#leftist lunatics

[lasseling]

James Woods: ‘Leftist Lunatics’ Who Talk of ‘Killing Trump’ Have ‘Blood on Their Hands’

Hollywood veteran James Woods has warned that Democrats and “leftist lunatics” who talk about “killing President Trump” now have “blood on their hands.”

[culturevulturette]

Anyone who uses the term settler-colonial unironically deserves to be pooped on by a dyspeptic mastiff.

[tanadrin]

re: the motivated Pyrrhonian skepticism of anti-Ukraine leftism: it's very strange to me to characterize what I learn about the conflict as coming through "American media". I remember the opening of the war. Putin said "we won't invade." The Russian foreign ministry posted memes about how absurd Americans were to be afraid of invasion. The US kept saying "Russia is about to invade". Zelenskyy posted a "please don't invade" video. And Russia invaded! None of this information was mediated at all!

I agree with this and had a big long response about the fundamental error of Americans who solipsistically view everything through the lens of the Iraq War, but it hardly seems worth the effort. Opposing international support for Ukraine right now is just a really stupid position to hold. It makes sense only for extreme Russian nationalists, those who hold universally pacifistic views, and people who think "America bad" constitutes the entirety of being a leftist. Big states invading small states is bad, states being invaded have a right to defend themselves, and the right to solicit aid, and there's no coherent argument in favor of cutting off aid to Ukraine except if you believe nonsense fairy tales about Russia's political leadership.

But these people wouldn't be happy if the US had refused to get involved--indeed, in that circumstance, I'm sure they'd be bellowing about how the evil amerikkkan government wasn't helping the Ukrainians fight off the invaders. The key political doctrine is that whatever the US does is bad, and it's up to us to figure out why after the fact.

[the-lady-of-the-labyrinth]

Leftist, running around with their hair on fire, hands flailing wildly though the air: IT’S ALL ISRAEL’S FAULT!!! IT’S ALL ISRAEL’S FAULT!!!

Me: …

[gingerswagfreckles]

Fellas is it antisemitic to support a terrorist hate group dedicated to cleansing the middle east of Jews per their mission statement which they have repeatedly asserted the validity of as and stand by as of November 2024 who also indiscriminately killed over 1200 Jews last year in the worst progrom since the Holocaust? 🤔🧐🤔

It's insanely sad to read post after post of gentiles talking about how at least we all have each other and all we can do now is draw strength from our queer and leftist communities bc Jews literally cannot do this. Like you all completely and so utterly turned your backs on Jews this year and we have no one. Except other Jews. Who make up 2% of the American population. It's so great for you all that you can hold hands and sing Kumbaya but you made supporting Hamas and retweeting twitter funny men with literal terrorist hate symbols in their usernames normal. So no some of us cannot draw strength from the queer and leftist communities. Some of us just have to sit here and take it as you all reassure each other that none of this is your fault even though it so obviously is.

[magicbeardpowers]

I went to this dude's blog directly to (against my better judgement about arguing on the internet) respond to this ridiculous hypothetical comparison, when instead I see:

"allegedly" "it's almost like..." so your support of an oppressed group doesn't just extend to a terrorist organization murdering civilians in that group's name, but actually REQUIRES that commitment to indescriminent violence for you to consider them to actually be oppressed. When "the time will come for the US and Canada too" but it's like, policy reforms that Native groups actually argue for and doesn't include going door to door to slaughter people in their homes, will your support for them dry up too?

[communistkenobi]

the thing that is endlessly frustrating when discussing transgender issues in public is that the people arguing against you - and in this case I am specifically referring to ‘progressives’ or otherwise self-identified leftists - are speaking from a place of hegemony, something that they do not acknowledge, and even more fundamentally, they mistake that hegemony for objective truth. to say “sex is biological” is to reflect the beliefs of those in power, to reflect the status of sex assignment in both domestic and international law, in administration, in medicine, in the labour market, in public space, in civil society, in virtually all aspects of social and political life. if you don’t like what a random transsexual is saying about gender on television, on a blog, or in a classroom you can - and I mean this unironically - simply go outside and be reassured your beliefs are correct by every facet of society that exists around you. You are granted the privilege of not requiring evidence for your beliefs; the current configuration of the social world acts as a replacement.

in contrast, the statement “sex is socially constructed” is treated as an immediate disqualifier from all public discourse on gender and sex; to announce such a belief in public as a trans person is to demonstrate your fundamental insanity and sexual perversion. If I want to articulate a theory of my own social position in the world I am called a deranged lunatic. this is not because society is constructed around scientific, objective facts that the transsexual is refusing to accept, but that the very fact of transgenderism as a social position is a challenge to the seemingly objective world that exists around us. My transgenderism is a site of truth that is irreconcilable with the present configuration of a deeply gendered society, and the only two conclusions to this problem are to either change society or to make life impossible for a transgender subject. To continue to argue that “sex is biological,” even from a progressive position, is to argue in service of the latter position, because it is the central organising principle of not just transphobic policy but all policy regarding sex and gender. I have yet to hear or see any sensitivity to this basic political fact whenever this argument goes around. Perhaps the reason transgender people are so emotionally invested in the answer of what sex “really is” is because the answer structures the possibility of our own existence.

