#online left

[dchan87]

Sometimes I fear that some leftists, either On Here or in real life, are three seconds away (and I mean three seconds away) from citing the known and debunked hoax The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion just to diss Israel.

[roadside-oddity]

There is a Rampant and Vicious Cycle in the Online Left That Needs to Be Addressed

Every leftist needs to understand that not every proclaimed leftist is a safe person or one that is acting in good faith. Many people in this sphere --even if they are minorities themselves-- are Abusers. Let me be clear: they are Abusers REGARDLESS of --NOT because of-- them being a minority. Despite this, many of them have weaponized their standing as a minority in order to get away with their behavior and achieve what they see as some form of power and control over others. Let me be clear. I am referring to those that:

Manipulate and lie about pressing situations (especially when it's to harm another person or demographic)

Excessively use idpol to either elevate themselves to holier than thou levels ("listen to ___ people but only when it's something I agree with, which just so happens to devolve from constructive change to making others grovel and plead forgiveness endlessly before me") or belittle others (ie their skin color, gender, queerness, disability, neurodivergence, religion, age, etc.) in order to discount their point or not treat them as equal human beings; yes, even if their skin tone is white or if they are men, abuse does not have to be backed up by systemic issues in order to be abusive or at the very least harmful (sidenote: this does not apply to people talking about their experiences as a minority that is otherwise not experienced or understood by others, the issue I'm pointing out is when it's twisted to cover everything not directly tied to their identity and proclaim themselves as the only ones allowed to be the voice of reason, therefore shutting up everyone else and to avoid any constructive criticism or discussion)

Act on rage and at times even trauma to bring forth harmful ideals (ex: truly hating every person of a demographic, wishing for a genocide, making actual death or rape threats towards someone or a group, conversion, etc)(sidenote: I'm not discounting those that have trauma and even have harmful thoughts, just please seek help and understand that it is not healthy nor sustainable to paint or alter reality to be in line with what trauma makes you believe)

Actively try to get others they don't agree with to either permanently leave the internet or commit suicide and even celebrate when either happens

Excessively test others on their "purity" on unachievable standards to the detriment of everyone and Leftism as a whole (purity culture is fueled by christian culture in order to disguise doomerism, accepting defeat when change is not possible, of which is the very thing that will kill leftism)

Infight over weird made up issues (remember how divide and conquer is a war strategy? To split hairs and discount others for non-issues is to do the work of conservatives and nazis for them)

Shut down people or discussions over minor slights such as using an incorrect word/phrasing or any numerous perceived mistakes (example I've seen here: berating a person with schizophrenia (or a trans person or any other minority) for using a derogatory term for themselves when they're talking about how everyone else is speaking over them and not listening), ignoring the hypocrisy or not taking into account any number of mundane causes such as non-native english speakers, generational gaps, being in the process of learning (either recovering from harmful beliefs or simple ignorance), using those terms to prove a point (such as that example I mentioned above), neurodivergence, etc.

Not letting others talk about their experiences of oppression when those experiences don't match theirs, instead opting to call those people bigoted for contrived reasons

A rejection of nuance, intersectionalism, and even reality to better suit their goals (ex: claiming that every trans man benefits from the patriarchy and can never experience misogyny)

Misuse of therapy speak and terminology in order to water down those terms and render them near meaningless so they can weaponize them under the pretense of their original use (ex: gaslighting), or to cut off any need to connect or sympathize with other human beings and instead speak to them like a PR message (refer to this video by Zena and Poppy for reference)

They never speak on true leftist/progressive ideals or positive change, they only engage in destructive discourse or any behavior listed above

Making baseless dangerous accusations towards someone they don't like. Before you go harr harr you're doing that, I'm not calling out any specific person and am merely listing dangerous behaviors I've seen people here act out. What I am referring to are when someone casually calls someone specific a predator (or whatever else) with absolutely zero proof and expecting everyone to believe them no questions asked. This has been shown to ruin people's lives

Any other similar behaviors not included in this list (as well as classic logical fallacies), but what I've mentioned above should paint you a good picture

