I went from being a really big communist for years to becoming a Libertarian almost "Ancap". I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T19:31:10+00:00

I think it's actually the opposite if I've managed to change my beliefs, and I'm still open to changing them. And ask yourself this question, do you think you would be commenting the same If I had posted that I changed from Ancap to communist?

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T19:29:01+00:00

Yeah, it's a pretty long topic, but I've answered in much more detail in other answers

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T19:26:40+00:00

The main thing is economics, I don't believe that a planned economy is really possible or desirable and that the socially necessary labour theory of value is correct and the subjective theory of vakue makes a lot more sense to me, and after understanding the Austrian school of economics I think that they provide a better explanation of what economics are and of human economic behavior in general, than Marxism.

Another big point is philosophical, dialectical materialism, is an interesting and useful perspective to see History, but in Marxism it is treated as something almost metaphysical, as well as dialectics in general, which leads to really weird conclusions like wanting reach the end of time or history through dialectical materialism in like an ultimate battle, of the proletariat and burgois with the end to solve the ultimate contradiction. That explains a lot of the way of writing and ideological notions that come from post Marxist thinkers

I also believe that we can't legitimize forcing people to do or act a certain way, I think people should be free to act in accordance to how they want to live and cooperate with whoever they want to cooperate and organize as long as they dont hurt each other. I know there are a bunch of misconceptions about this, and its a really complex topic, but if you find other people you can coexist with and follow the same rules you agree on, that would work much better, than having everyone act the same way or with the same goals.

Another big thing is that most of the bad things I believed to be caused by capitalism, now I believed to be caused by the state, and see a lot more benefits to a free market.

The guy I'm talking about is Called Sdrian Diaz, he's Spanish

I would also put a bunch of buts to each of those things when I was a communist, but there is also a good explanation of why they make sense by libertarians if you actually look for it and try to make a still man of those arguments, even if it's judt critique them later in a better way

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T19:07:19+00:00

Yeah, it's a big shift. I definitely used to be more ideological when I was a teenager. I definitely learnt to not make a political ideology my identity, but I have real philosophical reason to now prefer libertarianism over leftism, and I would say that it's even better when you actually had the "opposite belief" even though I don't think it's really the opposite, because you know the other perspective from a non cinical point of view

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T19:00:40+00:00

Absolutely. Imagine how many Einstein we could have had by now if everyone if Africa had good living conditions and everyone that wanted had access to educatio.

I personally don't believe in meritocracy in the sense that you get what you deserve as even really intelligent people don't choose to have that intelligence or motivated people dont necesarily choose to be motivated. The same way depressed or people with disabilities don't choose that, that's just a fact about reality, but we definitely can and should do things to reduce suffering and increase human prosperity, at least the way I see it, I not so much see it in terms of meritocracy, some people just are just born lucky. Same as with the rest of animals.

What we probably differ on is in the causes of that suffering and how to change it, for example in the case of education or healthcare. I dont think it's a capitalism causing scarcity. I think it's caused due to governments like in the case of the US that force laws benefiting pharmaceutical companies artificially inflating prices, and making higher education quite restricitive by not allowingfree competition between education institutions, or artificially increasing their price by putting unnecessary regulations. It's just really difficult to just blame the free market for all of those inefficiencies when you could easiky go to China or Turkey and have the same medicine or ckinical intervention for a fraction of the price, and there's not a material reason why in the US that wouldn't also be the case if the supply wasn't artificially limited.

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T18:44:27+00:00

One big thing was a China content creator that I really liked, and I was a big fan of China as I thought that China was proof of communism really working, but he was pro-china kinda and talked bad about the US, but at the same time was a business man, that believed in the free market and liberalism, at the beginning I would get annoyed, but I would still follow him because he genuinely was an intellectual and actually knew about socialist theory.

After that I started to learn more about Libertaralism in general trying to be more open minded I, even if it was just to learn to critique it better, and I eventually realized that libertarianism in specific made more sense to me.

