I am not at all familiar with Burton’s work (you are talking about a book that, as far as I can tell, was published less than a year ago), so I am going to assume that you are referring mainly to New Age spiritualism and (from what I can gather from a quick search) renewed interest in the occult…? Neither of which are new phenomena and neither of which are necessarily mutually exclusive with traditional religious or power structures.
If that is the case, I think that we are talking about very different things here. Are we talking about political hyperpolarization in general or are we talking about quasi-cults springing up all over the place? If it is the latter, I do not see any links between quasi-cults and the assumed political leanings of cult members unless the cult is of a political nature.
For example, while it is true that there are anti-vaxxers on the left, the anti-vaccine movement has only really been embraced and politicized by the right. As such, it has become a part of the right wing movement even if some of the left had embraced it individually.
As for…
I am sorry, but what are you even talking about? Who is worried about helping “the wrong people?” Who has developed ideas about what kinds of violence “count?” I am wholly unaware of the phenomena of which you speak. Who is this “left” that you are referring to, specifically? Who and where are these “big picture extremists?” Why do you want Trotskyists in the mix? Are you arguing that the modern left effectively cuts out old-school communists? Or are you arguing the opposite? Are you arguing that the people who call themselves leftists are not real leftists from a workers’ rights perspective? But if so, which self-proclaimed leftists are you talking about?
Your lack of specificity and sweeping generalizations are problematic. I am not trying to censor you by saying this. I am saying that you need to narrow down and clarify what you are saying to even give us something meaningful to respond to here.
If you are talking specifically about Hollywood celebrities putting on a leftist façade while not actually doing anything, or about journalists looking to score points by catching the other side of the aisle in a faux pas, please just say so from the beginning. That is not “the left.”
