I think Americans need to absorb a bit more global context about the left-right spectrum. I see people saying that policies like universal health care, access to abortion, basic worker rights and affordable education are "far left". Most of the proposed policies of the left in the US are centrist in the rest of the Western world. Unless you are advocating for a Communist regime along the lines of the Soviet Union or Maoist China, you aren't really "far left". Similarly, unless someone is advocating for a fascist dictator state, we should probably not call them "far right". Of course, that is what Trumpists advocate for, so they really are far right!
Unless you are advocating for a Communist regime along the lines of the Soviet Union or Maoist China, you aren’t really “far left”.
If you do that you definitely aren't, authoritarianism and far-left are mutually exclusive.
Council communists and Anarchists generally qualify for far-left status. (Or, differently put, council communism is methadone therapy for Marxists who don't yet dare make the jump to syndicalism).
We're "not allowed" to. The concept of comparing our politics to elsewhere around the world is chastised. "It's not the same here!" "They have a longer history" "they share a common culture!" (far right for "skin color")
Any excuse under the sun to keep the right as being viewed as closer to "center" and to misrepresent centrist policies as "far left" so we get no progress and all the arguments.
There are quite a few actual leftists on Lemmy. I don't think they're confused and as the meme suggests, they're rather vocal.
Meanwhile Trump and other far right people have tried to brand liberals as "radical left" which is just silly, but a lot of news sources seem content to parrot alt-right rhetoric. One thing the Republican Party has always been good at is poisoning the well.
You're half right. Americans as a whole don't need to absorb context, but American conservatives do.
The rest of us are well aware of what's going on. There are democrats in our government that are pretending to be against "socialism", but they are old and these clearly dated policies aren't going to last.
I get the feeling most of that nonsense was just fear mongering to force Biden into office instead of Bernie four years ago.
At least online, it seems like the only Americans who call themselves far left agree those are all centrist positions. It's only "centrists/progressives*" (moderately far right Americans) and other flavors of far right who still often dont generally call themselves far right (trump enthusiasts, alex jones types, proud boy types) who label basic things like universal health care a far left idea or just call it impractical atm.
*I feel like 10 years ago, people who were at least moderately left were the main people using this term, but in the last few years, people right of center have been using the label to try limit progress by pretending they're just trying to be practical/realists about what can actually be done.
"I speak alternative facts, making others do the work of figuring out what I meant."
vs.
"I have researched in-depth and know what I am talking about and why."
Tbf there are probably far-right people who are more like the latter. Just b/c I do not recall ever hearing those arguments does not mean that they don't exist!
Tbf there are probably far-right people who are more like the latter. Just b/c I do not recall ever hearing those arguments does not mean that they don't exist!
Those people are working with the heritage foundation and other far right think tanks. They understand that their brand of mask-off fascism is problematic to a lot of people, so they allow their ideas to percolate through various right wing media outlets and entertainment personalities. By the time their ideologies reaches the mind of your average voter they've been neatly repackaged as "hey we're just asking some questions here, we just want to get the facts straight."
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For the uninformed: The Alt-Right Playbook
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I’m not far-left, I’m extreme far-left. Radical far-left if you will. I want everyone to have healthcare and adequate housing. (spooky noises)
Luxury gay space communism or bust
FALGSC Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism
Whoaa there. That's a bit extreme, don't you think? Maybe turn it down a bit. Best we can do is Universal Debt and cardboard boxes.
I just a Mutualist who wants worker consumer cooperatives and housing cooperatives to be the only way to form businesses. Unless someone has a direct stake in the firm, they shouldn't be able to benefit from it. No rent seeking, no venture capital, no bureaucracy.
Both political extremes are as bad as the other. The only sensible course is to allow our political and corporate systems to destroy our environment unchecked while a tiny elite of billionaires funnel up all the remaining wealth of our societies.
I'm an extreme centrist. Between absolute anarchist worker self-management and overreaching socialist government regulation, I think we should reach a healthy middle.
I think a lot of the far-right is just fine with people calling them as far-right, a lot self-identify even as such
Surprisingly not their media though which makes a point to complain about politics in everything and then pretends they aren't being political about everything they say and do. And claims it's just interacting with reality as the center. They love to claim that they decide where reality is so they can decide where center is.
ITT: not one person who knows what far left is.
Left is to redistribute the land. Far left is to redistribute the landlords too.
Far left is no landlords really. Like maybe small scale for like older people who prefer not to own condos and do any maintenance in elderly years, or students or people temporarily in another country or something, but no massive bloated greedy parasites like now.
not true, the current wave of fascism across the world force leftists to not tell their ideology openly, hope things change for good
I don't really get the far left image, is it saying people on the far left are sponsored by tyre and racing companies?
Dale Earnhardt has been co-opted into a leftwing figurehead, mostly just to piss off people on the right
when you're neither a communist nor a social democrat, but something in between
"I am a left-winger but not particularly interested in aligning myself with a specific ideology" 🧔🏼
"I just want to live in a society that uses some of the value its working class generates to improve the lives of the general population in any meaningful way."
"I'm just rational and I don't like when people suffer"
"Truth" and "Right-wing" don't associate.
I don't know. People will proudy tell you they are staunch conservative anti socialist, all while collecting a check from the government
Between Dale and Amelia, the Earnhart family has been through a lot.
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