Every example I've pointed out were REAL EVENTS I've seen from people that proclaim themselves as leftists or even just progressive, and sometimes are even minorities themselves (some even infight against their own communities using the behaviors listed above, often out of internalized bigotry)(an example of a real event that happened here recently were when several people were making rape threats towards a trans man by the username of @a-faggot-with-opinions). To be blunt, I'm pointing out exclusionism in practically every form, asexual discourse, transandrophobia, TERFs/radfems, TEHMs, tankies, "cornbreadtube", nationalists and ethnonationalists, and all else I don't have the terminology for For many of the people that fall under that bullet list I would hesitate to even refer to them as leftist or progressive, as they never seem to actually show they act on it or even believe in it, only making an appearance in those communities for their own destructive personal gain; hell, often times they have ideals that directly go against what those communities stand for! Examples include TERFs with white supremacist beliefs, transandrophobes that are misogynistic, ethnonationalists that are antisemitic, puritans that are ableist, the list goes on forever. Once you know what to look for, you can see the hidden or overt bigotry behind their false "progressive" statements

No one is infallible No one is better than everyone else You are not immune to propaganda No one is immune from behaving abusively

These people are dangerous, whether they actually qualify as abusers --as I've been referring to them as such for brevity and impact-- or are people that are engaging in hurtful or fully abusive behavior (use this paragraph as a disclaimer, I of course can't know if someone is an abuser in real life unless there is documented evidence of such). Regardless, they are hurting the left and are letting the right win

If you see any of these behaviors either 1) take caution if you're unsure, 2) block them, or 3) if you have the fortitude, call them out. Either way, use your best judgement and think for yourself (or discuss with good faith leftists if you're uncertain). And remember, often times (albeit not always) they are actually fully aware of their disgusting behavior and are choosing to act maliciously, not ignorantly.

Stay safe, log off, do what you can to support your local community and leftism as a whole, don't let these people distract from the real issues at hand. Have empathy, if you don't have empathy then act in compassion, if you don't or refuse to do either please do not engage in politics. Misanthropy has no place in matters concerning humanity.

And remember: we have to stand together in unity so we can create a better future for all

[ohsalome]

[skypalacearchitect]

I frankly think another factor in the unmasking of online leftists recently is that a good chunk of them have built their careers and mindsets off of basically being condescending and patronizing to what they perceive as the lowest common denominator. Kicking the guys who are so obviously cruel and malignant, all the while basking in the praise of equally morally shaky people who think they're best thing since canned bread.

This situation, where they're botching things so hard it's unbelievable is the result of them being in a situation where things aren't so easy anymore, where it's not a pure black and white thing where they are inherently better by default. The training wheels have finally come off, and they've faceplanted hard and can't take the ego crushing.

I don't really have much to say but Anon, you make some great points.

I did consider that black-and-white thinking and a very stubbornly narrow form of U.S.-centric understanding of privilege and oppression was playing a role here, but I didn't even think of the stuff you said in your first paragraph.

Thank you so much for sending this ask, I appreciate your insight.

[anarchicarachnid]

not gonna lie, as much as I support the idea of being critical of our language and how it translates to our perception of ideas that may be harmful or offensive, i.e. casually ableist language, I also think some people are too sensitive to exist on this earth, and their pragmatism and charisma are severely harmed by the way they perfectly play into the stereotype of the sensitive snowflake that reactionaries think of everyone left of center as. It is in fact not inherently reactionary to be kinda edgy, and tumblr leftie culture simultaneously embraces and rejects this in a super dissonant way.

[futurebird]

"Masculinity has always been in a constant state of crisis, it's kind of a key ingredient to making the whole system work." -FD This is it. This is the correct take. How do you squeeze blood from a rock? How do you keep those boys running and striving (and suffering--) set the bar impossibly high: You need to earn more than her, you need to be taller and stronger and always know what the right decision should be. You better not cry or have feelings. It's an endless crisis for men. I thought FD's video was excellent.

[eradicatetehnormal]

I think at this point, we should just start seeing online leftist essayists and streamers in the same way we see celebrities. "This person is or is probably trash, but the content's good, so I'll keep watching/listening."

[somerandomg33k]

Sigh

Sigh, someone I just followed, an acquaintance, a friend of a friend, seems to like and follow Xanderhal/Pigpuncher. And when I said, "He tried to created a harem of his fans." this person said, "That is just a joke he told on Twitter." And this is a trans person too.

[2hufacts]

I hate the online left so much because so much of it is focused on being the most morally correct. Allying with someone you agree with on 90% of issues? Out of the question, if I work with them then thats basically the same thing as agreeing with them. Trying to win people over? They have the wrong opinion now which makes them Bad People and we don't want Bad People on our side. An online leftist is gaining attention and a platform and advocating for our cause? Lets go into their past and dig up as much dirt on them as possible to limit their platform from growing. The online left's discourses feels like it was deliberately constructed to be as unproductive and isolating from actual political action as possible (hmm...)

