I have the same experience as you. I think the difference is Trump and the increased polarization that started about when Obama was first elected. Liberals and demsocs felt safer to challenge the status quo when the status quo was ostensibly already leaning “left”. But then Trump got elected, and in the face of the extreme unity within the Republican Party behind Trump, the Democrats also had to push for extreme unity. And what this meant was severe rejection of anything other than the party line.
Hence “scratch a liberal and and a fascist bleeds.” Only the slightest inconvenience reveals fake leftists. Turns out leftism isn’t just rounding up tips for food drives.
That’s a great point. The strength of leftist theory is seeing the commonality between disparate struggles. Not just because they are struggles in general, but because they are essentially capitalist struggles. I try not to be too reductionist — as a physics graduate I am all too used to physicists/STEMlords trying to interpret every field of study in terms of their own — but capitalism permeates nearly every aspect of our lives. It is nearly impossible to be a leftist without acknowledging the essentially capitalist character of our world and the problems in it. And when this happens, there is little to prevent someone with a big heart from missing the point. One can want to solve homelessness and hunger but be utterly misguided as to the causes and solutions. So as leftists interacting with baby leftists, the most important thing is to break that illusion which separates all of these things as independent spheres. Not least of which is the separation of politics and economics.
I have the same experience as you. I think the difference is Trump and the increased polarization that started about when Obama was first elected. Liberals and demsocs felt safer to challenge the status quo when the status quo was ostensibly already leaning “left”. But then Trump got elected, and in the face of the extreme unity within the Republican Party behind Trump, the Democrats also had to push for extreme unity. And what this meant was severe rejection of anything other than the party line.
Those Democrat tankies and their democratic centralism smh.
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Hence “scratch a liberal and and a fascist bleeds.” Only the slightest inconvenience reveals fake leftists. Turns out leftism isn’t just rounding up tips for food drives.
deleted by creator
That’s a great point. The strength of leftist theory is seeing the commonality between disparate struggles. Not just because they are struggles in general, but because they are essentially capitalist struggles. I try not to be too reductionist — as a physics graduate I am all too used to physicists/STEMlords trying to interpret every field of study in terms of their own — but capitalism permeates nearly every aspect of our lives. It is nearly impossible to be a leftist without acknowledging the essentially capitalist character of our world and the problems in it. And when this happens, there is little to prevent someone with a big heart from missing the point. One can want to solve homelessness and hunger but be utterly misguided as to the causes and solutions. So as leftists interacting with baby leftists, the most important thing is to break that illusion which separates all of these things as independent spheres. Not least of which is the separation of politics and economics.