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You know, I actually don't know anything about Jesse Jackson. I'm not American so I managed to completely dodge his backstory somehow.

Very valuable contributions.

One thing that your comment reminds me of is this question - what's the difference between a wrecker and someone who is messy? The only difference is intention. And what use are intentions to we who are materialists anyway? A wrecker is as a wrecker does,

Just a word of caution. It's also poor form to just go accusing people of being a fed or a wrecker without solid evidence because that can cause a lot of damage too. If you have suspicions, observe and be patient. Keep track. Keep a journal if you need to. You have been wrong before and you will be wrong again, so don't go cashing in all your credibility on an overblown hunch and don't go causing unnecessary disruption in an org just because you started seeing things that weren't really there.

Raise your concerns with a trusted member of leadership. Make sure that you make a time to talk privately. Give them clear, concise feedback and observations from what you have seen or heard and not from how you have interpreted things. The unfortunate reality is that if you get rid of one infiltrator/infiltrator ring then they'll probably send the next one in soon after, especially if we're talking feds and an org that has attracted their attention. Sometimes it's better to see where the knife will come from than it is to allow yourself to be stabbed in the back. Don't gossip. Don't spread rumours. Trust in your org's leadership and if you have serious concerns about them failing to act appropriately, raise these concerns directly with your leadership. They may have something in the works. Don't go fucking up their long-term strategy all because you decided to play detective one day and you wanted to blow the lid off the whole thing.

Added!

I figured it would be a shit time for most people on this site, what with it being in the middle of the night in North America. But I'll change the timeslots around until I find a groove that suits people so I'm sure you'll get the chance to pop in soon enough. I'm looking forward to seeing you in there!

I hate that it makes me look like yet another all-talk-no-substance fair-weather Marxist but it's the only way I know to keep everyone involved safe.

Nah, you're making a decision that's in the best interests of the movement despite the personal costs of doing so. That's very different because you are making a difficult compromise to do what's right for organisations whereas fair-weather Marxists do what makes them feel good regardless of the consequences. In fact, in my opinion that's effectively the direct opposite.

I can sympathise with your frustrations though. My health is pretty trash. I'm not capable of doing much organising besides helping out with the local FNB-adjacent org here and there while providing some input to assist the back-of-house stuff like procedures and all that. I'd like to do a lot more. I'd like to be on the frontlines. But my circumstances do not allow it, so I contribute locally and to more international stuff like this site because that's what I am capable of, so that's what I try my best to do.

There's a place for everyone, even you. It sucks that the place that best suits you might not be the place that you most desire to be in. But contributing to reading groups and participating in the discussions is still very important - you have no way of knowing what you might inspire in someone else, someone who might go on to become leader of the vanguard in your region one day. You can still be a role-model and you can still have valuable input, it's just a pity that you probably won't get that direct feedback where you get to see your actions reap results directly. You know, Allende was instructed in Marxism by an old Italian anarchist bootmaker (anarchist comrades, I kid you not - on the matter of boots, Allende deferred to the expertise of the bootmaker [!!]) Allende would then go on to lead the only successful parliamentary revolution directly because of this anarchist bootmaker's guidance and, despite the coup, there is so much to learn from Chile under Allende. Even if it all went to shit afterwards. He dared to struggle. He didn't win but he gave it his best shot. Could this bootmaker have ever known how close Allende would get to succeeding? Could he have ever known what achievements he would inspire by his conversations with Allende?

So I guess what I'm saying here is that you have a similar sort of opportunity here. Treat every comrade you encounter as being the next Allende because you never know exactly what will grow from the seeds that you plant.

It's okay, I was just being silly. I wasn't really feeling embarrassed.

To be honest, I can't recall seeing a single error in any of your comments. There's probably something in there about us having a tendency to be our own worst critics.

Yay! You just doubled the length of the ping list!

Looking forward to seeing you in the server sometime soon.

Yeah, we're on the same page. In that case, excuse my yapping.

I have Foucault on my list to read but it probably won't be for a year or 2 because of how backlogged I am but now I'm eager.

I'm conflicted about Foucault tbh. But at the end of the day his thought is very influential and there are some useful tools to add to the toolkit which his work provides so even if you don't agree with everything or you take issue with certain things, it's still very useful to read Foucault.

And you dragon analogy is powerful.

I have to confess that's really just me regurgitating Niezsche from memory and adapting it to gender normativity. I'm sure he'd hate that, which makes it all the better.

I think the Foucault thing got my galaxy brain pinging off of Niezsche so it kinda just came pouring out. Also don't read Niezsche unless you really, really have the burning desire to. There are two types of people who read Niezsche: young, mostly white, men who are edgelords that want a philosophical justification for why they are better than everyone else and dusty old philosophy academics who are sequestered away in some university office building. You aren't either of those two key demographics, thankfully.

I've added you to the list. You're the first username on it!

Thanks for the support!

Hopefully I'll plan a session that fits your schedule soon.

