#14: sometimes it really is a you problem
One of many rants, pulled straight from my journal, about the on-demand economy of attention.
I am sosososososo sick to death of watching people dodge personal responsibility. Online spaces, in particular, have turned progressive language into a perfect shield for refusing to function as an adult. Personal failings? Structural oppression. Interpersonal conflicts? Some vague accusation of an -ism. Every day, I see theoretical frameworks twisted, not to analyse material conditions, but as a get-out-of-jail-free card for entirely self-centered grievances.
Did you forget to pay your half of the rent? Landlords are inherently exploitative, so expecting payment is capitalist violence. Did a friend get tired of your relentless self-victimisation? They have been poisoned by neoliberalism. Are you bad with time (guilty as charged btw)? Time itself is a construct of industrial capitalism, and punctuality is class discipline.
It is an astonishing feat, turning a centuries-old critique of exploitation into an elaborate excuse for refusing to meet even the most basic expectations of social life, and I say this with the acknowledgement that life in this day and age is indeed very, very hard. But which theorist abolished the idea of personal responsibility?! The collective struggle against oppression does not mean everyone around you is individually obligated to absorb the consequences of your choices….
The worst part? We are totally starting to believe our own nonsense. We weaponise political jargon not just against our enemies but against our very own, lobbing accusations whenever someone suggests we take responsibility for our actions. Expecting follow-through? Bourgeois rigidity. Being overwhelmed and wanting space? Therapy-speak. Setting boundaries? A self-serving act.
This, of course, is bigger than language. At its core, it is a refusal to distinguish between genuine collectivity and outright entitlement. Political spaces are not supposed to be an elaborate safety net for those whose personal growth in terms of maturity has completely halted. Support is not an infinite resource, and solidarity does not mean indulging avoidable self-destruction.
Politics requires WAYYY more. Discipline, for starters. Commitment. Community is only possible when people take responsibility for themselves first, then for each other, not when some are forced to carry the weight of others’ refusal to grow up because the latter always seem to outsource their lack of emotional regulation onto others.
Yet we nod along when personal failures are repackaged as systemic critiques. We hesitate to push back against the blatant misuse of political language, fearing it will make us seem like terrible people. But it is time to talk about self-accountability. No one is a victim 100% of the time. If you alienate everyone around you, it is not because they lack political consciousness. If people stop wanting to help, it is not because they have succumbed to neoliberal atomisation. Sometimes, it really is you.
Lastly, in regards to political organising, I can easily admit that some people in our spaces are just bad-faith actors. A functional leftist politics cannot be built on perpetual deflection. It requires accountability, self-awareness, and, above all, a refusal to let one’s endless grievance politics become a burden shouldered by individuals rather than a shared struggle against systems. Otherwise, we are just replicating the same structures we claim to oppose:
only this time with bamboozling rhetoric. ||| ||| ___ (x_x) ___ ||| |||
