Have been wrestling with the rebuke to the wicked son in the Pesach Seder for years. After an anonymous exchange with a supposed "Leftist" who wanted me to talk him into caring about others, who saw socialism as just a vehicle to get what he wants, I might finally understand it.

Did not expect "I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people" to be something I had to say to a self-described socialist, but I guess humans are humans. It's a good lesson for socialist organisers and storytellers.

It's the first time I've properly understood the circumstances where it would make sense to say, "If you carried on like this, separating yourself out from everyone else, you would not have made it out of there alive."

In one proverbial breath: "Why should I bother helping other people?" - in the next, "Why don't you want to spend more time talking with me, why don't you want to escalate our written contact to voice? Is it because you don't see me as worthwhile?"

This wasn't about being too tired/scared/unsure to help, or lacking resources, or needing to prioritise one's own survival, or fill an empty cup. This person wasn't talking in terms of "from each according to their ability to each according to their needs". All those are LEGIT.

This was "I want socialism because I want the exact life I was promised by the American dream, but I don't want to have to help other people as part of that deal. I want to receive the bill of goods I was sold, but why should I bother considering the needs of others?"

Didn't realise how much this would fill me with fury. "I want the bill of goods I was promised, you should give me everything I want, but I don't care to think whether I should help others survive at all" isn't just anti-socialist/communalist - it's an attitude primed for fascism

We have to have a really really serious conversation about how people understand socialist and communalist ideas, and how much "solidarity" and "mutual aid" are not being put at the centre, and what that means for the people who think they are part of these movements.