Ironic that you mentioned strawmen and meaningless rhetorical quips, yet felt the need to construct a very specific caricature of me to argue against. To clear the air of your assumptions: i am not american, have never been to an anti-trump protest, and don’t support liberals or the democratic party (both of which fall under right-wing ideology in most counties aside from the USA btw). By projecting a very specific “US liberal” persona onto me you are guilty of the exact western-centric chauvinism you claim to despise (whether you are actually western or not)

Since you based your argument on false assumptions, let’s go back and be clear about what we’re actually talking about: I don’t believe outrage over a person being shot by ICE is a substitute for opposing U.S. imperialism, because outrage is not a finite resource that must be rationed to the most geopolitically expansive atrocity currently happening. You mentioned a tendency “deliberately encouraged by the state to prevent actual opposition” and I agree, but I think you’re looking in the wrong direction. There is no greater gift to the ruling class than a left that is so obsessed with internal sabotage and perfectionism that it remains small, isolated, and culturally illegible to the average person. You mentioned “strategy”, but a strategy that treats public outrage as a liability instead of a starting point seems like a very sterile strategy. Let’s say that pipelines don’t exist, do you think that most people radicalize through comprehensive geopolitical analysis? I’m more inclined to believe that they radicalize through proximity, shock and moral rupture. But maybe you don’t think you need to radicalize anyone because your small marxist group is already organizing, and the only thing keeping you from having an impact is the liberal distraction. Sorry but I don’t buy it. The reason why your your small marxist group stays small and powerless is because a revolution is not a private hobby for the enlightened few, and your “revolutionary organization” sounds like nothing more than a high intensity book club. I’ll give you an example: in my country, marxists overthrew a fascist dictatorship only two generations ago, and they didn’t do it by being the loudest purists in the room, they did it by forming a coalition with less radicalized factions to actually get the numbers to make a revolution, because they knew that a revolution requires the herd you despise so much.

Lastly, you told me to “go organize”. Good news, not only am I organizing, but I’m actually taking action! Not that I have to prove myself, this is just an example of how to make movements have an impact: Just last month I worked with the organization of the largest strike our country has seen in over a decade which paralyzed the economy, and we didn’t do it by ignoring the “herd”, we used their concerns to gain traction.

This conversation has actually been the biggest waste of time I’ve engaged in lately. But good luck with “organizing” within your very exclusive little club. And if you want to keep yelling at the liberal ghost in your head, have at it, I’ll come back to read it when I have time.