But this is still somehow not enough for the progressive! Hegemony is insufficient; they are insecure with even that level of intellectual reaffirmation, and will only be satisfied until the very last insane transgender sjw also agrees with the hegemonic viewpoint. only then will the public square finally be a rational space where ideas can flourish

[qqueenofhades]

i registered to vote for the first time ( i feel old) now that im an adult but my state has closed primary elections which i was wondering if you have an opinion about. my initial thought was that its bad because i had to register democrat (rather than my states green party which represents my beliefs more) just so i could vote between democrat candidates, which feels like being pressured into supporting the weird pseudo two party system we have. but then i looked it up and apparently a reason for this is so that people from opposing parties wont purposefully mess up the votes just so that their preferred candidates have an easier time winning, and i think that makes sense too. but is that actually the reason theyve closed it or is it just to force us dem/republican?? cause it feels strange

Okay, look. I respect the fact that you're a young person, and I appreciate that you have not only registered to vote, but plan to vote in the primaries, so I don't want to lecture you too much. That said: I am taking you out for coffee, I am sitting you down, I am looking into your eyes, and I am urgently telling you the following:

The Green Party is a scam. It is a scam. It has existed for decades in American politics as an empty shell corporation weaponizing the good intentions of young people like yourself, because all it theoretically stands for "it's good to save the planet maybe." Which is not something that any non-insane person seriously disagrees with, but there is no world in which that cause is actually furthered by registering/voting Green (you mentioned that you did vote for Democrats, which -- good, but listen to me here, youngun, okay?) It ran Jill Stein in 2016 to siphon more votes from HRC, and this election it plans to run Cornel West, a pro-Russian tankie who positively equated Bernie and Trump, as another spoiler candidate. It does not stand for "protecting the planet" or America in any real way. It has never elected a single senator or congressman, let alone a president. It stands for empty performance/grievance political theater by those people who feel too morally superior to vote for/affiliate with Democrats, often because the internet has told them that it's not Cool or Hip or Progressive enough.

If your main priority is climate/the environment, you're doing the right thing by registering as a Democrat and voting for Democrats. (Also: the adjectival form is Democratic. It is the Democratic party and Democratic candidates, otherwise you sound like the Fox News host who wrote a book literally entitled "The Democrat Party Hates America.") They are the only major party who has in fact passed major climate legislation and have made environmental justice a central tenet of their platform. As opposed to the Republicans, whose Project 2025, along with the rest of its nightmare fascist prescriptions, openly pledges to completely wreck existing climate protections and forbid any new ones, just because we weren't all dying fast enough under their death-cult rule already. That's the main logical fallacy I don't get among both the Online Leftists and the American electorate in general: "the Democrats aren't doing quite enough as I'd like, so I'll enable the active wrecking ball insane lunatics to get in power and ruin even the progress we HAVE managed to make!" Like. How does that even make sense?

On a federal level, the Greens have contributed nothing whatsoever of tangible value to American or international climate policy/legislation, environmental justice, or anything else, because as noted, they don't have any elected candidates and mostly focus on drawing voters away from Democrats. There might be plenty of good candidates on the local or city level, which -- great! Vote away for Greens if they're available, or the only other option is a Republican! But on the federal/primary level, please understand: once again, they are a scam. There is no point in affiliating yourself with them. You're welcome to register Green and vote Democratic, if that makes you feel better or if you prefer having another label next to your name, but once again, I'm telling you in my position as a salty Tumblr elder that they have done nothing but harm to the causes they claim to care about, because "environment" is such a nebulous priority and has demonstrably been hijacked to stop the American government entity, i.e. the Democrats, that is actually working to improve on it.

