Eagle367 said:
It's very annoying when people try to both sides things. People think AOC and Bernie are the "far left". And forget many dems are right of centre. It's just the republican have gone so far right they are into fascism. And also, is anarchism as bad as fascism? And does anarchism have any power anywhere? That's the far left. Do actual communists have any power? Do socialists have any power or representation? Socialists aren't even the far left. And what's bad or scary about socialism? Are the "far left" and "far right" equally dangerous? The furthest left the US has with any real power I'd a guy who wants to give universal Healthcare and wants a progressive tax system plus affordable education. That's the middle for Americans if you poll them. So where is the "far left" again? |
I've always been curious about something but I wonder if the US and the rest of the world are using a different definition of left and right wing politics.
Anarchy is the most extreme version of far right politics while Fascism is ironically near the farthest end of the left, with a dictatorship being I believe the farthest left. And that's not some sort of cultural hot take, it is the truth by definition.
Right wing politics are about LESS government involvement in one's life and country. Less control, fewer restrictions, less taxes, fewer laws, and more freedom to do whatever they want while getting the least help/interference from the government. extreme right wing politics strive for less government. So, by logical extremism, Anarchy (The idea of a decentralized or nonexistent system in place to control people) is the farthest right you can go because it basically turns the world into a lawless hellscape where anyone can do anything.
Left-wing politics are about MORE government involvement and control and influence. So, Ironically, fascism is a far left ideal where a political party has a charismatic leader that has a death grip on the laws and regulations of the land. Starting from Center it goes Democracy, socialism, Communism, fascism, then dictatorship. On the right it goes Demoracy, capitalism, then a few steps before Anarchy.
The irony here is that Trump was absolutely a figurehead of fascism, in a party that unironically hates the left even though it seems nobody actually knows what left vs right actually means.
Furthermore, what people don't understand is that slightly left of center is the best because it basically gives people most or all of the freedoms they want while only stopping people from doing things that are deemed irresponsible or bad. You know, criminal law, market regulations, etc. The right treats anything 'to the left' as some sort of dystopia where they have no freedoms but the actual purpose of government is to ensure the best outcome for the largest number of people, and 99% of the time that means shit like pumping money into education and social services and healthcare and all that. It means fixing the roads and making the world safe.
Republicans just hate the idea of paying more in taxes because they don't see the bigger picture. They don't see that if everyone pitches in then everyone benefits, because they hate the idea that someone who they feel didn't earn it also gets helped. To them it's not a collective benefit, it's the gub-mint taking money from their pockets and giving it to someone who doesn't deserve it.
the idea that 'someone who doesn't deserve it' is Black lives or Mexicans or trans people (as a distinctly republican take) is pretty recent.
Which is why I said for years that Republicans used to be generally decent people who simply had a different take on how budgets should be allocated whereas now they're mostly racist or xenophobic. It's also why they like to use the 'it was the democrats who did slavery and the republicans who saved us' narrative. Because in the past, it absolutely was democrats who were using the extra government control to perpetuate racism and lots of shitty shitty shit.
But trying to explain all of this to anyone is basically a waste of time because I've learned that, for the most part, people are just smart enough to learn how to justify their attitudes and behaviours while just missing the level of self-awareness needed to re-assess one's actual stance or be willing to reconsider. I try to not act like I'm superior or that I'm 'smarter than you' (With 'you' being the royal you, not you in particular, Eagleman), but every time I look around I'm so astoundingly baffled at how much people are actively avoiding the point or the historical context or the science behind things. I hate that we live in a world where everything is 'us vs them', but I hate even more that we live in a world where WAY too many people are outright villains. I WANT to understand. I want to work together, but it's so hard to do that when so many people are unwilling to even humour the idea that maybe their understanding of the issue was tainted by the fact they didn't 'get' some of the facts or were internally misrepresenting the historical context surrounding it.
So even when people on 'my' side get things wrong, I feel like I have to correct them. Not to be smug or anything, but to ensure everyone has equal access to the right information. HArd data and proper interpretation of that data guided by ample historical context and nuance. All of that matters, and it's so easy to pinpoint one bad fact or data point to prove even a wrong argument. And like here, I think the core concept of 'left' vs 'right' politics needs to be corrected.
Unless I am misinterpreting something you said. In which case, do correct me. I still think the context needs to be shared.