremost about diy. So if you like it, just fuckin do it. Start here, now, today. A flag of one. A country 3 feet wide which is wherever I am. You don't need leaders and followers. Just you.