As for your question: nobody is "forcing" or "pressuring" you to vote in primaries. By your own admission, you made a conscious choice to register as a Democrat in order to vote for Democratic candidates. If you were just a regular registered voter of whatever party affiliation, you would vote in the general election for whatever candidate the primary process produced. But if you are sufficiently vested and committed to that process that you would like to have a say in who is running under that party label, it is not unreasonable that you would register as a member of that party. Nobody has twisted your arm behind your back and made you do so; you are taking a considerable level of initiative on your own. Likewise, open primaries can be both a good and bad thing. This falls under the "the political system we have is flawed, but we can't magically pretend it doesn't exist and act according to our own fantasyland versions of reality" thing that I keep saying over and over. So yes, if you want a role in shaping the Democratic candidates who emerge from a Democratic primary process, you will usually register as a Democrat, and nobody has forced you to do that. It's that simple.

Likewise as a general programming note: I'm trying to cut back on politics a bit right now, because I don't have the spoons/bandwidth/mental health to deal with it. I apologize. So if you've sent me a politics-related ask recently and haven't received a response, I'm not deliberately or maliciously ignoring you; I just am not able to handle it as much as usual and will have to put it on pause. However, I feel as if this is important enough to be worth saying, so, yeah.

[weemietime]

This subreddit is a cesspool of garbage.

It's a popular leftist social media hub and it is taken over by deranged shit like this. Posting war footage which by the way, Ukraine has the same type of footage you can find lol so does Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq. War is not genocide.

And on top of that they clearly are implying that the Uyghurs aren't being genocided, once again not comprehending what genocide is, which is not relative to how many died or how much destruction was caused.

Genocide is determined by genocidal intent. And the Chinese government very much intends to erase the Uyghurs. Say you oppose genocide while denying an actual genocide ongoing in front of you. Lunatic behavior.

[thebreakfastgenie]

Something I wish some leftists understood is that most liberals and partisan Democrats have criticisms of the party or things we don't agree with the leadership on, we're just terrified sometimes to the point of paranoia of anything depressing the vote. And we have reason to be scared of that, there are multiple precedents in recent history. It feels a bit absurd to be raking the Democrats over the coals when the alternative is what it is currently. I think there are probably leftists who felt like after Biden won in 2020 we would reach the promised future where we could push Democrats more but the thing is, Trump didn't go away after 2020. He's been running for president for the last four years. We're still trying to keep the lunatic fascists from blowing us all to smithereens. I have a wishlist for the Democratic Party but I'm not willing to let Republicans win over it. And notably the Democratic Party has responded to its voters in a lot of ways. We're not smug, we're scared.

[gender-fluid-weirdo]

Do "pro-Palestine" leftists not realize that by threatening Jews worldwide they are actively radicalizing Jewish youth?

The narrative that Jews are all genocidal lunatics thirsting for the blood of innocents is only going to make Jews LESS likely to listen to anything they have to say.

Actively calling for the extermination of Israeli Jews is only going to make Israel MORE defensive and reactionary. Chanting centuries old antisemitic slogans is only going to make Jews afraid of you, and if Jews are afraid of violence do you really think they won't try to defend themselves?

[germiyahu]

A lot of terminally online Leftists were never liberals and will never be, so do not engage with them as if there's a secret liberal core inside of them that you can reach if you just try hard enough, are smart enough, are patient enough, are understanding enough.

You need to treat them the same way you treat far right lunatics. They're not interested in debate (they're not good at it either because they don't fundamentally want to live in objective reality).

I'd bet a lot of money that a majority of tankies grew up conservative, and merely repolarized their radical worldviews instead of dismantling them. They were never liberal! They don't care about liberal norms, values, or institutions. They don't believe in universal rights or fairness. They don't believe that everyone should get a say. They don't believe that democracy is actually necessary and certainly not a force for good in humanity. They do not under any circumstance believe in due process. If you try to invoke any of these and other libcoded stuff, it's like water off of a duck.

They believe in might makes right. They believe that morality is wholly prescriptive and conveniently always aligned with whatever they want to do. They believe that humans are fundamentally disposable, and increasing human suffering is a valid strategy to "liberation" and worth the cost. They do not respect any ideas or even cultures they do not understand. They have simply rewired their bigoted brains to shift the West, white people, COLONIZERS, etc. to the "bad" pile, and no more nuance is needed. They themselves fly from privilege using whatever labels work best for them, but they do not believe in community or coalition building. It is still us vs. them, and even more basically me vs. you, to them.

(So if you see someone who identifies as a certain minority, and they spend most of their time disparaging other people of that or a similar group... constantly theorycrafting about omnicauses and kyriarchies that just so happen to put themselves at the bottom or at least exempt them from white/male/etc. privilege in some way... they're probably a tankie).

There are terminally online Leftists who have identified as liberal in the past, and they can be reached. We're seeing that as we come closer to a year of this insanity and many individuals and groups have disavowed the Movement, especially in the wake of the Election and how Uncommitted and its allies have been acting.

