#41
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: ~
most of what i read at this point are books, though ill skim social media and read the occasional article on BAR or whatever. the PSL's interviews are usually good, so I end up watching some telesur, RT, and jared ball
#42
Post rating: ~

Urbandale posted:

telesur, RT


some good stuff but they're a minefield of disinfo agents like webster tarpley and abby martin

#43
Occupied Aztlan
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Abby Martin is a friend of the party cuz someone is banging someone else atm

Edited by Urbandale ()

#44
Post rating: ~
to be fair her telesur show looks like it covers some good stuff but the breathless presentation, oy vey
#45
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: +
The far left's presentation in most every media is like that and it bugs the hell out of me. We went from a regular journal discussing things like the socialist character of China and what we should and shouldn't support to a two page piece of paper with godawful prose. I feel bad about the image it presents to the wider public, so much so that our branch hasn't done organized distribution of it in over a year.
#46
Post rating: +
That's a shame. There's a place for both journals and pamphlets, they should have different styles but that doesn't mean the pamphlets can be garbage. Who is the intended audience? What is the intended effect? These are the primary concerns when making a publication imo
#47
Marxsplainer
Post rating: ~

Urbandale posted:

The far left's presentation in most every media is like that and it bugs the hell out of me. We went from a regular journal discussing things like the socialist character of China and what we should and shouldn't support to a two page piece of paper with godawful prose. I feel bad about the image it presents to the wider public, so much so that our branch hasn't done organized distribution of it in over a year.



this one million times over. also, the heinous layout and design. it looks and reads like shit.

#48
mt.real
Post rating: +
tbh i can probably count on one hand the number of actually leftist documents or media i've seen that didn't look like they were made by people blasted out of their mind on drugs or recently thawed out of a time capsule from 1987

*adds under_construction.gif to rhizzone front page*
#49
mt.real
Post rating: ~
and awful looking amateur pamphlets or whatever, i mean, who is actually reading them? seriously. yes it's because we've all been conditioned by capital to only prefer the most expensive looking media but we can't retroactively fix that, it's true, today, so writing needs to not look like it's on toilet paper
#50
Post rating: ~
imo zines are a good alternative for comrades who are frustrated with this situation and want to produce something themselves. they're cheap and easy to make and you can employ humour to get your message over. also theyre perfect to do as one-shots if you dont want to fall into the trap of committing to an ongoing publication and quitting after the second issue

meanwhile, tangentially related to the thread, this is a pretty cool interview https://soundcloud.com/media-roots/adversarial-journalism-in-russia-convoluted-analysis-of-propaganda-with-mark-ames - ames also mentions this related article he was working on at the time https://pando.com/2015/05/17/neocons-2-0-the-problem-with-peter-pomerantsev/
#51
Post rating: +
speaking of disinfo I've noticed a full on pop culture blitz to turn the Black Panthers into a liberal charity group. from that stupid documentary on PBS to Beyonce at the superbowl to a bunch of thought pieces in the media the propaganda is everywhere. Here are some of the more ridiculous ones:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/02/16/fifty-years-later-america-still-cant-understand-the-black-panthers/?postshare=8601455659015419&tid=ss_fb
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/16/us/black-panthers/

The Panthers were more than militants; they were pioneers in American pop and political culture. The Black Lives Matter movement, the rise of social media, music and sports, even Donald Trump -- all were shaped by the Panthers in some way, historians and ex-Panthers say.

lol

#52
Marxsplainer
Post rating: ~
i wish some black panthers would "shape" donald trump, preferably with sledgehammers
#53
Marxsplainer
Post rating: ~

drwhat posted:

tbh i can probably count on one hand the number of actually leftist documents or media i've seen that didn't look like they were made by people blasted out of their mind on drugs or recently thawed out of a time capsule from 1987

*adds under_construction.gif to rhizzone front page*



i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that (in the orgs I deal with at least) many of the publications are pet projects of senior members who literally have been doing it since the 80s and can be territorial and defensive about changes to style

#54
Marxsplainer
Post rating: ~

Petrol posted:

imo zines are a good alternative for comrades who are frustrated with this situation and want to produce something themselves. they're cheap and easy to make and you can employ humour to get your message over. also theyre perfect to do as one-shots if you dont want to fall into the trap of committing to an ongoing publication and quitting after the second issue

meanwhile, tangentially related to the thread, this is a pretty cool interview https://soundcloud.com/media-roots/adversarial-journalism-in-russia-convoluted-analysis-of-propaganda-with-mark-ames - ames also mentions this related article he was working on at the time https://pando.com/2015/05/17/neocons-2-0-the-problem-with-peter-pomerantsev/



yeah, zines are pretty great as one-offs and the medium fosters a kind of anti-design that works in its favor imo, reading a good zine almost feels like a subversive act in and of itself somehow

#55
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: ~
We've played with the idea of a local branch making occasional zines. A few English adjuncts joined and when I pitched the idea they looked hungry. Ownership over a program is a great way to get candidates involved and build up their organizational skills.
#56
political car tune
Post rating: ~

drwhat posted:

yes it's because we've all been conditioned by capital to only prefer the most expensive looking media


I don't agree with this viewpoint. I think it's more that the shoddier a presentation, the more likely that any idiot with dumb opinions could have stumbled into a Kinko's and passed out his stuff. I've received printed materials that are flat out incoherent, and if yours is indistinguishable in style and format from these mad screeds, then people are not going to pay attention. It takes very little effort and investment to co-opt professional formats and structures, and sets you on an even playing field with the predominant ideology.

