Empathy and Tactics: The Hyper-Reactive Left in Context Part 2 of 2
Continuing the analysis of the benign modern Left when contrasted to the factually dangerous Right.
Is the reactionary nature of the contemporary Left a problem? I believe it can be. As validly righteous as many loud members of the Left may be, we must always examine the results of our actions and especially our critiques.
Are we succeeding in educating others on the mechanics of privilege and oppression? Or are our tactics obnoxious, short-handed, demeaning, and ultimately a form of trolling that only furthers the polarization of society? Do our words instead reinforce the ranks of the Right via guilt trips, virtue signalling and blame? The Left needs to pause and reflect on its goals and desired outcomes.
Yet — and I can’t stress this enough: Left issues of minority/gender identities, gross economic/class inequality, sexual orientations, racial abuses etc, have literally been suppressed, oppressed, gaslit, murdered, burnt at the stake totalling centuries worth of generational/cultural PTSD. This is only now able to be brought into the light, especially via social media to be examined.
The voiceless are for the first time in human history able to build communities, a generation of what I call cycle-breakers connecting across distances via the internet — asking to simply be recognized. As human. Validated as another beautiful expression of all the spectrum of what that means. To connect and rebuild a better world — pink hair and all.
Am I being an apologist here? Is this an unconscious agenda or motivated reasoning? I’ve come to these conclusions from years of examination working backwards from the end values listed at the start of the first piece. If you wish to disagree, please first review the articles and videos I share there first. My reason is motivated by anything other than pursuit of solutions to explain the anti-science/compassion trends we are seeing.
For example — I specialize in, and work with mental health every day. What I see on the meta-social level is a mass Left catharsis. Cathartic responses are rarely pretty. They can be loud, they can be intense, they can result in saying or acting out things that may even later cause feelings of regret. And expressions of rage expressed as a response to trauma are completely rational and valid responses. Especially to a world normalized (also this) to being literally on fire and choking on plastic. School children in body-bags.
“Grinning and bearing” it… Has not worked for decades.
On the other hand, the Right-wing reactions I see are largely not “trauma informed”. Yes, of course the end goal in psychological reclamation is that at times we need “buck up” and stop victimizing oneself but more often than not in my clinical experience I’ve come to see these as generationally inherited traumas. And those criticizing them, are the same ones who historically inflicted them. “Bucking up” is a practice, two steps forward one step back while validating one's feelings and reactions in order to progress. This insight is shared by Gabor Maté, a stark contrast to Jordan Peterson’s approach, keeping in mind that Peterson’s audience is primarily Christian-leaning white lower/middle class conservative boys generally born on second or third base:
So, I argue that these trends of woke-ism and cancel culture are as natural as PTSD fight or flight responses, except reflected on a cultural level in a similar trend as those of the sixties, the previous major cultural revolution in the West.
So remind me, whether this or the blatantly socialist values of MLK — which side of history or you on?
Fucking check yourself.
Further, when I say “reactionary” another factor is that is it not primarily university students being bullied by elite experienced professional media pundits with unparalleled power to shape public influence?
So let’s keep things in a bit of heart-based context, shall we? Afterall — it is the modern “Far Left” most commonly represented, and via direct action protecting these marginalized populations. Oppressed by definition: by Conservatives. (Think religion: please keep in mind the reasons why we use the term “conservative”), and the modern Far Right (colonialists, Nazis, capitalist oil barons decimating landscapes and indigenous populations, you name it).
On Free Speech and Cancel Culture
There is a difference between banning books, and “cancelling” perpetuation of hate. As I wrote in a previous piece:
Pay attention to those who are minimizing it, enabling it, avoiding it, creating conspiracies to blame-shift. These same personalities stir fear in some (relatively) non-existent threat of some “Leftist” enemy coming after your free speech (secret: they aren’t [Reference to Bill C-6]). And even if they were they are a temporary and often immature minority — meanwhile the actual governmental right-wing in the US are preparing to ban books and freedom to discuss theories on the origins and perpetuation of racism. When left unexamined, this may be a sign of things to come here in Canada. Where is [Jordan Peterson’s] outrage here [in reference to Republican book banning/anti-CRT], exactly? And to whom does this selective outrage serve?
When it comes to political discourse again: focus on results. While this doesn’t enable or excuse using people with moderately co-called “Right-wing” values as punching bags, it does offer a glimpse into the social psychology as to why it happens by the reactive abused Left.
