So, something that's been bothering me over the past 8 months or so, I've mentioned it a few times, even took a few swipes at these guys, but with the more recent controversies in progressive Youtube circles, I feel like I need to give my views on this.
As you guys know, in 2016 and 2020, I was Bernie or Bust. To be fair, I would have voted for Yang in 2020, but I'm generally Bernie or Bust. I hate the centrist/neoliberal faction of the democratic party, I STILL hate these guys. I'm no fan of the establishment and despite some mild praise here and there of the Biden administration, I'm generally not impressed at all. I believe we need fundamental change and most of what I discuss has to do with that.
But, post 2020, I feel like the left has become too extreme, like we've kind of created a monster. It's fine to be purity tested to some extent. It's fine to be critical of the establishment. But, some factions of the left have become so extreme, I feel like they can't be reasoned with.
I've always (post 2012) ideas had a set of ideas in my head that I want implemented. And this is what I spend 75% of my time talking about. I discuss basic income, medicare for all, free college, etc., a lot on here. As I should. That's what I'm for, and I make no apologies. And I would agree the system is failing to produce such things, because the establishment of the democratic party are de facto moderate conservatives with a vested interest in the status quo.
But this segment of the left has become so unhinged and extreme, that you can't reason with them. I think we all know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the hardcore, extreme, Bernie or busters. Let's call them the Jimmy Dore left, because Jimmy Dore is the progressive talk show host who tends to represent these guys politics the best.
I don't know how much you guys watch Jimmy Dore. I liked him post 2016 as he was like my little island of sanity as the narrative shifted away from progressivism, and toward this pathetic centrist "resistance" to Trump. But Jimmy, he kept it real. He's a comedian turned political talk show host, and he loves to talk crap on everyone. But most of the time he goes after democrats. Okay, cool. I'm not much different as you know.
And I've been pretty solid with this faction of the left up through 2020. Very anti dem establishment, and increasingly left wing. But, things started diverging just a little bit as we got into the 2020 election season. As you guys know, being the UBI guy, I see this massive allure of Andrew Yang. But...Yang wasn't well liked in these circles. I get it to some extent. Yang is...unorthodox. We've discussed him enough. He's a lot more moderate on some issues, but supports stuff like UBI, M4A (in theory), and then he kinda backed off from M4A, and his UBI plan was never that great, and he got A TON of hate. A lot of it was admittedly deserved. Even I had to abandon him as a candidate.
But, I still had disagreements with these progressives. A lot of them jumped to assign negative motives to yang, like he's an establishment shill, and their arguments seemed to be against the idea of UBI rather than against his exact policies themselves. They claimed Yang wanted to "destroy welfare", and UBI would lead to massive inflation, and when trying to clarify these issues and point out they're good faith attempts (because let's be honest, despite my criticism of Yang's policies, he seemed decent in terms of intentions), they would just retreat further and further to the left, claiming that UBI preserves capitalism and we should decommodify the economy or that UBI is fine but it shouldn't replace ANY welfare (even though any decent plan WOULD reduce SOME welfare), and that the amount needs to be $2-3k, which can't be done realistically. And yeah, it just became a crapshow. Still, we both hated the establishment and largely wanted the same things, so I considered it a friendly disagreement at the time, minus a few really hacky dishonest actors.
But it's been grating on me. I did end up backing Bernie and going Bernie or Bust again due to climate change and Yang's policy weaknesses, but I always liked that lane of politics ideologically. I'm not really a hardcore socialist, and I don't really always agree with the far left on stuff. On social issues I'm more libertarian. On foreign policy I'm a moderate. And on economics, "human centered capitalism" is what I wanted all along and I only briefly considered socialism in case UBI failed to work. But the left being the left runs to the extremes on everything, and became more and more detached from reality.
Throughout 2020, I noticed that the Bernie or Busters I used to agree with became more conspiratorial. Everything was conspiracy theories. Seth Rich was murdered, blah blah blah. Many of these people fell for anti mask rhetoric to own the libs, and I'd get in discussions with these people and they would post all this bad science supporting their viewpoints. They just became more and more detached from reality as time went on.
That said, after 2020, that's why I looked at things, and was like, I really don't fit in anywhere. The left is becoming far left, and the moderates are just as toxic as ever. I'm growing to hate both factions. I prefer the left, since at least they do seem to wanna change things for the better, but this anti intellectualism, extremism, and socialism advocacy has always made me a bit uncomfortable.
Which brings me to Jimmy Dore. Dore represents this brand of left wing politics on youtube. He's the go to commentator of these guys, and has himself become more anti intellectual. I like him for entertainment value, but on facts, I prefer the likes of Kyle Kulinski and secular talk, who largely agrees with dore on substance but is more reasonable. But, as Kyle said of Dore recently, Dore only has one gear, and that's nuclear. And since the election, Dore style progressives have gone nuclear on the left.
The first time I saw something wrong was over stimulus checks. The democrats compromised and got $600 and then Trump was like "what about $2000" to screw the GOP. Well, then the democrats ran on upping them to $2000 if they won the senate. So after they won, they pushed for $1400 in addition to the $600 to make $2000. But then these guys were screaming about how they said $2000, so they really wanted $2600. Now, here's the thing, while I believe everyone should get a monthly check of $1100, it seemed obvious what was meant, and this seemed like a dishonest attempt to move the goalposts. And these guys screamed and got tribalistic over that, when I just saw it as what they campaigned on.
