Left - traditionally for peace, against war and the war machine now accusing anyone who calls for deescalation, Putin lovers or cowards, as a way to shut down any conversation about negotiation or mediation. A mind boggling flip flop.
Transgender ideology says that if you are a man who likes things that are stereotypically associated with women or have body language, demeanor, etc typically associated with women, that you possibly are a woman. They say this while simultaneously saying that there is no “wrong way to be a woman” or no “wrong way to be a man”. So if you are a man who likes feminine things, has feminine characteristics, that is perfectly fine and you are being yourself, since there is no wrong way to be a man. But at the same time, you might possibly be a woman, because you are not conforming to traditional notions of masculinity, implying that you are not being a man correctly. You will also need to mutilate yourself, load up on experimental drugs, etc to fix yourself. Obviously like many things they do, they use either/or when it is convenient for them. Like when they conflate gender with sex, etc.
Nice one. I had not put these two things together. This is what I'm hoping for--more "they say A" and "they say B" and "put A and B together and see that they are incoherent when next to one another." Thank you.
The PM of Canada has put on Blackface so many times, he can't remember a count. At the same time, those of us refusing the mRNA shots were called racists. This just happened (Global News via Twitter): "PM Trudeau criticizes Premier Ford's use of the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on CUPE -- saying it's "wrong" to suspend workers' rights." Umm, this is the same PM who threw my working from home hubby out of work, for refusing mRNA shots."
The hypocrisy of those on the left knows no bounds because the left doesn't recognize hypocrisy as a vice. Perhaps not a virtue but certainly nothing to be ashamed of. The ability to hold conflicting ideas (doublethink) is so necessary to their survival among other leftists that logical rigor of thought is as important to them as whether their socks match. The conservatives have called out the progressives for their hypocrisy for decades and the progressives shrug it off as of no importance, which to them it is.
There are many of us whose values have not changed who still see ourselves as on the left. This is true even as we see what "the left" stands for as having nothing to do with us at all, and that the most vocal proponents of modern "left" policies and ideologies as being often nasty and, yes, hypocritical. I truly would like to build a list of more of these, as clean and simple as possible, mutually incompatible beliefs or requirements of woke ideology (or "leftist" ideology, if you like).
Heather I’ve always been a left leaning social expansionist. I believe everyone has the right to live equally under the law and in the full expression of their sexuality and choices. I believe in racial equality. AND these ideals have become so distorted I can no longer back the Democratic Party in the way they tokenize and use these to control the political narrative. Im a NY Jew and live in Arizona and I cannot bring myself to vote left anymore. Even if it means backing things I don’t believe in sometimes.
Identity politics as a form of control through shame is just not something I can be a yes to.
I agree, but I think you're conflating "left vs right" with "Democrat vs Republican." After a lifetime of being a registered Democrat, I'm not anymore. I am not a Democrat now. (I am also not a Republican.) But--and I recognize that this may ultimately be a pointless exercise--I persist in insisting that as my values have not changed, and most of my positions have not, since I understood myself to be on the left, "the left" should still mean what it did, even though the political party in the U.S. that supposedly represented the left no longer does. They left the left.
I can appreciate that. I think I find myself more Conservative in the sense that I believe the foundations of the Constitution need to be protected at all costs. As I am sure you are, I am alarmed at the creep into free speech. This thing with PayPal fining people for doing business with “misinformation” honestly has my head spinning. I can’t actually even understand how it would work. But the idea of shutting bank accounts to control speech feels like China and I would actually vote Republican to stop that. I finally understand the importance of owning guns. My husband born and bread in Arizona insisted and I fought it for a long time. But now I’m glad we have them and I think everyone should own a gun (who can be law abiding and sane). I don’t even know that being left thinking matters if the foundation is gone. I suppose that’s where I find myself at the moment. I also want to say I am in the world of Women’s sexuality and embodiment and we all stand with you on the trans issues. I support full expression. I do not support the narrative.
I deplore the over simplification of "left" and "right" but find myself using them as a shorthand to discuss political leanings although each of us "contains multitudes" and can't be simplified. And it is hardly just self-described people of the left that willfully engage in doublethink. But "wokeness" and it's evil twin "knee-jerk patriotism" need to be called out whenever encountered, whether that accomplishes anything or not.