As gender-fluidity, sexual orientation, and race relations continues to improve [he writes with hesitation], so will the enantiodromia normalize. This is intergenerational trauma, emerging at once (social media is essentially a mere decade-and-a-half old) via the safety net of global cross-community connection. This movement is in its historical infancy and exacerbated by “final straws” like George Floyd, the pandemic, Roe v Wade, and now Buffalo/Uvalde (already history, aren’t they now, ‘Mericans, you bastion of capitalist worship?). The first time many of these legitimately victimized communities have experienced a sense of not being alone — and are coagulating and empowering each other, across borders, across isolation, sharing and redefining abuse responses. Because no one else has.
Something the “majority” likely haven’t experienced in such a degree.
Perhaps they are victimizing themselves precisely because they are victims; perhaps it is minimized as “identity politics” precisely because these identities have been ignored for ages, and bullying/dehumanizing, rather than offering compassionate teachable critiques perpetuates the cycle.
Fucking reflect on who is telling you what to think.
Leftists are more rabid to the direct degree that social media has allowed said cross-cultural examination, heightened awareness of the issues and oppression. This is a natural stage of pushback. And even when flawed, will find equilibrium.
Let’s present some quick cases in point — Join me on a link/reference backreading binge!
Speaking of Snowflakes: Required Backreading
Also:
The battles of the Left are multi-faceted. And while I diagnose that the “roots” of these current issues are late-stage colonialism/capitalism, a major defining factor is the cross-cultural values of the Left, which offers a dissertation-worthy discussion when contrasted to the single-mindedness of the Right.
In the meantime, tell me… How many “anti-hate” websites from the Right can you find? (And if you find them, and identify as Right, do you follow and better promote them?)
There are substantial numbers of Conservative active on Twitter, yet when I see these overblown accusations of censorship, yes of course shadow-banning is a problem — but it affects *both* sides. The only things I can conclude from the Right base is speaking to are the ones generally banned for dangerous misinformation and hate speech. As we watch this saga unfold, I again turn to the professionals: for example, let the EU decide.
- Inside Twitter, Fears That Musk’s Views Will Revisit Past Troubles — The New York Times (nytimes.com)
- Trans People Are Being Slandered As Groomers And Pedophiles By The Far-Right — Canadian Anti-Hate Network (antihate.ca)
- CRT And Moral Panic Sources — Google Docs
- Conservatism turned toxic: Donald Trump’s fanbase has no actual ideology, just a nihilistic hatred of liberals | Salon.com
- Master troll Ted Cruz predicts Democrats will become “obstructionists at a level we’ve never seen” | Salon.com
- Stop Using Phony Science to Justify Transphobia | Scientific American
- Breaking Ben Shapiro. Religious Liberty, Intolerance, and the… | by Tim Wise | Medium
- 13 Questions for Those Attacking Critical Race Theory | Medium
- Silencing Dissent: The Conservative Record | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
- Conservatives Hate Critical Thought, Not Critical Race Theory | by Tim Wise | AfroSapiophile | Medium
Basically…
Freedom of speech does not imply freedom from consequences.
Forced Representation or Collectivist Species Democracy?
Understanding Collectivism and Individualism — Fact / Myth (factmyth.com)
Democracy. About that. The human community quietly looking out for eachother. In a pandemic. As I have for my disabled sister and by extension, the immunocompromised like her. As the majority of you have for your families, colleagues — and strangers in the grocery store.
Strangers. Others…
Humans.
The rest of us being the some 90% of the public (and truckers), who are quietly keeping your computers running, fridges full, treating your long-Covid, and tending to you in ICU.
Soo… Democracy.
And so, if this is your first experience with feeling the pinch of freedoms taken away — can you now not empathize with people who daily, weekly, endure racism, those mocked for their disabilities? If you were pro-convoy/anti-vax… these numbers show that you are… dun dun dunnn — A minority. Sound familiar? Can you now not sympathize?
Minorities have fought for decades for representation in the media, and is what we are seeing today on Netflix an overcompensation? Perhaps. Perhaps not — not when the dominant culture has been disproportionately represented since the dawn of television. Either way, does it personally affect you? Unless one is a snowflake who needs to have an opinion on everything — likely not.