Next, there was the force the vote controversy with AOC. Dore believed AOC should try to force a medicare for all vote, knowing it would fail. It was an act of symbolism. I considered weighing in on this issue then but never wrote anything. I never had a solid opinion though. I got the appeal of it and I'm all for a symbolic vote to force an issue to the floor, and I do respect lefties for trying, even if they know it won't work. Better to stand on symbolism than to never try at all. Still, I know AOC, if she openly defied the democrats, would probably get on their craplist and be sabotaged. So there were very real risks for this strategy. And ultimately, AOC did NOT force the vote. This made the Jimmy Dore left go nuclear, where they start screaming about how AOC is a sellout and a grifter and not one of us, and it's like, come on, really? AOC is one of the most progressive members of congress. She's a justice democrat, and pushed by other YT hosts like Cenk Uygur and Kyle Kulinski. She's "one of us". But, the thing is, when you have a lone politician within the system trying to change things, you're put in an uncomfortable position. You can't just decide to do what you do and piss everyone off or you'll get blacklisted, primaried, and sabotaged. And you know what? The establishment will probably win. I don't envy AOC's position, and this is a huge reason I dont run for office myself. THe idea of being stuck in a system hostile to your very ideology, and working within it, has to be soul crushing. There's only so much one person can do. So I'm going to be honest, I'm going to stick by AOC and defend her from criticism. I believe she means well, she wants change, but she's forced to work within this crappy system full of right wingers and neolibs. All while people are trying to kill her (Jan 6th) and you got MTG stalking her, I mean, AOC gets a lot of crap. And then Jimmy Dore goes ballistic and screams about how she's a grifter and a sell out? Seriously?
And it gets worse. Dore lashes out more and more, screaming at everyone, attacking TYT, another progressive channel he used to be affiliated with, claiming they're sell outs, and telling blatant lies to make them look bad. This leads to one host there, Ana Kasperian, apparently threatening to use a previous incident that may or may not be sexual harassment, to silence Dore. Well, Dore went public, told his side of the story, claiming it was a joke and later elaborating on the loose culture of TYT at the time, while Ana claimed it was sexual harassment. At this point, Kyle Kulinski eventually jumps in, and tries to give a fair take of both sides, but did fail to address the fact that Ana seemed to be using this incident as potential blackmail to silence Dore. Well, now Dore and his fanbase is claiming Kyle is a grifter and a sell out, and yeah. It's ridiculous.
And that's where we're at now. I'm not really convinced this segment of the left can be reasoned with. They're just a mass of hate and paranoia, and they hate anyone who isn't explicitly on their side 100%. Yang is bad, AOC is bad, heck, I think these "Bernie or Busters" think that Bernie himself is a sellout and grifter at this point. I've heard them refer to him as a "sheepdog of the left". It's ridiculous. These guys can't be satisfied. Heck, if you passed Bernie's agenda, they'll probably claim that it isn't good enough and now they want literal socialism.
And I'm not even getting into the dishonesty of what happened with Yang's mayoral run, and the vitriol there over Israel, but it's the same thing. How many of these guys really even care about Israel? No, they were just attacking Yang for purity. And you know what? if you talk to Yang, or to AOC, or to Bernie, they are all progressive as fudge in their own way. Maybe they're not perfect, no one is, but these guys are just harping on their imperfections.
Look, I was there when this segment of the left formed. I even was initially one of them. I hate the democratic establishment. I'm no fan of Biden. But, this tribalism among the far left is insane. I have several well thought out goals behind my purity testing, when I purity test. And I am be pretty forgiving of minor imperfections if we can agree on core issues. I think what separates me from these guys is 1) I limit my purity testing to my top issues, 2) i have realistic, set in stone, expectations that anyone who reads this blog can understand, and 3) I understand people are imperfect. If I purity tested people like these guys do, we would never do anything. I would crucify Yang over his lack of M4A or imperfect UBI plan. I would rip Bernie for not being for UBI. I'd rip Howie Hawkins for similar reasons. I mean push comes to shove, I can find problems with anything and anyone if I really want to. And Im pretty open about this. People who I respect and look up to, and would vote for, and agree with, I purity test them to death on here. But all things considered, I'd still support them come election time. You can't just become so extreme with your purity no one ever meets your standards. You gotta be realistic. But these guys aren't.
I don't know what my future is going to be with the progressive left. While we have common goals, it's quite clear even I fail their purity tests push comes to shove. You cant satisfy these guys. And honestly, they're so hostile and nasty to everyone. I'm starting to kind of understand why the establishment factions hate the Bernie Bros. Even though I am one. Now, to be fair, i think theres a difference between realistic standards and NO standard, democrats do try to bully and gaslight people into having NONE, and that's what leads to these extremeness and paranoia in the first place. But yeah, why even try to negotiate with people you know will never be satisfied? These guys will make us all look bad long term. And might actually cause the center to shift back center, rather than moving left. Why appeal to the left if they will never be happy? Again, I have standards, I even have detailed policy prescriptions for how to get there. Say what you want about me, but I KNOW what I want and I broadcast that. These guys don't even do that. It's just this undefined mass of hatred, paranoia, and ever shifting standards. You could give them 99% and they'll crucify you over the 1%. You could give them 100% and they'll just make up more crap to scream about. It's frustrating.
Anyway, I just wanted to vent on this topic.
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