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Losing the Plot: The “Leftists” Who Turn Right
(inthesetimes.com)
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this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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There’s a point here in that the alt-right will sometimes call for very narrow elements of social-democratic political economy (at least when no one has to break out the state checkbook for it), and that can lead disaffected leftists astray. But the article is also doing a disservice by not acknowledging that part of that shift happens because the alt-right sprinkles a few nuggets of truth in the otherwise shit sandwich. Yes, corporate charters waxing poetically about diversity policies is a smokescreen for capital. Yes, the Democrats are going to bat for institutions like the CIA and legacy media.
There’s a problem in political thinking where the other side must be wrong about everything all the time as that’s what makes them wrong, and vice versa for our side. In reality, any side can make truthful observations, but still be wrong in the goals. It’s the old flaw prevalent among the Western left where ideas are the things from which politics spring from, and not that the process is where politics happens.
I remember liberals getting caught completely off guard around 2015 when altright types started saying outright racist things without shying away. Liberals had gotten too used to Glenn Beck trying to do wacky chalkboard stuff, or Ben O'Reilly being a curmudgeon. Now here comes these younger internet goofballs who don't shy away from being called racist. Their protocols stopped working, plus alt-right types were saying a semblance of correct things by criticizing capital. Really poor unstructured and racist criticisms, but sometimes with a co-opted leftist message like fascists always do.
You're right, liberals had no choice but to dismiss everything neo-fascists were saying.
somehow calling him Ben makes him seem so much less evil than Bill
I honestly forgot his name and took a gamble
It's easy to remember since he and
are basically the same guy
Looking back I think I had Ben Reilly on my brain. Spiderman's clone.
The other difference is those prior conservatives still cared about having a seat at the respectable institutions. The alt right not only didn’t care about those institutions, they actively despised them, so there was no concern about not getting in the club.