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I find it’s hard not to feel a bit arrogant sometimes having ML views in the west. I don’t really like feeling that way, but I have the feeling sometimes. Maybe lingering arrogance from previous socialization is part of it. But I also think a factor is that the western status quo insists on being blind to the insight and direction that scientific socialism can provide. So it’s like you’re on “team science but applied to politics” and they’re like “nuh uh, that’s communism, communism bad.” And even with a basic understanding of the framework, you’re already so far past on understanding how things work and why, and what could be done differently. It doesn’t even mean you’re good at it in a broader, practiced sense (like you might be really bad at it compared to an average party member in an AES state), but compared to the average westerner with no understanding of it, it’s leaps and bounds just to have the basics.
So I don’t know. I self-hate arrogance and ego in general. But maybe that feeling is my way of coping with how politically illiterate people tend to be. Arrogance rather than despairing about it or something.
Yeah I feel that way sometimes too. The western liberal status quo can be really frustrating, especially their stubborn resistance to new perspectives. Arrogance about having ML views probably feels better than that frustration.
When I notice arrogance in myself, I try to remember that everyone has to start somewhere - that there was a time before I became an ML, when I was an ignorant radlib westerner lost in a sea of propaganda. It’s humbling (even somewhat embarrassing in hindsight), and it helps me to be a more effective educator when I can have empathy and understand where people are at. Not trying to give any unsolicited advice, just sharing my own experience.
Thanks, yeah, that’s a healthy reminder. Reminds me, one way I try to combat it is to reframe my own situation as the result of a lot more than just me. For example, remembering the people who most contributed to my learning about this stuff. Or remembering a place like this and how it has contributed to my growth in it.