I'm going to shift around in the time slots to cover different time zones/shifts for people. If I'm lucky there will be enough interest one day that either a regular timeslot will naturally appear, or people might even start asking me for when they want it to happen.

Who knows? It's early days so I'll keep my expectations low and my hopes high.

Yay!

I can add you to the ping list for when I schedule the next one if you'd like?

Edit: Yay @ looking into the game and showing interest in this, not yay @ you not being able to make it this time lol. I got too enthusiastic for a minute there.

It's only the second round at it and the time slot is unsuitable for most North Americans so I'm expecting a very small turnout this time around. (I don't want to turn people off by giving the impression that it isn't popular because there's something wrong with the space but honestly I'm expecting maybe one person to drop in this time. If it's zero, I wouldn't be surprised. If it's two people then I'd be thrilled. But three people? If that happened I'd be writing about that in my diary with boundless enthusiasm.)

Also this has been a soft-launch of the peer space. I didn't want to go all-in and overcommit only to underdeliver because I didn't have my shit all sorted out. I figure that most neurotypical people aren't really spending much time in here so I figure it's a little corner that I can work away in where I'm not getting the full attention of Hexbear's larger comms prematurely. Plus I think I have an established reputation with this comm's users so there's some trust and goodwill I'd hope that I've built up which I can lean on if there are any hiccups. So with all that said, it's not a neurodivergent-only space and it was never intended to be that way.

This isn't like me to talk about myself like this but I'm actually really comfortable in negotiating competing demands on myself in this sort of space so I know how to make a queue and how to negotiate meeting different/conflicting needs in a group setting in a way that is collaborative with everyone in the space. If you are considering dropping in then don't worry about taking "someone else's" place. I can virtually guarantee you that I'll be sitting in the server by myself on waiting mode, twiddling my thumbs or practicing guitar while I await someone coming in. If this is your concern, I'd be happy to come to an agreement with you that as soon as I'm overloaded I will let you know and I'll politely ask you to bail on the server.

But don't let me convince you either way. You're welcome to do as you please. I'd be happy to see you in there but if you decide it's not for you then I'm glad that you know what you're looking for. Just don't convince yourself that you don't belong or you are somehow less worthy of using the space than others - that's the exact opposite of the spirit of this peer space.

Hmm. I don't want to hand my opposition a free guidebook of exactly what to avoid so they can do a better job of being a fed however, in general terms:

Feds basically try to "groom" people by convincing them of things - you deserved that position on the central committee, you should be the leader of your own party, you can trust me and we can plan out an adventure time, you are right to feel vengeful towards other party members. That sort of thing.

They seek to isolate people, generally the more psychologically vulnerable people (e.g. the ones who are too trusting or who are easily led by someone who sounds convincing and authoritative). A lot of what they do cannot be done in broad daylight, they need to be away from prying eyes to avoid being called out.

They encourage poor behaviour. They discourage people from reading, they discourage accountability and integrity, they discourage unity, they discourage good OpSec ("It's okay, it's just you and me - you can trust me. Now that I've gotten you all riled up about Donald Trump's reelection, tell me what you'd really do to stop him if you had access to the right resources.")

Always beware the adventurist. Not all adventurists are feds, and every radical experiences wistful thoughts about adventurism from time to time but the genuine adventurists are either prime targets for feds or they themselves are feds. Either way, hard pass.

They demonstrate a lack of fluency in theory and in the correct use of terminology. You know how a liberal fundamentally fails to grasp the Marxist concept of class? Yeah, that's what a fed is like, They'll try and they'll fail but they'll attempt to cover their tracks by gaslighting you and making excuses and doing shit like pretending to get stuck with the word on the tip of their tongue while they hem and haw and click so you'll feel compelled to finish their sentence for them.

They tend to be a liberal caricature of radicalism, of whichever flavour you happen to prefer. "How do you do, fellow leftists? You know I was thinking the other day about how Stalin did nothing wrong, amirite?"

They encourage hastiness (what a clunky word!) If you are slow and deliberate, you can be observant and you can notice when things aren't quite adding up. If everything feels pressured and you are being pushed to make rash decisions, then it is easier to steer you towards making a bad decision that can be very harmful in a variety of ways. Patience and being measured is anathema to feds and to wreckers.

They don't tend to offer up recent insights voluntarily from their studies. "Did you know that there were basically competing police forces in the Spanish Republic and they battled it out on the streets for primacy? Kinda wild to think, especially when the fascists were breathing down their neck at the time..." because they aren't learning theory and history on the same level as we are/should be, and also their understandings and conclusions often betray a liberal bias. So they generally avoid doing this, whereas comrades will be excited to share interesting things they have learned from their studies.

