I couldn’t get too worked up about it, because it was so hilariously disingenuous.
“I am a liberal but here is why logically minorities are not as good.”
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This guy doesn’t live on Earth if he thinks the political right is anti-authoritarian. It’s become so authoritarian it might as well be called the fascist party these days.
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I do have one friend at Google in Mountain View, and it does sound like another planet.
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Do liberals usually call themselves liberals? I consider myself a progressive, not a liberal.
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The real question is: do wolves ever try to pass themselves off as sheep?
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I often say “I’m liberal”, since “I’m a socialist libertarian” tends to confuse people.
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I was going to post about this, I read one article on mobo yesterday, and two following ones today:
Holy /r/redpill, Batman.
Oh and the classic, “I’m just trying to start an honest dialog!” defense.
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Wow, so let’s see what slots on the white male privilege bingo card we’re ticking:
- political correctness
- “Just saying”/“honest dialog” defense
- “Some have expressed approval”
- The right is being shamed by the left
- We’re the real oppressed ones!
- You’re missing the real discrimination here, you guys!
- Men and women are, like, so different
- Women be fragile, hysterical, and emotional which is why men are predisposed to be leaders
- Women are to blame for sexism and the wage gap because they don’t assert themselves
- Universal truths
- “I’m not racist or sexist, but…”
- “I’ve been told…”
- Science has a liberal bias
- Affirmative action hurts whites
- “I support diversity, but…”
- Diversity hurts those it’s meant to help!
- Leftist violence
Truly a disgusting missive. I need a shower and some brain bleach after reading this.
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All he was missing was a “But Stalin and Mao!”
Who were social conservatives aka Authoritarians, of the same make as Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco (and later, Pinochet).
Hilarious when soCons use those guys as a cudgel against political correctness aka human decency. Or not. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry.
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I’ve worked in almost my entire adult life and there always someone like this fucking guy who is more than happy to shout these kind of far right and anti-inclusionary ideas (or as I like to think, “diversity is just the wrong kind of inclusion”) to anybody that will listen. This isn’t exclusive to Google. It just so happens that this one got leaked.
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That’s a good question. Mainstream Democrats like to claim the word “progressive” but their practices show how hollow and bullshit that is. True Progressives don’t believe corporate cronyism has any place. Progressives think that the grass roots can handle all campaign type money issues, as well as most political issues, and their morality is centered around individual liberty, a universal type of moral solidarity and social freedom. Yet the Dems claim the word. So no, Progressive does not mean what it did even two years ago. And lots of other examples of how people claim that word, yet don’t live up to it.
So I don’t call myself progressive anymore because the meaning is corrupted, just as much as the word libertarian is.
Old school libertarians really cared about smaller government, lower taxes, less of a boot on local governments, with an emphasis on corporate control and capitalistic force-of-destiny shaped by morality and individual liberty. Somewhat similar to progs, except for the corporate part. …And along came the Tea Party, who co-opted the word libertarian and turned it into an abomination of the original intent. Now, I won’t touch the word libertarian with a ten foot pole. They are a bunch of fuckwits now, and to hell with them.
I don’t think “progressives” are quite as bad as the new libertarians, but people really should be cautious with that word and be quick to unpack their intent when using it. I will not throw that word around casually anymore. I am essentially stateless now, when it comes to politics. I won’t call myself moderate. I won’t call myself libertarian. I won’t call myself progressive. Definitely not a D or an R, no way!
I’m a nothing, as far as US politics is concerned.
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Progressive is useful for describing alignment on the social slider, rather than economic. I tend to call myself a Socialist Justice Warrior - a handy TAKE THAT! to the regressives and corporatists.
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How could you ignore the appeal to “evolutionary psychology”? No true mansplanation(unless it’s a retro-chic one grounded exclusively in appeals to religious authority) is quite complete without some just-so stories from the authoritative science of evolutionary psychology!
