I stopped referring to the American political left as liberals long ago since they have become very illiberal. I understand that "leftist" sounds like political insult, but it is actually accurate (in my opinion) because "leftist" is often associated with "Marxist", a divisive philosophy pitting the bourgeoisie (capitalist business owner…
I stopped referring to the American political left as liberals long ago since they have become very illiberal. I understand that "leftist" sounds like political insult, but it is actually accurate (in my opinion) because "leftist" is often associated with "Marxist", a divisive philosophy pitting the bourgeoisie (capitalist business owners) against the proletariat (workers). With the modern leftist it is pitting anyone who can claim disadvantage against the "privileged." In that, it is cultural Marxism, but the frequent criticism of capitalism remains.
Your charge of "True Leftists are still children" relates (in my thinking) to their constant cries of "not fair." What parent has not had to remind their children that life is not fair. Scott Adams calls fairness a child's argument. I don't write that as approval of unfairness, but there is the world we live in and the world we wish it to be. We can do our part to bring fairness, but we must understand that it is the quest of Sisyphus. Subsets of humanity pitted as rivals against each other are less likely to work together.
I don't tell people what to feel or think, but I do often recommend that people assess their tactics to see if they are effective in their goal, or they are just ranting in anger which may be making it worse. Calling me a racist because I am a right leaning white man is less likely to make me become a virtue signaling SJW than to make me think about the obscene sex act you should perform on yourself. I see you (Steve) as trying to bring a realistic adult viewpoint to the issue.
"Your charge of "True Leftists are still children"
Hmm, I think I need to have a think about how these conversations are presented as Dan also thought this is was me who was saying this. The title of this post (and almost all the posts here) is a quote from the person I'm tolling to in the conversation. Stefan in this case. He says that "true leftists are still children" in his first comment and I thought it was a snappy title.
Interesting... My bad, I normally am not confused by the format. However, I walk behind my words in my agreement, it turns out with Stefan.
The world is not fair. Adults may try to reduce that unfairness, at least I hope so, but not whine about it like a child that discovered his sister got a cookie. Of course, the left doesn't have a monopoly on that, it's part of the spectrum of human emotion and behavior. At this point in time the political right whines about "mah freedom" where the government is the oppressor. So perhaps I should discard my bias as if the left does have a monopoly on that stuff.
“ However, I walk behind my words in my agreement, it turns out with Stefan.”
Yeah, as I said to Stefan, this depends on how you’re defining “leftist”.
It’s true that the world isn’t fair, of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it fairer. Indeed, we *have* made it fairer.
Most of us who have time to debate these matters on the internet have nothing to whine about. Life has already been more than fair to us. This is what’s so infuriating about the whiners on Medium. They act as if their lives are hell when they are objectively better than most people’s.
But the point is that the majority of people who genuinely *are* less fortunate than us aren’t “whining”. They simply struggle in ways and for reasons that we often fail to consider. Partly because they don’t really have a voice. And partly because our lives, with whatever challenges they include, are still far better.
I stopped referring to the American political left as liberals long ago since they have become very illiberal. I understand that "leftist" sounds like political insult, but it is actually accurate (in my opinion) because "leftist" is often associated with "Marxist", a divisive philosophy pitting the bourgeoisie (capitalist business owners) against the proletariat (workers). With the modern leftist it is pitting anyone who can claim disadvantage against the "privileged." In that, it is cultural Marxism, but the frequent criticism of capitalism remains.
Your charge of "True Leftists are still children" relates (in my thinking) to their constant cries of "not fair." What parent has not had to remind their children that life is not fair. Scott Adams calls fairness a child's argument. I don't write that as approval of unfairness, but there is the world we live in and the world we wish it to be. We can do our part to bring fairness, but we must understand that it is the quest of Sisyphus. Subsets of humanity pitted as rivals against each other are less likely to work together.
I don't tell people what to feel or think, but I do often recommend that people assess their tactics to see if they are effective in their goal, or they are just ranting in anger which may be making it worse. Calling me a racist because I am a right leaning white man is less likely to make me become a virtue signaling SJW than to make me think about the obscene sex act you should perform on yourself. I see you (Steve) as trying to bring a realistic adult viewpoint to the issue.
"Your charge of "True Leftists are still children"
Hmm, I think I need to have a think about how these conversations are presented as Dan also thought this is was me who was saying this. The title of this post (and almost all the posts here) is a quote from the person I'm tolling to in the conversation. Stefan in this case. He says that "true leftists are still children" in his first comment and I thought it was a snappy title.
It's not a reflection of my personal views😅
Interesting... My bad, I normally am not confused by the format. However, I walk behind my words in my agreement, it turns out with Stefan.
The world is not fair. Adults may try to reduce that unfairness, at least I hope so, but not whine about it like a child that discovered his sister got a cookie. Of course, the left doesn't have a monopoly on that, it's part of the spectrum of human emotion and behavior. At this point in time the political right whines about "mah freedom" where the government is the oppressor. So perhaps I should discard my bias as if the left does have a monopoly on that stuff.
“ However, I walk behind my words in my agreement, it turns out with Stefan.”
Yeah, as I said to Stefan, this depends on how you’re defining “leftist”.
It’s true that the world isn’t fair, of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it fairer. Indeed, we *have* made it fairer.
Most of us who have time to debate these matters on the internet have nothing to whine about. Life has already been more than fair to us. This is what’s so infuriating about the whiners on Medium. They act as if their lives are hell when they are objectively better than most people’s.
But the point is that the majority of people who genuinely *are* less fortunate than us aren’t “whining”. They simply struggle in ways and for reasons that we often fail to consider. Partly because they don’t really have a voice. And partly because our lives, with whatever challenges they include, are still far better.