Martha Rowen
Aug 22, 2017 · 2 min read

And you think that there isn’t a well-organized, intentional movement by the neocon, neoliberal oligarchary that calls itself “left” or “liberal”, now even coopting the title “progressive”, to use religion and the culture war to divide us? You must not have been a Bernie supporter or a voter for Jill Stein with even a toe in social media if you haven’t experienced being called sexist, homophobic, and the whole panoply of terms thrown out by the Democratic establishment and those indoctinated by it. Recently this has been somewhat eclipsed by accusations of being a Russian — and I guess now fascist — sympathizer. Even the term alt left was invented by the oligarchs to marginalize the real progressive left so as to herd people back into the “center” they keep driving rightward. Yes, the oligarchy has used sophisticated techniques for decades to convince conservative, traditionalist Americans that the “left” is bent on destroying their religion and is coming for their guns, and that same oligarchy is just as cynically exploiting liberal-leaning Americans into believing that religious (most specifically Christian) Americans, especially “white males”, are ipso facto racist misogynist homophobes bent on turning the country into a fascist theocracy. As long as they can keep us throwing insults back and forth, stigmatizing those on the other side of an imagined, artificial divide as evil and stupid, they can keep us from talking to one another and discovering how much we have in common and how easy it is to join together on common ground (and even find ways to increase that common ground). The oligarchy has every interest in shutting down dialogue, and we on both sides of the political divide have every reason to engage in real dialogue. That’s what those in power are afraid of and that’s what the MSM is working day and night to prevent.

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    Martha Rowen

    Written by

    Grandma of amazing Eleanor and Henry. Anti-imperialist Classicist. Tortoise-class Runner. Progressive Brooklyn Vegan since before that was a thing.

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