So, I'm seeing it a lot relative to the Rammstein thing. "Oh I'm soooo worried that people are going to turn into right wingers over this because of the crap people are saying about wokeism." Of course, I'm one of the people they're talking about, as I'm getting rather vocal on the woke and my opposition to them.
But, don't think I'm a right winger either, because quite frankly, I hate both. Of course, leftists really can't seem to tell the difference and think everyone who isn't an outright marxist and/or SJW is a right winger, which is kind of laughable and ridiculous.
Honestly, I see three major camps on social issues right now. There's the right, the left, and what we can call some sort of "center". Up until recently i considered myself left on social issues, but I'm starting to embrace the centrist label more and more.
As I see it, right wingers, at least the really dangerous ones that we don't really want to be associated with, and who the left is worried about us ranting against wokeism are becoming, are authoritarians. You got the older christian right, which I used to be a part of, and seems to base their views on biblical christianity, and you got this newer alt right, which seems more based on fascism and populism. I reject these kinds of right wing labels. When I think "right", especially in terms of the SJW left, I think these people. Because these people are OBSESSED with stopping who they consider to be fascists, and they call the biblical christians "christofascists".
Now, I'm an ex christian, so come on. Let's stop acting like I have ANY interest in these people. Most of my real ranting against those people are before this blog's time (i started writing here in 2016), but yeah, I cant stand authoritarian right wingers. I think that they should screw off and stop trying to dictate how people live their lives. And I quite frankly dont think the alt right is any better. It just replaces christianity with a more secular form of conservatism and that doesnt make it any better in practice. It's still irrational to me, it's still based on promoting conservative ideals, and actual social conservatism, with its obsessions with things like faith, family, and work, are kind of disgusting to me. Keep in mind the name of this blog. Out of plato's cave. As I see it, the right is the ideology of the cave. And I promoted a "left" which stood for enlightenment and progressivism.
Now, that brings me to the "left" here. And the difference between the older left and the new left. WHen I criticize the left, and wokeism, I'm really talking specifically about postmodernism, social justice ideology, etc. The problem with these guys is they're very authoritarian too. ideologically their ideas make slightly more sense than just keeping things the way they are because they've always been that way, these ideas come from academia and actually have pretty advanced social theory behind them. But sometimes what makes sense in the abstractions of the halls of academia dont make sense when applied to reality, or public policy. And these ideas have...limits. The problem with conflict type theories is that in some ways if you take them seriously enough, you can see them in everything to laughable and impractical ends. