I’m not appealing to authority at all, I was just explaining that I was a leftist because your comment seemed to suggest I was encouraging people to “give up”, which is the exact opposite of what I want. I want people to get involved in direct action, civil resistance, and yes, acts of sabotage against the regime.

I am firmly of the opinion that violence never makes anything better, but I completely understand why people, even leftists, advocate for violence. I don’t think they’re fake, or bots, I just think they are leftists who have been socialised in our mainstream media environment which teaches us that violence is a solution to our problems.

I think your response was a bit silly, and jumped to a lot of conclusions, but it didn’t hurt my feelings. I want to continue to reiterate that reforms to capitalism merely prolong it, and misuses the energy of activists which could be far better spent on actually unionizing, organizing, building solidarity, and direct action.