Thought For The Day

[kerravonsen]

A pattern I've noticed with conservatives of all stripes, is that they slap a label of "leftist" on (political) things people say that they disagree with - which is fair enough, it could hardly be other than leftist - but THEN, weirdly, think that that makes the argument go away. As if "leftist" is a magical talisman which makes their opponents disappear in a puff of smoke. Even if "leftist" is conservative shorthand for "you're an idiot", that is hardly a cogent argument; it is merely childish name-calling. And rather ineffective name-calling too, since leftists don't realise it's supposed to be an insult.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, I think left-wingers are well aware that 'leftist' is supposed to be an insult (for one thing, I have never met anyone on the left how calls themselves a leftist - we would say left-winger or leftie). it just... is not the devastating critique right-wingers seem to think.

[kerravonsen]

True, I realise it's supposed to be an insult, simply from the way it's being used, but the utter ludicrousness of a neutral descriptive term being used as an insult means that I can't take it seriously. It's like a six year old boy yelling "You're a GIRL!" at a girl, as an insult. Totally childish and dumb.

Oh. I suppose your point is that it isn't a neutral descriptive term because it's only used by conservatives applying it as an insult... but I guess I still grocked it as a legitimate variation of "leftie" rather than as a purely insulting term. Something more formal than "leftie" and less wordy than "left-wing". Ah well.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that too.

[kerravonsen]

I wonder if they think that "leftist" means "isolated extremist".

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

True. But don't many liberals do the same thing, and slap a label of "reactionary" on (political) things people say that they disagree with?

[kerravonsen]

Not in my hearing. Generally they just say "bastards!" 8-P

[cat-sanctuary.livejournal.com]

In the U.S. the Illiberal Left just absolutely adore confusing anyone who disagrees with them and Nazi Germany. Jonah Goldberg finally wrote a terrific book about "Liberal Fascism." Since then Godwin's Law has been often and usefully invoked, but some leftists continue in their lamebrained mistake.

I write fiscally conservative things, read and am read by right-wingers, and sometimes forget--due to living among them in Washington--to spell out that some leftists *are* liberal. Then they're unsettled when I *do* mention that.

This year especially, I think the biggest political challenge facing the U.S. may be to resist the whole "polarizing" meme. Hatespews between Trump and Clinton partisans are, I suspect, being fomented to distract attention to how both are serving the same interests, which aren't ours.

[kerravonsen]

Polarization is definitely a huge problem. That may be the only thing you and I agree about in regard to politics, but I do agree. 8-/

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

And then they get annoyed if called hard rightwingers.... well, some. Some of them seem to think it's a compliment...

[cat-sanctuary.livejournal.com]

Well...people have different definitions of "right" and also "hard."

This actually happened: I was in a car pool, sitting beside my husband, whose skin tone didn't match mine. on the way to work with a dear friend and fellow Nader protegee, who is (still) Jewish and leftist-as-a-point-of-religious-practice. We got to talking about D.C. statehood. I thought it was a boondoggle: government employees are meant to identify with their own states, and full-time residents of our capital city should reclaim their traditional right to congressional representation in Maryland. And somebody said, "You just don't think Black people should vote! You're a racist right-wing Republican!"

I just laughed out loud...whether or not people considered my husband Black, that was transparently ridiculous. (Also, not allowing city residents to vote in Maryland could also be regarded as a way of denying Black people's right to vote.)

In cyberspace, though, I meet increasing numbers of people who not only react to any dissent that way, but seem to let it raise their blood pressure. "Think as I think, or you will be abominably wicked: you will be a toad...I will, then, be a toad."

[cat-sanctuary.livejournal.com]

Since this is not a U.S. blog I should probably clarify...

Our Republican Party was defined from the beginning by opposition to slavery, although many early Republicans including Abraham Lincoln hoped our Black and Red populations would use their freedom just to go as far away from White people as they could get. (The history of White-Red "race" relations in North America is even more complicated than the history of White-Black "race" relations.)

However, in my *grandparents'* time, most Republican leaders favored segregation, telling the story of how Black community leaders came to their White governor pleading for more jobs for Black teachers and nurses, and the governor said, "I can get you those jobs, but you won't like how I go about it." He then added to his campaigns lines like "You wouldn't want your child to be tended by a dirty, ignorant Black nurse," etc. People honestly wanted to believe in "separate but equal," the way Muslim feminists do today, and had to see firsthand that when the group with more money is also a huge majority, "separate" is unlikely to become "equal."

By the time I came along this had changed. Once convinced that they had to choose between "separate" or "equal," the majority of older Republicans favored "equal." How much they want to do about it varies, but *no*body likes the idea of someone dying outside a segregated hospital.

Today's baby-boomer-dominated Republican Party is racially integrated and actively recruits ethnic-minority Americans. In the last presidential election, the most "conservative" Republicans favored Ben Carson (who is Black) and/or Ted Cruz (who is White, and also technically an immigrant from Canada rather than a "natural-born citizen of the United States," but they liked that ethnic-minority name).

I see myself as post-socialist, read Carson's books as similar, and supported him for that reason, but suspect a lot of conservatives hadn't read his books and were just overwhelmed by relief at finally being able to back a Black candidate. Conservative Republicans have also rallied around Herman Cain, Condoleezza Rice, Alan Keyes, and other Black conservative Republicans who weren't presidential timber. Even Stacey Dash, whose youth adds an extra layer of cognitive dissonance, they love because she's (somewhat fiscally) conservative, a (quite "liberal" in the religious sense) Christian, and Black.