this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
702 points (98.0% liked)
Lefty Memes
4556 readers
729 users here now
An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Serious posts, news, and discussion go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low-quality!
Rules
0. Only post socialist memes
That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme)
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.
- Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Rape or assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I totally agree with your standpoint, but would like to add that in this whole thread no one has mentioned that many people do need help as individuals. While I have made many negative experiences with therapists only trying to get me functional again, analyzing mental health problems away isn't going to work either. I feel like focusing only on the structural problems in this context is ignoring the individuals fighting mental health problems. That's what also frustrated me with the antipsychiatric movement.
We should be able to discuss both the structural and individual levels, because both are essential to actually solving any problems.
Half of my mental health problems would be solved if the state and capitalism didn't require themselves to exist.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder? Majorly lessened if I don't need to worry about food or shelter being stripped away if someone in my family gets sick or we lose income.
ADHD? Managed if ADHD meds weren't locked on the governmental level with cocaine and heroin, and the companies actually made more of the life saving medicine they hold hostage.
Bipolar disorder and Autism have no pills to solve, only mask the problems until they bubble. Ask me what medications I've tried for Bipolar, and I'll tell you why they didn't work.
Ask me what therapy methods I've tried and explained to my therapist network "Therapy helps with some things, but it doesn't solve the major issues of stress, anexity, and depression" before they kicked me off for a profit margin hidden as "This person doesn't want help, because they are too caught up in the lives of themselves and their families."
Yes, there's medications that help people. But after some point, the problem is no longer with that person, its the environment. Sometimes its an abusive family member. Sometimes it a toxic workplace. Most of the time its a death cult called capitalism.
For sure, like I said I agree that it is a structural problem. But we won't abolish capitalism and get rid of its brainwashing anywhere soon. In an utopian future, I can imagine all kinds of better ways how neurodiversity and generally diversity could be better incorporated into society and where we wouldn't need psychiatric institutions etc. But we unfortunately do live under capitalism and people are clearly affected by it. So, for now we certainly need some sort of help for mental health problems. It is up for debate, how this should look and I don't particularly like the psychiatric complex. But people need help nonetheless. A person with mental health problems may try to analyze capitalism as the root cause of their problems, but this won't dismantle capitalism either. At best this a form of self-efficacy, at worst a way to try to avoid overcoming deeper individual struggles.
ETA: and yes, I totally understand where you are coming from with the neurodivergent angle. If you just don't fit in society and the capitalist system, you get sanctioned and bullied for it all the time. This certainly won't go away with therapy apart from maybe making you fit in a bit better at your own cost (or even worse, brainwashing you to repress your own expressions). Same goes for being otherwise divergent, like being trans.
agree with you here too. Individual problems exist and should be taken seriously as well. I took that as a given and thus didn't mention it and wanted to focus more on the side that gets neglected faaaar too often
Socialism will not solve all mental health issues, people will always have personal problems, familiar predispositions etc. etc.
However, a lot of conditions/triggers/main reason would be resolved
As you said, it's both structural/systemic and individual problems. We need both a change in economics and social structures, that empower the working people of this world, bring the economy into their ownership and democratise it and high quality non-dogmatig and unstigmatised free healthcare, social services and so on
I totally get why you highlighted the structural side of it. In discussions of mental health problems it usually gets dismissed or ignored. In capitalist fashion, many of these problems get blamed on the individuals :(