Hear me out, I'm a leftist who grew up in 1980s rural America. For a long time I was sheltered from the history of the preceding decades that saw the hippie anti-war movement, feminist movements, black power movements, gay rights movements, etc. rise to prominence.
What I grew up with was a lot of gay panic, Reagan-era American nationalism, anti-feminism, racism, etc. People on the left were looked at like fringe loonies who were either drug addicts, criminals, cultists you'd see at airports in hare Krishna garb, sexual deviants, or just fringes of society in general.
None of those people from the movements I mentioned probably envisioned they would be basically ostracized or the subject of massive cultural blowback, but that's what happened -- at least in the rural country where I'm from, in the 1980s.
I don't know. It just feels like culturally the tides are changing and the whole country, not just the Maga cultists, are becoming hostile towards the left. I mean, frankly, I have no faith in political or cultural institutions, let alone most people, at this point. Am I being too cynical?
View: https://twitter.com/BriannaWu/status/1789668965167362073?t=5zJUUbr9j75VmmEwdcfeyA&s=19
I mean not that Brianna Wu was ever some sort of radical leftist, but there was a time I looked at her as at least a moderate ally supportive of progressive politics? Now? I mean she's entitled to her opinion as anyone is, but I would not consider her an ally.
View: https://twitter.com/AP/status/1788987386749129176?t=jjy9HeiAhgXO5x1EmzCQAQ&s=19
I mean, not that corporations were ever our friends and Rainbow Capitalism has always been a facade, but it's easy to see how mainstream companies will not bat at an eye when they abandon us and deny our existence when the next angry mob targets them.
Speaking of denying people's existence, this piece of shit is basically tied in the polls with Biden despite being on trial for like literally every crime you can think of.
View: https://twitter.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1789018867349811273?t=HsbghjIXBhJDtORV1yXp8w&s=19
Yet somehow, I feel even less confident than I did leading up to the 2016 election. Can anyone here say with 100 percent confidence that they feel Trump is going to lose? It should be easy to believe that. How extremely fucked up is it that there is even the slightest question?
And then we have people from our own party who say shit like this:
View: https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1788637341541679256?t=TUoMyZwwlJ-gJ5RbW5T1uA&s=19
Like, excuse me? What? Do I think there are some bad actors on the fringes of the left? Sure, every movement does. Do I think lots of people, some on the left included, don't have great media literacy? Sure. But to suggest that the left doesn't understand the history of the Middle East or that we are over reacting to what we are seeing with our own eyes and ears? Like what? Further, I don't think anyone who is serious about peace is hand-waving away the awful shit Hamas has done, but to suggest the left is just a bunch of dumb kids who have never read a book or that we are all a bunch of anti-semites for not wanting kids on either side to be killed by this conflict is fucking maddening.
I just feel that when measured by every metric, we are regressing culturally to become far more hostile towards progressive ideals than at any time in recent history. Am I wrong?
What I grew up with was a lot of gay panic, Reagan-era American nationalism, anti-feminism, racism, etc. People on the left were looked at like fringe loonies who were either drug addicts, criminals, cultists you'd see at airports in hare Krishna garb, sexual deviants, or just fringes of society in general.
None of those people from the movements I mentioned probably envisioned they would be basically ostracized or the subject of massive cultural blowback, but that's what happened -- at least in the rural country where I'm from, in the 1980s.
I don't know. It just feels like culturally the tides are changing and the whole country, not just the Maga cultists, are becoming hostile towards the left. I mean, frankly, I have no faith in political or cultural institutions, let alone most people, at this point. Am I being too cynical?
View: https://twitter.com/BriannaWu/status/1789668965167362073?t=5zJUUbr9j75VmmEwdcfeyA&s=19
I mean not that Brianna Wu was ever some sort of radical leftist, but there was a time I looked at her as at least a moderate ally supportive of progressive politics? Now? I mean she's entitled to her opinion as anyone is, but I would not consider her an ally.
View: https://twitter.com/AP/status/1788987386749129176?t=jjy9HeiAhgXO5x1EmzCQAQ&s=19
I mean, not that corporations were ever our friends and Rainbow Capitalism has always been a facade, but it's easy to see how mainstream companies will not bat at an eye when they abandon us and deny our existence when the next angry mob targets them.
Speaking of denying people's existence, this piece of shit is basically tied in the polls with Biden despite being on trial for like literally every crime you can think of.
View: https://twitter.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/1789018867349811273?t=HsbghjIXBhJDtORV1yXp8w&s=19
Yet somehow, I feel even less confident than I did leading up to the 2016 election. Can anyone here say with 100 percent confidence that they feel Trump is going to lose? It should be easy to believe that. How extremely fucked up is it that there is even the slightest question?
And then we have people from our own party who say shit like this:
View: https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1788637341541679256?t=TUoMyZwwlJ-gJ5RbW5T1uA&s=19
Like, excuse me? What? Do I think there are some bad actors on the fringes of the left? Sure, every movement does. Do I think lots of people, some on the left included, don't have great media literacy? Sure. But to suggest that the left doesn't understand the history of the Middle East or that we are over reacting to what we are seeing with our own eyes and ears? Like what? Further, I don't think anyone who is serious about peace is hand-waving away the awful shit Hamas has done, but to suggest the left is just a bunch of dumb kids who have never read a book or that we are all a bunch of anti-semites for not wanting kids on either side to be killed by this conflict is fucking maddening.
I just feel that when measured by every metric, we are regressing culturally to become far more hostile towards progressive ideals than at any time in recent history. Am I wrong?