Heather, label yourself what you will, but I don't consider you and Bret "Left" . I suspect at some point you'll decide to drop that label for something else.
Left and right move; we stand still. It depends just where you're standing at the time which one you are. If you're consistent in your values, ideals and convictions, you will have been left and right at many different times.
I'd like to discuss this one with you, We may or may not see things the same way. I believe I understand that the Overton window has been moving left over the decades. I'd like to think I haven't changed much, over the decades and that's probably true. However, I doubt you'll find anyone including my oldest friends that would have ever considered me left leaning.
A woman’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy are threatened by laws that could prevent her from getting an abortion, but a woman’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy are not threatened by mandating pregnant woman and women of childbearing potential take a vaccine in order to work and provide for their families.
Black and Brown folks are so repressed by "whitey" (whatever that is) in the corporate world that they are systematically restricted from rising to the top of the corporate ladder (let's be clear - there's only ONE CEO!!! - I'm referring to positions of upper middle, and senior management). That spurious statement is an insult, as it ignores the very many successful B&B folks who are doing exceedingly well, working in collaborative, multiethnic corporate environments.
“Lived Experience” is paramount if you have the right characteristics, but is less than worthless if you don’t.
Platforms - The ability to express one’s views is so immensely powerful that de-platforming is a sacred undertaking, yet when afforded an opportunity to exercise speech the woke often retort that others should “educate themselves” or fall back on lazy soundbites.
“Impact, not intent” is continuously hurled at well-meaning, good-faith actors who are doing “harm”, yet the woke seem to continually avoid any reckoning of the impact of their own actions while riding high on the “integrity” of their own intentions.
Silence - “White Silence is Violence”, but if you’re white and talking on behalf of a marginalized group you’re just centering yourself…
Allyship - You must be dedicated to the cause - but without agency. You can’t profess allyship - it is assigned to you. Educate yourself, but question nothing. Believe what you’re narrowly told, even when others from within the (black/trans/etc.) group have diverse views.
Woke narratives centre around empowering the disadvantaged, yet nearly all their strategies breed psychological disempowerment
Some corners of the woke community consider blackness a construct that can be ‘revoked’ from black people who reject woke ideology. But someone who adopts the construct can’t be inducted into blackness.
Black people who reject a black identity are often told that they CANNOT reject it because they are seen as black (i.e. by the cop that pulls them over), and therefore their identity is a negotiation. Yet Trans identities cannot be negotiated whatsoever.
Much lip service is paid to vulnerability and the embrace thereof. Yet this usually manifests as a hard shell of defensive resentment rather than a true opening and softening to reality.
The simultaneous focus on the SYSTEMIC nature of the -isms, with the increasingly granular focus on individual acts of microaggreassions.
They treat human value and dignity as if they can be removed or eliminated by others through oppression. But oppression is bad precisely because human value and dignity are inherent.
Safe spaces are required to shield the vulnerable from uncomfortable words and symbols, and even clapping and rustling noises can be banned in major contexts, but it’s fine to burn down minority-owned businesses and expose female rape survivors and prisoners to sexual abuse.
Regarding the revoking of “blackness,” a similar phenomenon occurs with “gay” (Peter Thiel) and with “trans” (detransitioners).
Woke Bicycle Advocates (yes they exist and compose of large numbers of advocacy orgs) also take away someone’s “cyclist card” if they disagree with the ideology.
Oh and on the “systemic racism” note, LA’s natural gas ban is set to make it more expensive and even outright impossible for Asian restaurants to survive as they primarily cook on high volume gas stoves using woks. Several businesses owners complained noting that cooking on electric stoves is not only more difficult but the retrofits to their restaurants would be prohibitively expensive.
When this was all pointed out to the LA Times, they ran cover for the reckless policy.
Under woke rules, this would be an example of “systemic racism” against Asians, but because it was an idea pushed by the woke themselves, it gets a pass.
There are over 500 million Spanish speakers globally and they're supposed to drop gender from the language and instead replace it with "X," which is difficult, if not impossible to pronounce in many words. The primary driver for this change comes from woke academics in the US (which in fairness has the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world) who likely have little experience actually using the language with the millions who speak it in the US let alone the 20+ other countries where the language is spoken. To add to the sheer irony, the same academics often blabber about colonialism yet commit essentially the same crime as those they criticize. They are linguistically colonizing a colonizing language.
