Wow, you were balls deep. Congrats on getting out!

I promise this is relevant I just ramble

Was just talking to my uncles friend who lives an... interesting life. Very nomadic, used to and might still do a lot of drugs, you get the picture. Anyway he was at a family function for my dads birthday and he got talking with me about philsophy, specifically absurdism, we eventually got on to politics because i brought up the society of the spectacle which id been reading before we started talking and he tells me he's read it before. High key caught me off guard because basically no one in family is further left than your average US president. Now reading books doesn't necessarily mean you're a leftist but it let me be comfortable enough to admit im ML and steer the conversation in that direction.

This man. What a journey he's been through. Just 9 years ago he was an avid ayn rand fan, complete ancap as well as a conpiracy theorist and I mean full on lizard people are controlling our society conspiracy theorist. I was too afraid to ask about his past views on race, gender, and sexuality but he mentioned specifically that he now believes that the emphasis on "social issues" such as trans people is part of the spectacle which makes me think he maybe didn't always have great opinions on their existence. He attributes this change to his reading, meditation, and travel but hes also in a better mental state as well.

Anyway he isn't an ML but he is anticapitalist, certainly left of US politics, and has a much better understanding of how neoliberal democracy works than the majority of people in this country. Seeing him go from an ayn rand enjoyer and a conspiracy theorist to an anticapitalist among a gathering of conservatives brings me hope