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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by MichaelFassbendersHog@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net

My sibling likes to read fiction. They’re a comically basic-ass shit-lib. This person says that they don’t like to talk about politics. They always take the bosses side at work, basically a reincarnation of our Rachel Maddow-parroting boomer capitalist fucboi parent.

I know it’s a tall order but: What work of fiction can I gift them that will break them out of their capitalist complacency and remind them that they’re nothing more than a wage slave before they can even resist the indoctrination? I want to be subtle but effective; it has to fly to under their radar.

To give you an idea of how hopeless this little lemming is: this person has been reading Vonnegut lately and legitimately didn’t even know that Eugene Debs was a real person. This person figured it out when I informed them of Debs when they were telling me that no one has ever run for President from a jail cell. 🤦🏿‍♂️

Halp!

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[-] LeylaLove@hexbear.net 18 points 10 months ago

Unfortunately, I don't think fiction is that great at this, but John Steinbeck has to be my pick. Grapes of Wrath is easily one of the best books I've ever read

[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 5 points 10 months ago

I second Grapes of Wrath. Just recently read it for the first time and the parallels of what's happening now are chefs-kiss

[-] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 2 points 10 months ago

I read Grapes of Wrath a few years ago after enjoying Of Mice and Men from school. I'm not bad with reading but I wasn't sure how far I'd get with the thickness of it, then I finished it real quickly.

But it was a gripping book and is certainly upfront about the problems of capitalism. If your family is that politically illiterate then it may fly under the radar, as Steinbeck doesn't use explicit capitalism/communism terminology, just more a factual description of what people/systems of people are doing.

[-] LeylaLove@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

Well I think that's the best way to do it. It's up front about issues, there is no language to abstract what is actually happening in that book and I think that's what sells it.

[-] supafuzz@hexbear.net 13 points 10 months ago
[-] eastbeast@hexbear.net 3 points 10 months ago

I second this, this book put my teenage ass on the path to anarchism

[-] supafuzz@hexbear.net 4 points 10 months ago

it is the best book I know of for showing what living in an alternative to capitalism could be like

[-] eastbeast@hexbear.net 4 points 10 months ago

I agree. not fluffy romanticization, just a plain, often harsh existence but shown in clear contrast with the excesses of capitalism. send me to Anarres now.

[-] Philosoraptor@hexbear.net 4 points 10 months ago

Same here. Just an excellent, unflinching look at the benefits and drawbacks of living in a very, very different way than we do. It's really eye-opening if all you know about anarchism is what you've gotten from pop culture.

[-] quarrk@hexbear.net 10 points 10 months ago

A Bug’s Life

[-] HumanBehaviorByBjork@hexbear.net 8 points 10 months ago

first of all be a lil nicer to them, they're your family and you're grown ups.

second of all philip k dick is the answer. no guarantees it will radicalize them, but it'll limber up their gray matter.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@hexbear.net 7 points 10 months ago

Is he a reader who will read on his own? Can you show em steinbeck simply because he's a great American writer? Like don't show him "grapes of wrath" but maybe "tortilla flat" or "east of eden" and see if he comes back for more.

[-] MF_COOM@hexbear.net 7 points 10 months ago

What's wrong with reading Vonnegut vonnegut and not knowing who debs was is just normal. Most people can't name an unsuccessful politician from 100 years ago.

I don't think any text will do what you're hoping, that kind of progress is usually made through conversation. But I'd recommend George Saunders' In Persuasion Nation (2006), which is a short story collection about cranked up capitalist inconsistencies. He's a lib but he's got a good radar for the savage idiocy of a society under late stage capitalism.

Alternatively I might suggest The Fever (1991) by Wallace Shawn.

[-] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 4 points 10 months ago

Based Grand Nagus.

[-] ReadFanon@hexbear.net 7 points 10 months ago

Maybe some Kim Stanley Robinson?

[-] Yllych@hexbear.net 6 points 10 months ago

Yes or Iain m banks if they like sci-fi

[-] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The Jungle is like the opposite of a fun read so it might not be good for this purpose, but the Fun Trivia Fact that everyone utterly fucking missed the point really got under my skin and was a seed of my own leftward move. The idea that this story had such a huge real life impact but in a way that didn't address the actual point of the story at all was super memorable but also non-threatening at the time, it was just a fun bit of american history trivia.

[-] context@hexbear.net 6 points 10 months ago

maybe some china mieville? bas-lag trilogy is weird fantasy steampunk on the surface, might fly under the radar.

[-] Llituro@hexbear.net 5 points 10 months ago

I've heard good things about Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle, which is about labor action

[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
32 points (100.0% liked)

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