A new comrade with a lot of energy and creativity has joined my organization. It is a joy to work with them and they add a lot to our work. However, they have years of critical theory academy time in them and it makes it difficult to discuss politics...because I do not understand anything they say. I am seeking advice on how to handle this constructively. If I am alienated speaking to them, certainly the community we work in will be too and I want to avoid that situation. An emblematic example is below:
For instance, we were having a good conversation about disability activism and suddenly a switch flipped and they entered jargon mode. When I told them I did not understand they got very apologetic and seemed hurt. I do not know how to proceed.
There have been a few similar instants and now I am starting to dread when they raise their hand. Clearly some of the issue is in my reaction, too, and I am trying to work on that. Any advice is appreciated!
Have some one on one conversations where you lead with empathetic statements and then say, "but sometimes it's hard to follow due to some of the academic language you use". Come armed with examples but use them constructively, like use the exact example you're thinking of and say that you're really curious about what they had to say and think it's really cool that they know all this stuff, and you'd really appreciate it if they took some time to explain it to you. Thank them for their time and explanations and for bringing a valuable perspective to the group.
Rinse and repeat until they figure out how to talk the same way to people that aren't just you. Make it a positive experience that's about understanding what they're saying as much as possible - no need to emphasize the "too much jargon" part every single time. You can just ask if they can explain it to you and help you understand when a term isn't clear.
Also this is generally just good advice for getting people to be your allies imo. It's also very close to how you should generally organize among comrades / potential union members as well, only in those cases you want to have certain other questions ready to go.