Most had no problem with whitewashing of coloured characters for decades, up to and including Jesus Christ himself, and now y’all have a problem? This is white supremacy in action. Let the trends be. Let it self-normalize and frankly just STFU when it comes to things that don’t actually affect you. Leave it alone and focus on the real fights rather than these “culture war” deflections. Not everything needs an opinion, not when the world is literally burning. As I hammered above, we’re being deflected, especially if one echo-chamber posts more about the “Woke Left” than about climate and racism.
Thus; many are being completely and thoroughly propagandized: deflected and trained to hate others and in relatively minor transient issues, rather than focussing on… you know... A hospitable planet for future generations.
Do we argue about sign language in the corners of screens?
This democratization compensation is explored and seems to be validated by the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis. Keep in mind that you probably have an LGBTQ+ member of your family and BIPOC colleagues at work, so the North American representation in the Netflix era is likely proportionately accurate.
Once again, the science leans Left — we have never been a “pure” lone-wolf individualist species — this is a modern feature of increasing isolation and nuclearization of Western families. And while individual self-expression has exploded due to social media, I argue that social media is a direct outcropping of the human desire to connect from the isolated commercial-break television era of the previous Western nuclear family generations.
Hypocrisy?
Am I being sympathetic to on one hand support the “Left minorities” but on the other trash “Right majorities”? No. Absolutely not. First, the “Right” is not actually a minority, it is a predominantly whining white group sitting on a mountain of privilege that allows them to protest for weeks unimpeded when a similar movement by First Nations peoples would have been shut down… immediately before even getting to the freakin capitol.
Meanwhile poor old Joe Rogan’s followers have increased.
Second, this is a choice for them. They choose to be unvaccinated (please don’t tell me this isn’t about vaccines — I will break down the seemingly hypocritical “pro-choice” argument in an upcoming piece). Meanwhile actual minority groups do not choose their skin colour, birth economic status, or orientation. I can go on slaughtering any other points about hypocrisy but instead I’ll let readers reflect on these differences themselves.
This isn’t about enabling and perpetuating victimhood — no one wants to remain a victim, and few people ever really do in their own psychological journey, which as previously described, is now being reflected en masse.
This is about justice and reclamation. Consequences.
This is despite classically defined, by-definition Right-wing conservative resistance to progress. (Don’t get me wrong — I think I believe the rational conservative-values segment act as a built-in species brake pedal to challenge & confirm unbridled progress, in the same way that anarchists challenge authoritarianism of non-organic/grassroots authentic Communism/Socialism, but this is a topic for another essay).
Buuut unfortunately, rational conservatism has been almost entirely corrupted by fear-based anti-science/evidence, hyper-selfish, neo-religious personality-cult psychosis especially beginning in the Reagan era but peaking with Trump and his active campaign of “alternative facts”. A natural and inevitable mathematical species progression which we will look back on in history books as not only prolonging the pandemic but delaying climate change. (Please read Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything”).
[*Breathes*]
Because frankly, this is mutual aid over survival of the fittest. As I’ll continue to poke — take a deep dive into “mutual aid” literature.
So the inverse is not true. Privilege mechanics boils down to being born second or third base, an unrecognized head start. (I will be breaking down the Mechanics of Privilege in another piece — lots in store!)
The Question Facing the American White Male Today — The Good Men Project
So, if you find yourself “angrier” at the Left, I’m proposing that it is the more you have been propagandized by the Right. And nope: it does not flow the other direction. Taking the context of the Convoy as an example — one is based in pandemic misinformation, i.e. not based in reality and actually dangerous, the other is the factual history of systemized oppression. Violence is only sanctioned top down.
And the capitalist “Right” has a total monopoly on power and violence.
From my view, the hyper-sensitive left cancels things that *perpetuate* racism and misinformation because they are factually dangerous, meanwhile the right cancels entire books and topics that factually *reveal* their racism, violence, and misinformation.
And this is why some are bumping against an intolerant Left: because tolerance… breeds Nazis and fills ICU’s.
A “Lefty” Critiquing the Left: How we can move forward
When faced with the targeted hate propagandised towards some rabid Left, ask yourself why are you being told to hate people seeking a better world? Why don’t you correct the Left rather than joining the Right?
Here’s a by-no-means exhaustive list how:
1. Don’t Troll: How to Contribute to Conversation
So, if you are on the side fighting for progress on the list I began this series with, if you identify with these struggles, we need to be getting our collective shit together.
And this is not how it’s done:
When it comes to conversing with those who are likely Left but might be disillusioned or victims of propaganda, what we need is dialogue, not short-quipped trolling (and I’m very much calling myself out here — few are immune).
