By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Biggerboat1 on 15 April 2024
Edit Thread
the-pi-guy said:
Biggerboat1 said:

My main point is that I find it an ever-more common position for people on the left (where I'd broadly place my views incidentally) to say that whoever sits to the right of their particular views is by definition a bad person/selfish/greedy etc. This mentality will only derail the conversation into ad homs & honestly, who has ever changed their outlook & been won over by being told that effectively, they're a piece of shit? Shaming isn't gonna win hearts & minds.

This approach is also counterproductive to the person engaging in it as there will almost always be someone with positions to the left of theirs, who can then turn the tables & define them as a POS.

I fear that more and more people are being pushed to the right, when in actuality their positions start off in a more moderate place, but they're just tired of being talked down to and scolded.

This is not something that is exclusive to the left.

Right wingers have on multiple occasions basically made it illegal to be left wing. 

Most people think of themselves as being morally upright, and frequently think that people who disagree with them must be immoral. 

Pro-choice people are baby killers, don't you know? 

They're communists/socialists/liberals coming for your guns, your freedom, your knives, your religion, your cars, etc.

Or recently "no one wants to work anymore"

Maybe young people today are left wing, because right wingers villainize them?

I don't have time to respond to every point unfortunately, the dishes aren't going to do themselves haha, but re. the above, I wanted to expand.

Of course elements of the right regularly demonize the left and caricatures it's positions relentlessly. But the left seems to be a lot more prone to eating it's own. There's an appetite to shame & scold others on the left, who's positions fall even marginally to the right of theirs.

As an example, and I know this is a can of worms, but it's the best example I can think of. I'd quite like to discuss what's going on with the trans debate. I have no issue with using any individual's preferred pronouns & genuinely want trans people to feel accepted, valued & included. However I do have some reservations around legal definitions and rights that I view as potentially infringing on those of biological women...

My position isn't fixed and I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I'd say that my stance overall sits on the general left.

However I'm very cautious in regards to with whom & where I bring this topic up, as it seems to be the case that if you're not 110% on board with every aspect of the trans argument that you can expect to be hit with being 'anti-trans', or if I was a female, a 'terf'.

I always associated the left with empathy, compassion & respect, but more and more I feel that these values are extended to everyone except those who dare to have a divergence of opinion...