A lot of people who claim to be leftists or progressives are literally exactly the same as the outspoken, radical racists and bigots.
In that they both are utterly disconnected from reality, they both are attaching to a “side” because of a sense of moral superiority and community belonging. They both ridicule and ostracize people who are different. They all have the same desire to connect with a storyline or narrative, they just have chosen different characters to follow, a different side of the WWE Wrestlemania arena. But it’s still all Wrestlemania theater. The fundamental emotional engagement is the exact same thing, minus the red hats.
This isn’t to say “both sides bad durrr durr blah blah fart fart” because we absolutely have to spread progressive ideas and advocate for personal freedoms and rights and protections, but we have to be a lot less hung-up on weird purity-testing culture, on trying to make everyone fit your own image of what a “perfect citizen” should look like. You have, have, HAVE to start learning to be around people who are not only different, but you may not agree with. This is profoundly hard for the left and right, but I am challenging the left to be fucking better about being kind and understanding of others.
A lot of people who claim to be leftists or progressives are literally exactly the same as the outspoken, radical racists and bigots.
In that they both are utterly disconnected from reality, they both are attaching to a “side” because of a sense of moral superiority and community belonging. They both ridicule and ostracize people who are different. They all have the same desire to connect with a storyline or narrative, they just have chosen different characters to follow, a different side of the WWE Wrestlemania arena. But it’s still all Wrestlemania theater. The fundamental emotional engagement is the exact same thing, minus the red hats.
This isn’t to say “both sides bad durrr durr blah blah fart fart” because we absolutely have to spread progressive ideas and advocate for personal freedoms and rights and protections, but we have to be a lot less hung-up on weird purity-testing culture, on trying to make everyone fit your own image of what a “perfect citizen” should look like. You have, have, HAVE to start learning to be around people who are not only different, but you may not agree with. This is profoundly hard for the left and right, but I am challenging the left to be fucking better about being kind and understanding of others.