Reading Time 7 - 9 minutes.
Change
Change seems to be the constant of the Universe. It is a description of alteration, transformation, a switch in direction. Who among us hasn't changed in some way by some idea, action, or movement?
Sometimes our changes can be regressive and sometimes it can be progressive.
Sometimes our changes leads us nowhere in particular. Sometimes changes gets us stuck in loops. Sometime changes can reveal things about ourselves we had not yet realized. Sometimes changes expands our perspectives. Sometimes changes can be revolutionary.
About Me
Anyone who has followed me for some time on Twitter knows I am a creature open and willing to change based on incoming evidence and strongly supported data. I come from a background of various changes. These paradigm shifts in my life that marked a branching out into some new field of thought. In the beginning due to my Christian Fundamentalist upbringing and eventual ministerial work it was quite rigid and dogmatic. Eventually, I made my way out of that life and at as a poor young man desperate for any way out I joined the military. This led me down some dark experiences and was the first time I really became aware of certain conditions of this world. After 6 years of service I bailed on the military life too. It wasn't for me. It left me scarred and unwilling to sacrifice myself for some nationalistic cause.
I attempted college but realized I couldn't do that and maintain my martial art schools and relationships. Aside from the money provided by my Montgomery GI Bill and Army College Fund there was never enough to cover the costs of my desired education. I lived a rather solitary life aside from a few not so great relationships. I found myself teaching martial arts ( I started studying at 9-years-old) and catching side jobs to maintain my schools. I had no desire to start a family and up until the early 2000's I wasn't even a political animal. I was a Conservative for sure but never voted and didn't care about anything but basic Constitutional freedoms. Of course if you asked me to name them I wouldn't have been able to name but a few.
Love and Hardship
In 2003 I met the woman who would become my life partner and for the first time in my life I felt loved back in a significant way. This love transformed me. I became very protective of her and thought that the best way to do this was by adopted Libertarian views as I was influenced by an older gentleman that used to speak to me incessantly about politics. I never considered looking at other views for many biases I possessed at the time. These biases came as a result of the confident speech of that older gentleman and his past credentials. These biases also included the usual negative Western/Capitalist propaganda about Socialism, Marx, the USSR, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc.
I thought I could make it really big in my field (Combatives) but before I was able to launch out I got hit by a neurological disease. My clients and students could tell something was happening to me and although I tried to keep at it I had to realize I could not. This forced me to work in another field. I found myself working in the electronics field and found a business that accepted me as an All-Purpose-Employee (sales, troubleshooter, installer, not-so-good website development, warehouse manager, etc.).
Is it funny that I used to call myself the "ape" before it ever was a thought in my mind this would one day become a moniker? I stayed at that job until 2010 when I had to quit due to my physical disabilities disallowing me to maintain the job. My last year and especially last months were especially difficult. i even experienced a stroke (transient ischemic attack). I eventually was rated by the VA to be 100% Catastrophically Physically Disabled. This sudden change also slowed me down and while I was confined to a bed and wheelchair (as not only could I not walk but I was living in excruciating pain) I began to think about life, who I really was inside, what I valued, and what I wanted to do within this situation I found myself in.
Twitter
I turned to fighting those that wanted a theocracy for America, I switched from Libertarian to Progressive and was a big Bernie fan. I got on Twitter in August 2017 under my Apetivist name (now it is @ApetivistAct2 as when I left Twitter in late 2020 someone took up my former pseudonym on Twitter) and I tried very hard not to do this but ended up leaving my Apetivist Twitter for medical and personal reasons. This was my proto-leftist stage. I knew by this time that there were a lot of things wrong with America and I started to really care about the plight of others. Bernie was my pipeline guru that led me to Cornel West and Richard D. Wolff.
I did involve myself for a time in Marxist theory and very little praxis as I was quite new to it all. However, I was intercepted by arguments against the supposed unjustified iron-fisted totalitarianism of Communist USSR and China and thus was swayed into anarchist ideology (more on this in later posts to this website/blog). I am grateful for that experience as I still learned a lot about mutual aid, dual power structures, and read a lot of interesting theory. I am still friends with many anarchists and we desire to see very similar outcomes regarding equality and fairness towards others.
Although I returned to Marxism with emphasis of learning how to adapt it to our present situation in America (as is supported by Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism) I still think it is possible to lay aside some differences and work with others that may not be as radical as myself or perhaps more radical than myself. I decided to return to Twitter in July 2022 as I was sufficiently capable of explaining socialism and wanted to have a go at it. I still have a lot of medical issues but thankfully my neurological disease has slowed in its progression.
Why Even Try?
Why not? We have nothing to lose but our chains, right? Wrong. We have far more to lose but at this rate we are losing so much already! The better answer may be that every voice and every hand added to the movement may speed up a Socialist Revolution. What that Revolution will look like and how it might be implemented has been the wheelhouse of many greater minds than myself. I will take a stab at examining various perspectives on how this Revolution can be brought about. Perhaps the answer in how it can be done consists of various proposals tailored from various thinkers in an amalgamated way.
My Writing Schedule
Given my medical issues I can not give an exact dedicated day or particular week when I will post a new article. I will try to do at minimum of 2 articles every month and more if I can arrange it. I will try to make my articles tailored for beginning Marxists and hopefully can churn out a lengthy article that is tailored toward heavier subject matter.
Okay that's about it. If I think of more to add I will attach an addendum under the push pin icon below. Thank you, comrades, for visiting my blog.
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*Addendum 1 (08/29/2022): I just decided to no longer post to the website domain (www.apetivist.com) and purchased a new domain (www.apetivistact2.com). My new website's domain name is https://www.apetivistact2.com and I also have a corresponding email apetivistact2@gmail.com. Soon I will be releasing a video course corresponding with all other Socialism Courses (ex. A soon to be announced Course on Class Consciousness) via YouTube Channel ApetivistAct2.
