I personally did not like mistborn (era 1) nearly as much as most fans. The setting is very grim, very “life is imminently doomed”. Its that way for Elantris as well. I get enough bleakness from reality. Same reason I could barely get through the first Wheel of Time book before dropping that series.

Ive read all of the cosmere at this point. I started with Stormlight archive and Im glad I did, its his strongest writing, and I honestly just think people become better people if they internalize the messages of those books. If you need a shorter starting point, Emperors Soul and Warbreaker are amazing standalones that require no prior knowledge, spoil nothing, and provide context to later developments.

Everyone starts somewhere or nowhere at all. To quote my favorite book, Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson “the most important step isnt the first, is it? No, it’s the next step, always the next one.”

The most powerful model to communicate, imo, is talking about it as 4 pillars of Capitalism, Patriarchy, White Supremacy, and Colonialism. When education is based on the interweavings of those forms of injustice, it is hard to come to any conclusion other than joining in class solidarity as a piece of the puzzle.

And frankly, I most want to talk to those who are already aware of one or two of these pillars as they are most ready to accept the whole picture. Sure, those people are frustrating, but realistically, they are a fundamental part of the Overton funnel towards the left.

Wait, who is saying no to class solidarity?

Hey its fine if you want to believe you’re right, we all think we are. Thats why we believe what we believe. But can you at least not call people libs for not wanting authoritarianism?

This is literally how im trying to play Elden Ring now

Not necessarily. There are indigenous societies from all across the world who were communist for millenia, and many who still strive for it while capitalism is forced upon them. They often are more anarchist in structure.

But even assuming that state power of some degree is required, there is a lot of room for debate about how much. Original commenter seemed concerned about authoritarianism, I assume that their understanding of communism is Stalin’s USSR. There are certainly ways to be auth/com without going that far, and that commenter may find those appealing.

Not all communism is authoritarian

Im not a scholar on china. I dont know a ton, and I dont know anything with a great degree of confidence. My understanding is that to some degree, they do human rights abuses much like the USA, Russia, UK, India etc. To my understanding, that’s just kind of a thing superpower countries do. I have enough on my hands dealing with the USA and all its problems. I value human dignity as the focal point of what a government should embody. If you can think of things they are doing thay go against that, that’s probably what id starr with. If you think that china is sufficiently defending human dignity without exception, id love to hear about that

Solarpunk is the fiction, the ideal. What China is doing in this regard is 1 version of an attempt to achieve it, and that’s great! Its not the only path forward and there is room for critique of every attempt.

As an anarchist, I would like less authoritarianism actually. But, as a solarpunk enthusiast and environmentalist, im in favor of this action by China. I believe that actions towards solarpunk and actions against government systems i dont like should be handled separately

This is a better way of saying what I tried to say in my own comment

No no, it can stay stupidity. But hammer home that its not an improvement

So you’re saying that eliminating peoples utility bills, giving them more resources and hope, wont help the revolution and we should disregard renewable energy? That little steps towards a better more equitable world should not be advertised?

Renewable energy is still a commodity because we still don’t have enough renewable capacity to take care of all our energy needs. When renewable capacity hits 90%, you are going to see a massive shift in how energy is thought about

People who are poor and must expend all they have just getting by dont have the time or energy to join the revolution. If people have one less bill to worry about, they have more time for the revolution. It also means the capitalist system has less leverage to dangle over everyone’s head, because the access to electricity will be in their control

Thats pretty nuts. What about goats?

Pessimistic “leftist” seen here not focusing on the real world but instead imagining maximum doom

You cannot convince me to take you seriously after that.

Just say you know nothing about prisons or prison abolition