Remember, the goal is to succeed in achieving your outcomes, not representing a Right-wing propagandized “Leftist caricature” which will only solidify their views and push them further Right.
And that can lead to the slippery slope to extremism — not your “fault” since they were likely prone to those views to begin with. (This can be seen as abuse tactics following the script of “it’s your fault I’m this way/look what you’ve made me do” so I feel it needs to be clarified.)
TRIGGER EMPATHY: I also recommend “pulling on their heart-strings” — most non-sociopathic humans have at least some experiences with injustice, or a “Left” issue — the convenient thing is that for all of the facets of colonialist/state-capitalist oppression is that they are all interrelated and thus gaps in logic are quickly evident because if they have been traumatized in some way, then it’s not a far leap to transpose that pain to another struggle — hopefully triggering empathy.
REVERSE ENGINEER: When pressed, ask your fence-sitting friends leading questions: Do they support the general movements I listed at the top of this piece? Because if yes, if they support all these, then they are indeed Left, so why do they IDENTIFY Right? Can’t they see this is propaganda co-opting?
Basically — dialogue with the other team, don’t avoid or shut down conversation with an exhausted “fucking Leftists” (or “fucking Right-wingers”). Be open to learning and sharing, finding mutual ground and a problem-solving mindset.
You know — all the things the anti-education Far Right tend to avoid.
2. Disengage — Do Not Validate the Conversation
In more extreme blatant Alt-Right encounters, do not validate the conversation as worthwhile by participating. This is a losing battle. Disengaging is different than “cancelling”: this is protecting your own mental health by recognizing you will almost certainly be baited into an endlessly goalpost-shifting conversation. (That said, you can also report the post if it is indeed racist etc). Further, it pushes them down further the algorithm (discussed in my next article), hidden away in the cesspool… where it belongs.
3. Debunk Yourself: Surround yourself with LGBTQ+/BIPOC/Science-Based Experts
If you find yourself echo-chambering, surrounded increasingly by white friends, make a conscious effort to seek out the anti-racism/LGBTQ+ etc speakers that you resonate with on social media. Not the ones who confirm your biases — but the ones who challenge them.
This is in the same vein highlighting the blatant difference between unfollowing anti-vax misinformation vs following accounts that debunk.
4. Remember the Context: Keep your Critiques Universal
If you are more publicly vocal about the woke-ism of the Left than you are about the racism, ecocide, and blatant misinformation from the Right — then you are part of the propaganda perpetuating problem. Your private beliefs don’t matter — these are not what shape social media algorithms influencing other people’s views. I’ll keep hammering… silence is violence.
Here I recommend following deliberately unbiased news sources, some quick examples:
- Breaking News Headlines and Media Bias | Ground News
- Media Bias/Fact Check — Search and Learn the Bias of News Media (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
Rather than join ranks of the Right, perhaps let them inform you yes, but always keeping an eye on your goals — assuming, of course, your goals are for an egalitarian, science-based sustainable world. The clock is ticking, and we are deflection squabbling… while the Amazon becomes a desert (and not the one that should).
One side is playing offensive & controlling the narrative as they always have through Church or State Media, while the other is struggling to get a foothold for marginalized voices which sometimes backfires. There is a stark difference between Left “woke-ism” and outright Ring-wing gun-lobbying terrorism, anti-public health, climate-denying capital-storming, misinformation peddling, war mongering & gun-profiteering, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ/CRT that results in *actual* calculable numbers of deaths and trauma.
So go on, keep playing into this false dichotomy narrative from the Far Right that *results* in a *reactionary* and yes at times immature *response* from the Left. Keep enabling the far-Right woke-ism propaganda game and watch the body counts both in hospitals and in schools grow.
Centrism, “Good Germans”, those “neutral in situations of injustice” are what enabled Nazis. And are thus complicit. Be clear on where you stand. Thus, in that vein, we can be a wee bit more forgiving to what we tolerate… and what we simply should not.
FURTHER READING (Much more on the way)
- Left critique of cancel culture https://instagram.com/clementinemorrigan
NOTE: I’m going to be hugely expanding this segment in my “Politics” chapters, in the meantime please watch this entire series below!
(Especially if you are a Peterson “fan” — which I totally “DESTROY” in my next article as I continue to seek the “Roots” of the problems we face today.)
