I used to think that these sorts of people were hurting the cause but over time I realized no, not really. Mostly because the kinds of people who engage with that sort of dialogue try to use it as a weapon, saying things like “see THIS communist says x y or z and that means YOU’RE saying x y or z too.” Then you try to engage with that conversation and one of two things happens. Either you explain no, that isn’t what we believe and here’s why and they listen, or they shout NO TRUE SCOTSMAN at you and pretend like if anyone ever identifies as anything, that means everyone that also identifies as that must be the same. The former group isn’t negatively impacted by patsocs because the former group aren’t fucking stupid, and the latter group will never engage with you or anyone seriously no matter what you do, so why bother wasting your time.
This lesson helped me a lot once I realized it. Only engage with people who will actually earnestly engage with you. The others are someone else’s problem or require a different organizing strategy.
I say it like dahtay and you can’t stop me