#57
Post rating: +
i think that's an example of the standard bourgeois attitude towards media presentation that he's talking about
#58
Post rating: ~
if i dont pick my fonts properly no one will take my pamphlet denouncing intervention in syria seriously! id better hire a graphic designer!
#59
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: ~
i unironically use specific typefaces in leaflets depending on the organization im making them for, if for no other reason than branding
#60
political car tune
Post rating: ~

c_man posted:

if i dont pick my fonts properly no one will take my pamphlet denouncing intervention in syria seriously! id better hire a graphic designer!


That may be a step too far in the other direction. Maybe I'm just being too ableist.

#61
Post rating: +
Here's some ugly crap that sucks, get yourself put on a fbi watchlist by supporting this ugly pile of crap you don't want to look at. Oh word? You're not into that? Hmm kind of funny how the capitalist materialist ideology has corrupted thy feeble mind. Guess you didn't want to be a communist anyways...
#62
mt.real
Post rating: ~

dank_xiaopeng posted:

yeah, zines are pretty great as one-offs and the medium fosters a kind of anti-design that works in its favor imo, reading a good zine almost feels like a subversive act in and of itself somehow


i get what you're saying but this is only a plus to people who are already interested in doing something that feels like a subversive act. i'm more interested in talking to people who aren't there yet. though obviously not everything has to have the same audience.

#63
Post rating: +
Maybe try being a cool person with a jacket with a good collar and fingerless gloves and some dope shoes and when people see you they're like, why's that guy so badass... And you tell them it was communist thinking. That's how you get the damn masses. Handing out flyers that look like if a bad church newsletter didn't know how to buy paper at your communist bake sale / schism steering committee meeting seems less effective, by contrast.
#64
Dont Mess With Sucess
Post rating: +++++
Thats why I am always posted up in the back at all ages nightclubs vaping giant Os. When I see a youngling eyeball my beard braids, I smirk casually and angle my head up so the moonflower LED spotlight glints off the hologram hammer and sickle in the lens of my welders goggles, casting my Leninist glamour on a teenage mind weakened by social democracy.
#65
Post rating: +++++
(Casually playing with my iPhone even though I have gloves on) haha wondering how I'm doing this fellow commuters? Hmm well essentially I've developed a relationship with my environment (gloves) and through work altered that relationship (cut the fingers off.) this is called dialectical materialism. If you're interested in learning more check the web forum where I feud with a 17 year old girl and post sketch comedy. Yell towards Canada that you want an account.
#66
Marxsplainer
Post rating: +
wait swampman so if that's your glamour what do you look like if someone touches you with iron
#67
Post rating: +
#68
Dont Mess With Sucess
Post rating: +

dank_xiaopeng posted:

wait swampman so if that's your glamour what do you look like if someone touches you with iron

#69
mt.real
Post rating: ~

Keven posted:

(Casually playing with my iPhone even though I have gloves on) haha wondering how I'm doing this fellow commuters? Hmm well essentially I've developed a relationship with my environment (gloves) and through work altered that relationship (cut the fingers off.) this is called dialectical materialism. If you're interested in learning more check the web forum where I feud with a 17 year old girl and post sketch comedy. Yell towards Canada that you want an account.

don't copy my move, that's patented

#70
Post rating: +

c_man posted:

if i dont pick my fonts properly no one will take my pamphlet denouncing intervention in syria seriously! id better hire a graphic designer!


you haven't lived until you've experienced a "radical" org meeting devolve into a shouting match over whether they should pay money for a proprietary font.

#71
Post rating: +

Petrol posted:

imo zines are a good alternative for comrades who are frustrated with this situation and want to produce something themselves. they're cheap and easy to make and you can employ humour to get your message over. also theyre perfect to do as one-shots if you dont want to fall into the trap of committing to an ongoing publication and quitting after the second issue


the gallery i was at yesterday has an old cigarette vending machine converted into a zine vendor, its cute.

#72
Marxsplainer
Post rating: +

shriekingviolet posted:

Petrol posted:

imo zines are a good alternative for comrades who are frustrated with this situation and want to produce something themselves. they're cheap and easy to make and you can employ humour to get your message over. also theyre perfect to do as one-shots if you dont want to fall into the trap of committing to an ongoing publication and quitting after the second issue


the gallery i was at yesterday has an old cigarette vending machine converted into a zine vendor, its cute.



holy shit that's a great idea.

really funny, i saw a working cig machine for sale at a swap meet the other day. i was kinda amused by the anachronism and was thinking about how it could be repurposed. i think it was like ten dollars so i'm definitely gonna float that idea at the next meeting, i bet the lefty bookshop in our area would be into it

#73
Marxsplainer
Post rating: +

shriekingviolet posted:

c_man posted:

if i dont pick my fonts properly no one will take my pamphlet denouncing intervention in syria seriously! id better hire a graphic designer!


you haven't lived until you've experienced a "radical" org meeting devolve into a shouting match over whether they should pay money for a proprietary font.



lmao if your org doesnt know how to or cares about pirating fonts

#74
chickeon
Post rating: ~
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/18/japanese-tourists-cat-lucky-eyebrows-hachi
#75
Post rating: ~

dank_xiaopeng posted:

lmao if your org doesnt know how to or cares about pirating fonts


i tried, but its a strange road faking inoffensiveness and people get weird priorities

#76
Marxsplainer
Post rating: ~
condolences
#77
UNUSUALY COOL
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another way to look good is to do good things such as taking food to poor people and being loud about it but in a really disingenuous way that makes other people feel good for noticing it.
#78
[account deactivated]
#79
Marxsplainer
Post rating: ~
sometimes doing things in a novel way can be fun and appealing tpaine
#80
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating: +
if you charge money for it it's not a zine, but a magazine. the "maga" shares a root with "Krav Maga" that you can read about in my zine