[mikey-transgirl]

i love being on the online left i love having people pretend that the us/russia/china/wherever they were born is exempt from all criticism for any of its misdeeds

[dchan87]

I can't decide who is more infuriating, the leftists who are screeching about the ceasefire deal because an end to the war means an end to their "Death to Israel, Death to America" fantasies, or the leftists who are like "Biden's finally agreeing with us, even if it's not for the right reasons," as if Biden hasn't been working months for a ceasefire deal and is the only reason the first set of hostages were freed (remember when leftists were writing romance fanfic of Hamas and their underage hostages?).

At least the first group is consistent. They hated that Biden pulled out of Afghanistan, they hated that he ended the drone strikes, so of course they'll hate this possible peace deal, too. They're leftists war hawks.

But for the second group. It'll be a cold day in hell before we let leftists take the credit for this ceasefire deal. If it goes through, it'll be the end result of Biden playing 5D chess with both Bibi and Hamas for months on end. Not freaks who canceled each other over drinking Starbucks.

They’re the same people, anon

[scentedluminarysoul]

The online left in a nutshell:

[cosmiclion]

Love wins 😌

And a version for my aro/ace/not interested in kissing for whatever reason siblings:

[dchan87]

And they whine when asked to vote in local, state and federal elections. How could they pull of a revolution if they’re too lazy to do something as easy as vote?

For a certain type of online leftist, "the Revolution" is essentially a secular rapture: the Revolution is going to happen, we know not the day or date, and we don't need to do anything to make the Revolution happen, certainly not real-life activism, just believe the right things before it happens and fixes everything.

Just like how evangelicals oppose doing anything to improve the Earth before the rapture comes, these types believe half-measures are pointless. "We DON'T need [change that would benefit many people right now], we NEED a REVOLUTION!" We don't need gradual change; all at once or not at all, and in fact, it's suspect if you are working on those smaller-scale changes. But since all these people do is tweet and do podcasts they're uh, not exactly forcing the end anytime soon

[eradicatetehnormal]

im so glad to see someone talking about the keffals thing on Tumblr

the way people were so ready to throw her under the bus after the dropkiwifarms campaign, once she was no longer "usefu" they tried disposing of her when she acted like her own individual person and not just as "the good trans"

The online left has a problem with not thinking for itself. So many of us act like we need permission to dislike or disagree with a queer person or a person of color. That shows a huge ideological weakness that makes so many of us vulnerable to bad faith or unknowledgable individuals like soulbunni.

I think part of the reason Keffals got canceled in the way that she did was

A lot of the online left just hates white women for some reason (misogyny)

people want to justify their dislike of something that makes them uncomfortable, and the streamer/debating space does that for a lot of people because a lot of then don't feel the need to be politically correct in their langauge.

[dchan87]

Like so many other American Jews, what I’m feeling right now is anger.  Of course, I feel that toward the barbaric jihadi terrorists and their Iranian masters.  And, of course, I feel that for the anti-Semites at the United Nations who never fail to single out Israel for sanction, even now after such horrific attacks.  And, of course, I feel that same anger toward the far right Neo-Nazis who have made no secret of their hatred for all Jews and who celebrate our victimization.  The one that doesn’t get an “of course” is the American progressive left.  Maybe it shouldn’t have, but that one caught a lot of us by surprise. It’s clear now that while the Palestinian cause has been hijacked in the Middle East by terrorist death cults like Hamas and Hezbollah, it has been hijacked in America by those in the progressive movement who suffer from some poisonous mixture of ignorance, ideological blindness, and latent anti-Semitism (by which I mean they know nothing about the Middle East and its history, they hold the inane view that every conflict reduces to white colonialists oppressing virtuous people of color, and they just hate Jews).  Now, here we are, witnessing a growing storm of hatred and violence toward Jews. How can this be the response of our fellow Americans?  Think about the fact that Pakistan is forcibly returning 1.7 million Afghan refugees to the clutches of the Taliban or that Russia slaughtered an estimated 200,000 Chechen Muslims or that Serbia committed an internationally recognized genocide against Bosnian Muslims or that China has disappeared or locked in concentration camps 1.3 million Muslim Uyghurs, all with no comparable reaction from America’s progressive left.  They are not assaulted by mobs on the streets of New York.  They do not have to barricade themselves inside college libraries or dining halls.  They do not have their murdered friends and relatives mocked by BLM Chicago posters glorifying hang-gliding terrorists.