Recently, some well-known progressives -- like Russell Brand, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, and Matt Tiabbi -- have switched sides. Michelle Goldberg writes:
Part of the answer is probably that the culture of the left is simply less welcoming, especially to the politically unsure, than the right. The conservative movement may revel in cruelty toward out-groups — see, for example, the ravening digital mobs that descended on the podcaster Julia Mazur for a TikTok she made about the pleasures of life without children — but the movement is often good at love-bombing potential recruits. “People go where people accept them, or are nice to them, and away from people who are mean to them,” the Marxist Edwin Aponte, one of the founders of the heterodox but socially conservative magazine Compact, told [Kathryn] Joyce and [Jeff] Sharlet.
But I think there’s a deeper problem, which stems from a crisis of faith in the possibility of progress. Liberals and leftists have lots of excellent policy ideas but rarely articulate a plausible vision of the future. I sometimes hear leftists talk about “our collective liberation,” but outside a few specific contexts — the ongoing subjugation of the Palestinians comes to mind — I mostly have no idea what they’re talking about.
People are deeply suspicious of progress these days. The advent of Donald Trump and the Israel-Hamas war are two reasons one might wonder just how far we've come. And the Right takes advantage of events like these:
The right has an advantage in appealing to dislocated and atomized people: It doesn’t have to provide a compelling view of the future. All it needs is a romantic conception of the past, to which it can offer the false promise of return. When people are scared and full of despair, “let’s go back to the way things were” is a potent message, especially for those with memories of happier times.
The wise among us know that you can never go home again. That's an idea that offers no comfort. But it does allow you to see things realistically.
Image: QuoteFancy
11 comments:
"Things aren't like they used to be and they never were ". Will Rogers
Some of my experience with the NDP is that members and advocates are great in promoting ideals, but often not particularly nice to their fellow humans, Owen. It is almost as if imperfect men and women interfere with their vision of Utopia.
Rogers had a memorable way of stating the obvious, rumley.
We dream well, Lorne. But we fumble when it comes to implementation.
I'm not surprised that people are leaving the left. The left has failed to deliver an alternative to the increasing concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few. It increasingly demands ideological purity, dismissing wrongthink among leftists as "right-wing," and instead of debating issues, it goes straight to denouncing its own people as -phobes and bigots. Talk about shrinking the big tent.
The Ontario NDP drummed Sarah Jama out of caucus for calling for an "end to all occupation of Palestinian land." Her position is consistent with international law, and was once Canada's official position. It's also the long-standing position of leftist thinker Noam Chomsky. Now, it's "antisemitic" and cause for immediate expulsion - no debate. When diversity no longer encompasses diverse opinions, and inclusiveness leads to excluding, the left is losing the plot.
A political movement that lives in a shrinking tent has no future, Cap.
The Overton window has been successfully dragged so far to to the right, all mainstream politics and thought are now firmly right of (the real) center.
Today, a cabal can get people to ignore the dictionary meaning of 'antisemitism' (look it up, it is very short and simple) and instead create a chimera: 'IHRA definition of antisemitism' to destroy the careers of folks like Sarah Jama and Jeremy Corbin.
A real true 'left' will eventually emerge among Greta's generation. Humanity's survival will depend on this group to tear apart the capitalist/private-real-estate/fossil-fuel system and change our way of life. It will be an ugly fight.
It's not very profitable to be on the left. I'm not a religious man but I'd lay odds that Jesus would have been a leftie
My reading of the gospels leads me to the same conclusion, zoombats.
Greta's generation will not have an easy time of it, PoV.
"how things where", really. things are the same now as they were then, just the groups which are being negatively impacted sometimes changed. Some groups are still being targeted hundreds and hundreds of years later.
some people think about the "good old days" must have a case of early dementia
of course it could be their group had an advantage and lived a more comfortable life and now they are in the same position as negatively impacted groups.
"in the good old days", lets see
the 1930s was all about the depression when people died of starvation. Last child to die of starvation was in the U.S.A. in 1952. Made the cover of Time or Life.
domestic violence was "family business"
child abuse, ditto.
racism was legal
rape trials were more about the victim than the accused and their actions
People of colour or were Jewish were not permitted to live in certain sections of a city or join golf and country clubs/
if you had a heart attack you usually died.
if you had cancer you usually died.
No government paid for health care in Canada and that goes for CPP also.
Women could not get a credit card without their husband's signature. Single people could not adopt.
Things may not be going all that well, in areas in our lives, but its way better than it was in the "good old days".
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