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Not a criticism of you, but I think that much of the trouble the left has had in the US over the past several decades is the eagerness to instantly withdraw from any label or symbol once they feel that it has been contaminated by toxic ideologies. I think it’s used - deliberately or not - by reactionaries to try to induce reactionary tendencies in the left. I call it “the pejoration dance” and hate it more than just about anything. Letting those right of us decide the meanings has let them dominate the public discourse. It exacerbates the left’s tendency to factionalize and worry about labels, and pushes it to the “circular firing squad” degree. It’s daft to give up allies who one mostly agrees with because “you used the wrong word”.
As the saying goes, “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile”, and the left seems chronically, compulsively unable to refrain from giving those inches away.
It reminds me of that Disinfo lecture that Grant Morrison gave years ago, where he compared memes to infectious stealth diseases like BSE. That one colonizes the culture by giving the population something that they refuse to process. One overcomes the pejorative dance the same way one does to terrorism - by not making a big deal out of it, taking some responsibility and not letting one’s buttons get pushed. The best jiu-jitsu is to own and savor every epithet they throw at you, turning every turd into a flower. “Damn straight I am a savage, a queer, a cunt, and a commie. And a terrorist and a baby-eating witch doctor out of your nightmares. Which is why I am winning and gloating that your sorry ass even stepped up to me.” Because you are dealing with them from a position of strength, backed up by the strength of your convictions. And aren’t afraid to even take the piss out of yourself first, because you are controlling the engagement rather than merely reacting and second guessing yourself. It’s also crucial to not believe your own bullshit. It sounds like posturing, but it has the cognitive/communications effect of not being in retreat all of the time.
IMO everybody should practice once in a while, happily owning all of the worst names your adversaries have used or might use against you. Until you can do it with confidence, and not flinch. Not unlike physical self-defense, none of this is to say that anybody has the right to verbally assault you, or that that is a good thing. But what I am saying is that you can vaccinate yourself against words/labels/symbols power to hurt you, and your movement.
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I somewhat agree. More often than not I just discuss my political positions without bothering to self-label. But when I do, I often use the term progressive because my politics tends to be mainly about endeavoring to make the world a better place through prudent and mutually beneficial change. That said, I value conserving the environment (conservationist or bright green in the modern parlance), and I do value remembering our history, warts and all, as well as preserving some traditions (of every culture and not just European traditions) but never blindly (which would be more in line with traditional conservatism which has no sincere counterpart in modern American politics despite many Republicans clinging emptily to the title as they do with most symbols).
Anarcho-capitalist libertarians yes. There’s an entire other branch of left libertarianism with several sub-schools of thought within it. Sadly, it never got any real traction in the US even to the limited extend classical libertarianism did (which as you probably know has little to do with the Libertarian Party). Needless to say, when the real history of libertarianism is completely lost even on the people who think they’re libertarians but are really just selfish Randian pricks - fun times trying to explain to 'Muricans how Marx was influenced by and influenced early libertarian thought, and by fun I mean I’d rather walk on hot coals - the term is more trouble than it’s worth.
Given the superficial and shallow nature of our fuck facts political circus, that’s sage advice with any political school of thought. But I also agree with @tinoesroho that at some point we need to resist the appropriation of terminology by our opponents. Many of the strongest and most empowering labels were reclaimed by groups throughout world history against whom their opponents and/or oppressors sought to slander them. Symbolic though it is, drawing a line in the sand can be a unifying act of defiance.
Ditto. It wouldn’t be such an obstacle except that few people will listen to issues and ideas without labels and team affiliations in our sports-ball culture.
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I like your and popo’s expansions. I totally just blew my wad extemporaneously without any research or facts to back it up. Just blahhhh on the keys. You both said a lot of what I’d hoped to say.
Should “we” try to “take back” the word progressive? Or coin a new one? Or say fukkit and move forward without a post to hitch our wagons to? Right now, fed up with this damned country, my inclination is no. But ask again closer to the next elections. I reserve the right to change my mind.
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I particularly liked the ‘men are forced to take these high paying, stressful and (apparently) unsatisfying jobs which end up killing them because they are judged by status’ part.
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Damn straight. Own that shit.
https://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Liberal-Reclaiming-Compassionate-Agenda/dp/081664179X
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