Socialism in America has been so subversive and divorced from power for so long that it has almost completely fused with countercultural aesthetics and norms. This can be good, but it can also be weird. For example, many DSA members (even leadership), use their Twitter accounts

as a platform for serious organizing as well as a humorous outlet. Or the divulge details about their personal lives, because why wouldn't we? We have a very different ideas about the theatre of leadership than, say, the director of an electric dam in Caracas.

This is not to scold, per se. It's part of the history of post-1991 American socialism, and must be understood in its context. And in my experience I believe this can be confusing for outside observers with access to more mainstream avenues of power in their respective societies.

It's weird and beautiful and messy and I love it. Much of American culture should be rioted against. But as socialism is ascendant, this may be a factor of our strategy we have to consider. Just my two cents.

The conundrum I often brush up against is "if American communists are privately serious, why aren't they publicly behaving seriously?" And I think that leftists either need to develop a leadership of Very Serious People, or do a better job conveying why we all act like morons.

Another thing, I think in an extremely real way, irony serves as a survival mechanism for political people in a society that quite literally destroys people who take the job of ending capitalism very seriously. It launders our intentions! It's natural selection!

So I get it. I'm trying to remain as non-judgmental as possible, I mainly see this as a fascinating phenomenon which should be the subject of further study and introspection. Just comparing my experiences with communists here and communists abroad.