Attempts to "de-gender" the language also exist in the Spanish speaking world, but instead of "X" an "E" is used which is indeed much easier to pronounce. But this ideology is mostly stuck in the elites, particularly in academia.
Many US States are derived from Native American Languages too. Most offensive is Wyoming, which is derived from a people originally from the East, not the plains or Mountain West.
These are the same "journalists" who referred to American expats as "flooding" Mexico City. There's typically outrage whenever any other group of people is referred to as "flooding" an area.
Leftists deciding that the homeless are actually "unhoused." Words are powerful. Those that use this new term don't see how they aren't giving the homeless dignity, but are sanitizing a very sad and complex reality. In trying to help the homeless, they're sweeping them under the rug and not addressing core issues that lead to such a dire situation.
Leftists: They aren't mentally ill, drug addicted, formerly abused people who need carefully calibrated, individual help -- they just haven't found a place they can afford. A simplistic, blanket solution will work (and, with minimal involvement, make us feel like we're good people!).
Me, a former lefty: You're glossing over complex personal realities, yet you also say everyone is a damn snowflake and their "lived experience" must be worshipped.
The last 5/6 minutes of this interview with Freddie Sayers and David Sachs defines the hypocrisy around current censorship tactics, democracy, and authoritarianism really, really well.
Lefties- My body My Choice. versus -- Mandates for transfections are necessary for all.
Left - traditionally for peace, against war and the war machine now accusing anyone who calls for deescalation, Putin lovers or cowards, as a way to shut down any conversation about negotiation or mediation. A mind boggling flip flop.
Yea, I'm not comfortable being on the same side as the left on this one.
Transgender ideology says that if you are a man who likes things that are stereotypically associated with women or have body language, demeanor, etc typically associated with women, that you possibly are a woman. They say this while simultaneously saying that there is no “wrong way to be a woman” or no “wrong way to be a man”. So if you are a man who likes feminine things, has feminine characteristics, that is perfectly fine and you are being yourself, since there is no wrong way to be a man. But at the same time, you might possibly be a woman, because you are not conforming to traditional notions of masculinity, implying that you are not being a man correctly. You will also need to mutilate yourself, load up on experimental drugs, etc to fix yourself. Obviously like many things they do, they use either/or when it is convenient for them. Like when they conflate gender with sex, etc.
Nice one. I had not put these two things together. This is what I'm hoping for--more "they say A" and "they say B" and "put A and B together and see that they are incoherent when next to one another." Thank you.
A)“Lived experience matters” (especially if you are black)
B) “Your opinion is wrong and irrelevant” (even if you are black and expressing that opinion from “lived experience”)
I have found it more important than ever to be immune to name calling. Call me whatever you need to. I am uneffected by people’s mental illness.
exctly
or even exactly
The PM of Canada has put on Blackface so many times, he can't remember a count. At the same time, those of us refusing the mRNA shots were called racists. This just happened (Global News via Twitter): "PM Trudeau criticizes Premier Ford's use of the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on CUPE -- saying it's "wrong" to suspend workers' rights." Umm, this is the same PM who threw my working from home hubby out of work, for refusing mRNA shots."
The hypocrisy of those on the left knows no bounds because the left doesn't recognize hypocrisy as a vice. Perhaps not a virtue but certainly nothing to be ashamed of. The ability to hold conflicting ideas (doublethink) is so necessary to their survival among other leftists that logical rigor of thought is as important to them as whether their socks match. The conservatives have called out the progressives for their hypocrisy for decades and the progressives shrug it off as of no importance, which to them it is.
There are many of us whose values have not changed who still see ourselves as on the left. This is true even as we see what "the left" stands for as having nothing to do with us at all, and that the most vocal proponents of modern "left" policies and ideologies as being often nasty and, yes, hypocritical. I truly would like to build a list of more of these, as clean and simple as possible, mutually incompatible beliefs or requirements of woke ideology (or "leftist" ideology, if you like).
Heather I’ve always been a left leaning social expansionist. I believe everyone has the right to live equally under the law and in the full expression of their sexuality and choices. I believe in racial equality. AND these ideals have become so distorted I can no longer back the Democratic Party in the way they tokenize and use these to control the political narrative. Im a NY Jew and live in Arizona and I cannot bring myself to vote left anymore. Even if it means backing things I don’t believe in sometimes.