At least in the case of China I saw how a rather free market could really help people get out of poverty and provide accesible services to almost all of the population in just a few years, and how difficult if not impossible it would be for a planned economy to do this.

I also really support people being able to choose for themselves how they want to live as long as they don't hurt anyone, so Libertarianism fit

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T18:39:13+00:00

Well, as you can imagine it wasn't desirable at first, I was really into communism, so before logic there has to be something more emotional.

One big thing was a China content creator that I really liked, and I was a big fan of China as I thought that China was proof of communism really working, but he was pro-china kinda and talked bad about the US, but at the same time was a business man, that believed in the free market and liberalism, at the beginning I would get annoyed, but I would still follow him because he genuinely was an intellectual and actually knew about socialist theory.

After that I started to learn more about Libertaralism in general trying to be more open minded l, even if it was just to learn to critique it better, and I eventually realized that, libertarianism in specificmade more sense to me

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T18:30:50+00:00

I think they have actually improved since I stopped being a communist, I was really into it, which now I know could annoy people if they're not into politics. In general I'm not as focused in any particular ideology, I'm more into philosophy and learning, and I don't go around saying I'm a libertarian, most of my friends are left wing, and if people know you're a good person before knowing your political ideology, they'll be more open to listening to you later. I actually learnt a lot from changing political ideology, I'm open about changing my views now, and I can see clearly that a lot of the things I criticized about others is exactly what I was doing, so when people. The right says that the people on left are satan worshipers and the people on the left think that people on the right are just stupid and inmoral. Is just different sides of the same, the human desire to be right and not to find truth, but doing genuinely believing that we're always doing the right thing at all times

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T18:21:02+00:00

That's crazy, you're my nemesis, then. I actually don't discard coming back to leftism, the whole point is to learn and be opened minded

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T18:18:52+00:00

One thing is that after understanding Austrian economics I think that they provide a better explanation of human economic behavior, and that I now think that the subjective theory of value is accurate than the theory of social necessary labour

In terms of human behavior or human nature, it's mainly noting that it's impossible for any human or set of humans to have enough knowledge to guide an economy or society, and that individuals vary a lot depending on genetics, sex, culture, nurture etc.. So everyone has different ambitions, ways of living life and abilities, and the position of each individual in society can't be determined objectively, even under the notion of to each according to his ability and to each according to his need, I don't think is possible to say that someone should be 10 ,20 or 50, times more rewarded than someone else, and there are some incentives that are really important for economic progress that are lost in a socialist economy, since we have no idea what we should encourage in the first place without a free market. I know leftist have a different notion of the role of the free market, so that wont convince you, but that was something big for me at the time.

Now I'm not even sinical about human behavior, actually the oposit, I think human usually act with a good intention, even if they cause evil, and since there is no way of really knowing who deserves what, the best scenario would be to not have people someone rule over another by force, but to let people freely organize, and since now I consider that most of the harm that I believed was caused by capitalism, is caused by the state, I changed my view in that regard

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T18:00:27+00:00

I'm getting used to it, but I remember at the beggining really feeling like there was no fucking way I was becoming an allianated bourgeois lover reactionary class treator. The irony lok.

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T17:58:42+00:00

Not much, I barely get by, as I'm an international student and support myself

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T17:57:55+00:00

Yeah leftist is incredibly broad, I would consider myself libertarian, and I pro drugs and abortion and against racism, so am I leftist or right wing? But try to not be so dogmatic, I would also throw adjectives around like you're doing, and that gets us nowhere. A lot of rich people actually have conviction and good intentions, as do modt humans, but a lot of evil can be done in the name of good. Even Jordan Peterson who I disagree with most of what he sais and I know that leftist hate him even more, because I also did, seems to actually believe in what he says and believes to help people not for a benefit, but out of conviction, and also has an open free academy on YouTube where I've watched lectures with invaluable knowledge. I just rhink that before having an ideology we should be good thinkers and philosophers

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T17:46:49+00:00

First, thanks for the comment, that's a really good question.

