196

maybe i've just instinctively avoided places like this but that isn't my impression at all, i find that a lot of people agree even if they don't call themselves leftist at all, in fact the whole problem is that basically everyone has nearly identical beliefs but can't bear the thought of voting for leftists who want to actually treat people fairly.

frankly the sentiment of this post feels like astroturfing to sow discontent.

Ah yes, the old enemy of the left: the left.

The differences of opinion are still there in irl leftist spaces but it alters how it feels when you’re actively doing something. Online you only see the differences in opinion but the real leftists aren’t just arguing details online (though they do that too) they’re running food banks and organizing housing cooperatives and coming out en masse when someone is being evicted. They’re putting together food packages and sending books to inmates. They’re hiking out into the desert to leave water for migrants and waiting by the train tracks to toss food up to travelers.

Bickering about details online might seem ridiculous to someone who isn’t involved but for the actually active leftists that part is only a sliver of their leftism and it’s not necessarily a bad thing— it’s very hard to imagine the world organized other than it is and one way we can be prepared to make the right decisions together when gaps appear is to discuss everything from every angle. I’m not going to pretend all the stuff online is in good faith and I suspect a good percentage of keyboard warriors who are not actually involved in leftward movement, but I do think in the context of real activism the bickering makes more sense.

A lot of online leftists aren't doing anything because they don't know how to do something (or are scared, e.g. of losing their job or of getting brutalized by the police). If you aren't doing anything in The Real World(TM) there are only so many things left to do, and the internet is genuinely terrible about people who make mistakes or change their opinion.

As a leftist its also important to keep in mind we do differentiate between leftists who hold some opinions we disagree with compared to a Liberal who disagrees with us on nearly everything. Especially when said Liberals demand to be treated like leftists yet support imperalism, genocide, apartheid, capitalism, bigotry, and yet constantly call people "fake leftists" or "tankies".

Right... Except this is true for all online communities. People talk a lot of shit and complain a lot. Cope with it or log off.

Or blame it on the left, lol, whatever makes you happy.

It's how we're conditioned to behave by society from birth. Break the rules and you get punished.

This so fucking much

I need someone to explain to me why I should be guilted into staying on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

By this logic I should be on truth social trying to make it “a better place.” This is fucking stupid. The sites are built on rage bait, The algorithms want to keep you angry and fighting with people online. You are fighting against massive companies who have weaponized your data against you for the purpose of making sure you hang around. The only correct decision is to leave.

We need to build our own spaces and defend them.

The Left: Fractured Butt Hole. 😞

Except in crisis, a society benefits when everyone does nothing renegade.

The problem is we're in crisis, largely due to a lack of information about the scope and breadth of that crisis.

Preach

From my casual observation, leftists tend to be a lot more individualistic and tribalistic than people on the right, to the point where they would much rather join the right just to spite another left group.

Freedom is a humanist value. Curtailing freedom to do wrong is of course acceptable. Something most people here won't like is that the best gender/sexuality is hetero-CIS. That doesn't make the freedom not to be forced into the best humanist production of 20+ births per lifetime to not be a valid freedom. A feminist/queer supremacy can define wrongs as hiring practices, or not believing their preferred side in any accusation.

Autocracy, oppression, warmongering is not a left/right exclusivity. Warmongering against those less liberal than "us" is common. All of these are huge wrongs, not the slightestly cured by "leftism". Freedom has to be more important than good, because there is no non-evil way of imposing "only good", or especially, letting a ruling autocracy corrupt definition of good.

UBI is especially important as a solution to divisiveness. It is incredibly empowering to workers, and empowers both forming relationships, and empowering those unhappy into leaving relationships.

'Centrists' don't help much either because they too hold the left to a higher standard than the right and always seem to be looking for any excuse to whip out the ol' "so much for the tolerant left" so that they can feel better about themselves when they vote for who they really wanted to vote for anyway.

People on the right can say in plain English "I want to dismantle women's rights and put all gay people into camps" and the 'centrist' will be like "hmmm yes that seems like a valid political opinion". But the moment someone on the left drops the high road shit for once and bites back, the 'centrist', clutching pearls is like "See? This is why I'm supporting the bigots that hate everyone, because you SWORE and that's unacceptable!"