So I understand last night's article got a bit wordier than i would've liked, so I will sum it up.
Social justice oriented progressives think they own the left and progressivism. They think that by shaming people, it will work, because everyone else on the left speaks their language and operates off of the same belief system.
But here's the thing. THEY DON'T. As I always say there are three kinds of people, regressives, conservatives, and progressives. Progressives bring society forward in some way toward a better state of being, conservatives want the status quo, and regressives go backwards. What we call "conservatives" in our society are actually regressives. Moderate liberals are the real conservatives. Progressives wanna bring society forward, but do so in different ways, and this is where SJWs make their giant miscalculation.
The left has had a hostile take over by social justice and identity politics in recent years, and they use this behavior to bully people into line. This doesn't always work, because the left, those who are "progressive" tend to vary on their ethics. I consider myself progressive, but my ideology is very actually very different from social justice politics, where I'm less caring and empathy based, and have views based more on logic and principle. A lot of lefties might hate my worldview, but I will defend it and it is what it is, you either love it or hate it, as I said, I don't care if others think I'm a bad person or don't like me. I like me. And that's all that matters.
On social justice issues I am admittedly more conservative. Not REGRESSIVE, just conservative. Kinda moderate. Not a fan of huge changes in any direction, largely ok with the status quo, and maybe in favor of mild shifts that cost society nothing. As I see it, previous generations of progressives on identity issues have had more success through being moderate and inoffensive, justifying their decisions through appealing to self interest, rather than high minded principles. I don't expect people to self sacrifice for ideas. I don't expect them to "check their privilege". I think that those who do that are ghouls who largely weaponize those politics to diminish certain groups and interests in order to elevate others. And that the social justice stuff is divisive and alienating.
I think that these guys need to chill and learn that people don't care about their crap. That the way to succeed is to weaponize that by encouraging the masses to get out of their way and let them do their thing. Which I'm willing to do. If their politics don't affect me, then I don't care either way. I won't actively help them, but I also won't hurt them.
What being a self righteous privilege shamer does is get in peoples' ways. These guys have a habit of going up to other people and attacking their character and calling them horrible people for not prioritizing THEIR issues. But most people don't care about THEIR issues, they care about their own. Hence why politics are about coalitions. You got a bunch of people with diverse interests who might not always agree with each other, but are motivated for their own reasons. In order to keep coalitions together, you need to make people happy. Getting in peoples' faces and telling them they're horrible people for not caring about YOUR issues and not addressing theirs is a one way ticket to telling people to screw off and pushing you away.
The left needs to understand and recognize this. Privilege shaming doesnt work. It requires people to adopt the same moral system that you do in the first place. But people DON'T. people come to coalitions for diverse and different reasons, and not everyone is gonna agree, for better or for worse. You can either appeal to them on their own terms or watch as you just end up pissing the people off for not being on the same wavelength as you.
As for whether that makes the rest of us "left" or not, it depends on your definition. I dont define left or progressive by having a moral system based more on care, empathy, or intersectionality. You can ask 20 progressives or lefties what those terms means and most wouldn't agree.
I've made it clear where I stand on issues. Socially, I'm an inoffensive "center left" liberal/libertarian and if anything have moderate/"conservative" (by my definition above) inclinations. I believe most progress worth making has been made and that further changes are worth diminishing returns. Economically, I AM progressive, but I have a completely different moral framework than most on the left for better or worse. Foreign policy wise, once again an inoffensive "center left" liberal with moderate/"conservative" inclinations. I'll own to just being "a liberal" on social and foreign policy issues. Heck, I'm STILL a "liberal" economically, just a far more progressive one.
And yeah. I just wanted to summarize my long and winding article yesterday by explaining where I stand in a more cogent form. And now to show the privilege shamers the door....
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