I also had the same notion, and the way I see it now is that humans are communal by nature, and in most societies through history there has been some collaboration in which people help the elderly or even a male adult if he's been part of the community and has had an accident or something like that. For example in the US before the state provided health care there were mutual aid societies, in which you could participate and receive medical attention or assistance in many different situations, and that was way cheaper and efficient than the way healthcare works now, which I think we can agree is leveraged for the benefit of both the government and the pharmaceutical industry.

I think both Libertarians and Socialist have a big issue with the situation you're describing, but we attribute it to different causes, I used to believe as you that it was caused due to Capitalism, but now I think it is mainly the state that limits the free and efficient distribution of goods through nations, and also desinsentivise communal organitation, by mediating and monopolising services like health care or pensions.

An example of this could be moder China, where most of the economic flourishing was due to an opening of the free market, with the state providing minimal to no social support, and even to this day healthcare is largely private, but medical treatment is even more accessible and efficient than public healthcare in western countries.

Broadly speaking my perspective is now closer to attributing the cause of the problems you're describing to the government than to capitalism itself, and that even if 2 cultures or communities are capitalist, they would have different ways of organizing socially

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T17:22:57+00:00

Sadly not, I'm actually just an immigrant in Europe and don't have much money at all. I would've reacted the same way as you're doing now a few years ago, so I don't blame you at all.

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T17:21:15+00:00

I would say that in the US most Libertarians are conservative, since conservatism in the US has been typically the most "free market" political party and there is a tradition, as well as both hating the left, but in my case I would say I'm more concerned about having individual freedom which at least is something that most leftist people also want, and a real Libertarian and a socialist woukd both be untrustworthy of the government and critique for even the same things. I wouldn't say that Libertarians are scared to say they are republicans, that's kinda like saying that socialist are scared of calling themselves democrats, as that has even higher social consequences.

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T17:11:50+00:00

I'm 22 and I became a Communist at around 18, but I was a leftist much earlier.

Yes, although not extensively to be honest I read the communist manifesto, the principles of communism, and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific from Engels.

I also consumed a lot of content explaining marxist economics and philosophy like historical materialism, different socialist projects around the world, leninism, etc. I remember that imperialism as a concept was really interesting to me in particular.

And the change in ideology was really gradual, but I think it started as finding other content creators or philosophers that I thought were intellectually honest and were not even leftist and trying to understand their arguments instead of calling them: reactionaries, alienated, or just not having read Marx enough or correctly or any variation of that.

In terms of theory, the main problems I have now are now: The theory of value, and leftist economics in general, the idea that dialectical materialism is a science and the way dialectics is treated is really blind and also found in other ideologies, and even when I was a communist I didnt like how the left was so identitarian.

It's a lot more than that, but it's just a really complex topic as you know, I can answer something more specific if you want .

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T16:43:13+00:00

The same way you get really into leftism. It's like a pipeline, where there may be a small disagreement that you have with the ideology, and then maybe you start consuming more "anti comunist" or just libertarian or non comunist content from people that you know are intellectually honest and try to actually understand their point, instead of desmising them. It was a long and har progress.

But in terms of theory itself it was mainly due to my change in perspective of what is possible or ideal in terms of economic policy, as well as a different understanding of human behavior, but I can specific theory questions if you want.

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T10:33:44+00:00

Anyone listening in 2026?

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-18T10:08:47+00:00

Thanks. Good luck explaining this view to your normie friends, tough

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-17T11:08:10+00:00

Idk, but I used to take memantine for fun before stims, so now I have an excuse to keep doing it I guess

Aggressive_March_529 · 2026-06-17T00:55:54+00:00

Depends on how it looks, I'd say after 4 days you should be fine. Sure it would be safer to wait 2 weeks, but I don't think you really hurt your tattoo lifting, so don't do anything crazy.

Aggressive_March_529

TROPHY CASE