That's why I believe that most of these people demonstrably hate Democrats more than Republicans. And if you go further with the lobotomy I might even say that they inherently view Republican voters as real Americans, normal, not threatening, but Democrats are a cabal of coastal elites who condescendingly want to put Band-Aids on a broken system. I see how that's more obnoxious and would fill one with rage that there's no good outlet for. But they are colluding with conservatives, and there's no doubt about it.

[mariacallous]

Seeing the difference in reaction from POC social media and leftist social media in regards to the debate is rather eye-opening.

You’ve got people in leftist socmed basically freaking Out and throwing up the white surrender flags while POC social media is basically all ��chill the fuck out you stale ends of white bread. It’s a rough start and CNN fucked up hard, but we ain’t dead yet. And Trump sounded like a lunatic so there are plenty of people who are put off by that.”

So much for the leftists “were tougher and better and more ruthless to fight compared to the establishment” Shtick. They folded like wet napkins while dry on a sunny day.

[traegorn]

As a non-American, I am utterly baffled at the amount of absurdities you get sent on an early basis. Why do you even bother replying to all of this trash? And while I know most of them are trolls, so many people - in this site specifically - really believe and spread this stupid revolutionary dream-like beliefs

I am Brazilian. My country has seen political horrors beyond anything the US has known. I mean it. The hard left wing people who come to insult you have no idea how good they have it. That they have the right not to vote on the perfectly pure candidate they deserve. I swear to god, what a bunch of lunatics

So I've been seeing pseudo-leftists like this since, like, forever. Like when I first went to college almost twenty-five years ago. It's always some middle class jackass who doesn't think the leopards will come for them too.

And you have to remember -- it's always do-nothings who bring it up in places like this though too. Because the people ACTUALLY trying to do shit are too busy... doing shit to harass people like me.

And there are probably a few Russian or Right Wing psyops thrown in, but that's only some of them.

[qqueenofhades]

What are tankies?

They are the truly insufferable Online Leftists whose one and only political theory is "America is responsible for all the bad things in the world ever and no other country, government, or group of people has any agency at all, this is very progressive of me." If that sounds like a vast oversimplification, it's actually not. They have, at best, a middle school grasp of history, social studies, civics, politics, etc; it's like they learned about American imperialism in ninth grade and can't shut up about it or adapt any more nuanced or complicated view of the world. They are often also big fans of not voting and/or encouraging other left-leaning young people not to vote because in their view, the Democrats are as bad as or actually worse than the Republicans. Needless to say, the Kremlin is extremely vested in continuing to support and promote all of this.

I have likewise written posts about how the American left has a problem with denouncing Russia, since they still have an old-school, unreconstructed view of the USSR as the "triumph of socialism" and which is wrong on about 800 different levels. Tankies likewise tend to subscribe to old-school Marxism or Communism (you know, as if the entire twentieth century didn't happen) and have some jumbled Baby's First Commune idea of how society would work, thus revealing that they actually know nothing about globalism and capitalism while pretending to oppose both. They are often virulently misogynistic and think that race, gender, religion, etc are irrelevant; the only valid struggle is The Class Struggle. Some of them, particularly Glenn Greenwald and that horrible Briahna Joy Gray chick who used to work for Bernie and was a big proponent of "don't vote for Hillary Clinton because SCOTUS isn't important," have gone full-fledged Russian fascist cheerleaders, because Putin hates America, they hate America, and therefore they must be friends! Which, you'll note, is functionally identical to the GOP extreme-right Lunatic Caucus buddying up to Putin for the same reasons.

Anyway: tankies suck, they are wrong about literally everything, they're an insult to every actually progressive or historical-minded person with a basic grasp of reality, and the fact that their rhetoric has pervaded so far into young left-identifying political and social spaces, and is often taken as gospel by the members of those spaces, constantly drives me crazy. So yes.

[redacted-metallum]

can you please stop reblogging xi loving kimsucking marxist leninist red fascists on my fucking dash for a single fucking second? Just reblog more fucking fundraisers (or GOD FORBID donate to one and make a FUCKING difference you avaricious american shit) or post more tepid fucking opinions about your favorite racist shitnugget Lovecraft, and stop pretending the most deranged lunatics in the soviet graveyard are based and leftist and cool for you to put in front of my eyeballs. GOD. your pig ignorant political posts are worse than racism. Shut the FUCK up. Read on what beria did or what's going on with the uighurs before you reblog a fucking ML again. I have russoiranian drones falling 5km away from my house every month and you put this abbatoir brained garbage in front of me

Hey man hows it going