Remember back in early 2020 when people were talking about how Covid is going to change how the society is organized, how it was an opportunity for a fairer social redistribution? Well, none of that fucking happened. Instead, the capitalists won hard by consolidating even more wealth than ever.

I must admit, I was skeptical of the idea that the pandemic would lead to a good result from the get-go, despite all the analogies made to the Black Death and how that increased the power of workers at that time. But I didn’t expect it to end this badly. Like, this is hilariously fucking awful.

I went from “We are almost certainly screwed because of climate change but I have a residual belief that maybe under enough pressure and desperation, westerners will forge a new system”

to

“Nope, not a chance in hell, the West and its populations are irrevocably fucked and the best we can hope for is to get like-minded people together to form small agricultural communities and hope we survive long enough to create a new system after the collapse; best of luck to countries outside the West, hopefully they can all form one giant bloc and work together to survive”

I pretty much agree. It’s kinda analogous to, say, whether donating to charity or giving homeless people money is a requirement on the checklist of whether you’re a Good Person / A Member Of The Good Group - in the context of most western countries without large organized communist parties/structures, without party discipline, where everybody who wants to call themselves a socialist can do so without being expected to take it to any kind of next level, nor have a consistent understanding of what “socialism” even means compared to their peers.

In these cases, it’s easy to get paralyzed by indecision when you know that you’re taking an individual action that requires some degree of effort/planning/money, that makes barely an iota worth of difference to the wider picture and yet you know you should morally do if possible. I think - or at least, hope - that most people on this site would be supportive if the system above us enforced pandemic restrictions such that we all were required to follow them, and the comment threads like the one you linked are indicative of the confusion about what we do now that that system has entirely evaporated from its already meager 2020/21 state.

Ultimately, I come down on the side that practicing what you preach is important, even if the impact of it is fairly negligible, so I would at least be fully vaccinated and wear masks in appropriate situations and inform people who I was recently around if I caught the virus. Internally I just don’t see the point in calling myself a socialist if I don’t take actions congruent with that. If nothing else, you’re practicing self-discipline for if and when a communist party structure does erupt out of the coming chaos of the multipolar world.

But then, I’m coming at it from the perspective of being persistently anti-doomer, because for a variety of reasons, I don’t think an ideal socialist should ever be seen as being moody or pessimistic. Having off-days is inevitable and being cynical is fine (and probably mandatory, actually) but internally, I cannot square the circle of “I believe that a better world is possible and that human nature is not inherently selfish, as are the prerequisites of socialism being even possible, but I also always believe that bad things or even the worst thing will always happen and I don’t have hope.” To be absolutely clear, I’m not at all dunking on or criticizing people with mental illnesses or conditions (e.g. depression).

I understand it may be hard for some but I’m not realy empathetic to people making these shitty rationalizations in order to justify their choice here.

In a way it reminds me of “treats” discussions, where people who are perhaps not as familiar with how and when we use the term “treats” come in and are like “Hey, so when you all make fun of westerners having “treats” or being addicted to them to the point where they are willing to enslave billions for them, what do you mean by that? Are you saying that we shouldn’t have nice things at all and we should all be austere to reduce suffering as much as possible?”

Usually, the nuanced position that we have on it is something like “‘Treats’ is a term used to describe objects and/or entertainment in a disparaging way because of the importance that people, particularly (but not exclusively) westerners place on them, as they are relatively more privileged than others throughout the world. A minimum level of enjoyment is necessary to have a happy and fulfilled life, and because there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, this means that as long as the current system exists then a minimum level of exploitation is inevitable (and we, as socialists, aim to ameliorate this exploitation) but consumption of objects/entertainment is often taken to excessive levels due to systematic and individual selfishness.”

I feel like a similar thing is going on when social interaction and hanging out with friends and going outside in general is discussed here, where the pro-safety people like us (for lack of a better term) are, due to mainly western propaganda, seen as totally disparaging those things and thus the positions are incorrectly assumed to be between “Spend every hour of your life inside your house or apartment, never take your mask off, do not have fun outside” and “Let it rip, cough everywhere, blood for the blood god” and people therefore come to threads like “Hmm, I have a unique and nuanced position, where you can have fun outside but make sure you’re vaccinated and wear a proper protective mask, and stay quarantined if you can while you’re infected, and don’t take unnecessary risks!” without realizing that that’s literally the position of the pro-safety side.

Except that “nuanced” position has been drifting towards the “blood for the blood god” side as time has gone by, so now it’s not really the same as the “pro-safety” side anymore. To the point where even mask-wearing (among people who were pro-mask for 2020 and 2021, not the chuds who were immediately anti-mask from day one of the pandemic) is seen as a little extreme.