Identity politics as a form of control through shame is just not something I can be a yes to.
I agree, but I think you're conflating "left vs right" with "Democrat vs Republican." After a lifetime of being a registered Democrat, I'm not anymore. I am not a Democrat now. (I am also not a Republican.) But--and I recognize that this may ultimately be a pointless exercise--I persist in insisting that as my values have not changed, and most of my positions have not, since I understood myself to be on the left, "the left" should still mean what it did, even though the political party in the U.S. that supposedly represented the left no longer does. They left the left.
I can appreciate that. I think I find myself more Conservative in the sense that I believe the foundations of the Constitution need to be protected at all costs. As I am sure you are, I am alarmed at the creep into free speech. This thing with PayPal fining people for doing business with “misinformation” honestly has my head spinning. I can’t actually even understand how it would work. But the idea of shutting bank accounts to control speech feels like China and I would actually vote Republican to stop that. I finally understand the importance of owning guns. My husband born and bread in Arizona insisted and I fought it for a long time. But now I’m glad we have them and I think everyone should own a gun (who can be law abiding and sane). I don’t even know that being left thinking matters if the foundation is gone. I suppose that’s where I find myself at the moment. I also want to say I am in the world of Women’s sexuality and embodiment and we all stand with you on the trans issues. I support full expression. I do not support the narrative.
I deplore the over simplification of "left" and "right" but find myself using them as a shorthand to discuss political leanings although each of us "contains multitudes" and can't be simplified. And it is hardly just self-described people of the left that willfully engage in doublethink. But "wokeness" and it's evil twin "knee-jerk patriotism" need to be called out whenever encountered, whether that accomplishes anything or not.
Heather, label yourself what you will, but I don't consider you and Bret "Left" . I suspect at some point you'll decide to drop that label for something else.
Left and right move; we stand still. It depends just where you're standing at the time which one you are. If you're consistent in your values, ideals and convictions, you will have been left and right at many different times.
Is that adding to the confusion we face?
I'd like to discuss this one with you, We may or may not see things the same way. I believe I understand that the Overton window has been moving left over the decades. I'd like to think I haven't changed much, over the decades and that's probably true. However, I doubt you'll find anyone including my oldest friends that would have ever considered me left leaning.
• You should state your pronouns to promote the inclusion of trans people.
• It is unacceptable to question such a practice.
• Conclusion: inclusion is not meant for everyone.
Similar to Atlandea:
A woman’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy are threatened by laws that could prevent her from getting an abortion, but a woman’s reproductive health and bodily autonomy are not threatened by mandating pregnant woman and women of childbearing potential take a vaccine in order to work and provide for their families.
Black and Brown folks are so repressed by "whitey" (whatever that is) in the corporate world that they are systematically restricted from rising to the top of the corporate ladder (let's be clear - there's only ONE CEO!!! - I'm referring to positions of upper middle, and senior management). That spurious statement is an insult, as it ignores the very many successful B&B folks who are doing exceedingly well, working in collaborative, multiethnic corporate environments.
Where do I begin?
“Lived Experience” is paramount if you have the right characteristics, but is less than worthless if you don’t.
Platforms - The ability to express one’s views is so immensely powerful that de-platforming is a sacred undertaking, yet when afforded an opportunity to exercise speech the woke often retort that others should “educate themselves” or fall back on lazy soundbites.
“Impact, not intent” is continuously hurled at well-meaning, good-faith actors who are doing “harm”, yet the woke seem to continually avoid any reckoning of the impact of their own actions while riding high on the “integrity” of their own intentions.
Silence - “White Silence is Violence”, but if you’re white and talking on behalf of a marginalized group you’re just centering yourself…
Allyship - You must be dedicated to the cause - but without agency. You can’t profess allyship - it is assigned to you. Educate yourself, but question nothing. Believe what you’re narrowly told, even when others from within the (black/trans/etc.) group have diverse views.
Woke narratives centre around empowering the disadvantaged, yet nearly all their strategies breed psychological disempowerment
Some corners of the woke community consider blackness a construct that can be ‘revoked’ from black people who reject woke ideology. But someone who adopts the construct can’t be inducted into blackness.
Black people who reject a black identity are often told that they CANNOT reject it because they are seen as black (i.e. by the cop that pulls them over), and therefore their identity is a negotiation. Yet Trans identities cannot be negotiated whatsoever.