They don't like being pressed for more info. They tend to have a superficial understanding of things. They'll have their front constructed but as soon as you start probing their knowledge, they will desperately try to distract or avoid or do anything to salvage their cover. The best thing a comrade can do around a suspected fed or infiltrator of any kind is to conceal the depth of their own knowledge and pretend to be much more naive of theory and history than they are. This gives a likelihood of disarming the infiltrator and they will feel more complacent about talking themselves to the point that they have overextended themselves. The ones who flaunt their knowledge and who are very forthright with their positions and understandings are the ones an infiltrator will be very guarded around. There's roles for both types of comrades in an organisation but if you start getting suspicious about somebody then you have little to lose by hiding your power and biding your time while carefully observing to see if everything fits together more or less as expected or if things are incongruent. Apologies for being vague in what I'm saying here but I hope you get what I'm driving at without me being more explicit.

They can be cult-y. Trying to make splinter factions, trying to create a "family" out of a select group of people within the org, using drugs as a means for in-group bonding and loosening lips and for social control, fostering addiction with members who are prone to it. That sort of thing.

Comrades want the best for you and to see the best in you. They will guide you to be your better self, they will caution you against making errors, and they will try to build you up and encourage you to do the right things. Infiltrators will do the opposite. They will encourage the worst behaviours, they will guide you towards misconduct and malfeasance, they will try to break down your protections and find any gap in your armour to exploit. If they can't find one, they will try to make one. A comrade is one who you can count on to be the angel on your shoulder, guiding you towards the right things, while an infiltrator will the be devil on your shoulder, guiding you towards the wrong things. Didn't want to get all religious-overtonesy with you but I'm relying on metaphor to stay a bit vague here so that's what I've got.

Feds often start off good and then gradually dial up their shenanigans over time. You are the frog in the pot of water. Remember to check the temperature from time to time and don't rely on the fact that it was nice and cool when you first hopped in because all things change over time and that especially applies to feds.

Beware of the person who wants to get too close to you too quickly, who is too familiar too readily, and who tries to get more information out of you than they should.

We are probably all guilty of at least some of this stuff some of the time but look especially for patterns and trends. Everyone slips up sometimes but a moment of indiscretion or acting rashly is very different to a gradual trend in escalation of these things or a pattern of repeating certain behaviours or strategies over and over again.

Those are some of my thoughts.

You must be good at sticking it out through the tough times because here you are, doing this very thing right now as we speak.

Them wings ain't just for show, they give you the ability to rise above it

It was interesting to me to note that I was disappointed but not perturbed by the US election results but the drama here has gotten to me much more. I guess it's because I care about this place and its users far more than I care about that absurd circus that they call liberal democratic elections, so maybe my priorities are in good order here?

My approach is to keep doing what I do, to steer clear of the drama, and to avoid throwing fuel on the fire. (Maybe deep down I'm a radical centrist? /s)

At the end of the day, I think it's just an unfortunate series of discrete events of drama that have occurred at the same time. If it happens to be driven by a wrecker or if a wrecker is attempting to take advantage of the opportunity that this situation has presented them with then that has no power over me because I'm just gonna be over here in my little corner, doing exactly what I've been doing, and I'm not going to get dragged into factionalism or drama or any externally-inflicted burnout because I'm just some weird little guy doing their weird little thing - can't stop, won't stop.

"This is my business email address and I expect people to treat it with the seriousness and respect that it deserves! 😤"

Also I decided that enbie is a much cuter spelling so I'm using that when I refer to myself as enby.

Shhh, no don't - you're gonna embarrass me. I do this so, so often it's not even funny.

You know what? It's really not my style of game either and it's so outside of my preferred genres that I had to make myself go through a crash course to figure out the basics of it (I think I've played a sum total of one hour on Animal Crossing throughout my existence).

But it suits my purposes, which is to have an online co-op game that is very relaxed and which allows for chatting. I had been kicking around the idea of using VR Chat but that seems to be a lot more resource intensive and while you can play without VR gear (at least I think you can) I didn't want to create a very visible distinction between the people who can afford VR gear and people who cannot, nor to expect that everyone can afford a gaming rig (I know I can't) or a suitably specced-out computer.

So it's basically a proletarian VR Chat surrogate that I'm using to hold an online peer support space in.

If people want to hang out and play in the server then that's a bonus and, in my experience, having a drop-in space is always miles better if there is something else, anything else, to do besides just chatting because if it's exclusively chatting without any other activity then it can get pretty awkward and the drop-in starts getting the same vibe as sharing an elevator or being in a waiting room with someone else. Since the game allows you to fish, run around and explore the world, buy stuff and customise your character, do metal detecting, do chalk art, and play guitar it's a big plus because it means that there's probably an in-game activity that people can engage in that they don't mind doing.

If you absolutely cannot stand fishing games that's cool, you're still very welcome to join just to chat or to try the other activities. I'll try and make sure I have enough in-game cash to buy any items that are required for the minigame activities so I can give them out to people who don't want to do the fishing but want to do a different activity.

And if it doesn't appeal to you whatsoever that's cool too, I respect that. I'd make it suit everyone if I could but the best I can do is to settle on something that has the broadest appeal while fitting with the purpose for an appropriate drop-in peer support space.