Much lip service is paid to vulnerability and the embrace thereof. Yet this usually manifests as a hard shell of defensive resentment rather than a true opening and softening to reality.
The simultaneous focus on the SYSTEMIC nature of the -isms, with the increasingly granular focus on individual acts of microaggreassions.
They treat human value and dignity as if they can be removed or eliminated by others through oppression. But oppression is bad precisely because human value and dignity are inherent.
Safe spaces are required to shield the vulnerable from uncomfortable words and symbols, and even clapping and rustling noises can be banned in major contexts, but it’s fine to burn down minority-owned businesses and expose female rape survivors and prisoners to sexual abuse.
Regarding the revoking of “blackness,” a similar phenomenon occurs with “gay” (Peter Thiel) and with “trans” (detransitioners).
Woke Bicycle Advocates (yes they exist and compose of large numbers of advocacy orgs) also take away someone’s “cyclist card” if they disagree with the ideology.
Oh and on the “systemic racism” note, LA’s natural gas ban is set to make it more expensive and even outright impossible for Asian restaurants to survive as they primarily cook on high volume gas stoves using woks. Several businesses owners complained noting that cooking on electric stoves is not only more difficult but the retrofits to their restaurants would be prohibitively expensive.
When this was all pointed out to the LA Times, they ran cover for the reckless policy.
Under woke rules, this would be an example of “systemic racism” against Asians, but because it was an idea pushed by the woke themselves, it gets a pass.
There are over 500 million Spanish speakers globally and they're supposed to drop gender from the language and instead replace it with "X," which is difficult, if not impossible to pronounce in many words. The primary driver for this change comes from woke academics in the US (which in fairness has the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world) who likely have little experience actually using the language with the millions who speak it in the US let alone the 20+ other countries where the language is spoken. To add to the sheer irony, the same academics often blabber about colonialism yet commit essentially the same crime as those they criticize. They are linguistically colonizing a colonizing language.
Attempts to "de-gender" the language also exist in the Spanish speaking world, but instead of "X" an "E" is used which is indeed much easier to pronounce. But this ideology is mostly stuck in the elites, particularly in academia.
For Nahuatl, add: coyote, guacamole, chili, mesquite, peyote, shack, tamale, tequila, mezcal, quetzal
Quechua: guano, coca, condor, jerky, lima, llama, quinoa
Guarani: acai, cashew, cayenne, cougar, jaguar, macaw, piranha, toucan, tapir
Maya: cenote
Aymara: alpaca
Maupudungun: poncho
Many US States are derived from Native American Languages too. Most offensive is Wyoming, which is derived from a people originally from the East, not the plains or Mountain West.
Regarding footnote number 4 and woke colonialism in general, the race baiters and bigots at the LA Times went the extra mile in this piece:
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-10-20/mexico-anti-racism-movement-protests-colorism
These are the same "journalists" who referred to American expats as "flooding" Mexico City. There's typically outrage whenever any other group of people is referred to as "flooding" an area.
You have to acknowledge that gender is determined, not observed, at birth.
And you have to acknowledge that gender 2, and genders with higher numbers, are at least as good at everything as gender 1.
And you have to acknowledge that gender 1 manages to systematically oppress all the other genders.
Leftists deciding that the homeless are actually "unhoused." Words are powerful. Those that use this new term don't see how they aren't giving the homeless dignity, but are sanitizing a very sad and complex reality. In trying to help the homeless, they're sweeping them under the rug and not addressing core issues that lead to such a dire situation.
Leftists: They aren't mentally ill, drug addicted, formerly abused people who need carefully calibrated, individual help -- they just haven't found a place they can afford. A simplistic, blanket solution will work (and, with minimal involvement, make us feel like we're good people!).
Me, a former lefty: You're glossing over complex personal realities, yet you also say everyone is a damn snowflake and their "lived experience" must be worshipped.
Oy!
Nailed it! Well stated!
Believe all women - unless they accuse someone on our side.
I cannot articulate it ass well as you would or Duglas Murray does in "The madness of crowds" but there is no opposite to mansplainig.
The last 5/6 minutes of this interview with Freddie Sayers and David Sachs defines the hypocrisy around current censorship tactics, democracy, and authoritarianism really, really well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=m5AdnEwywu4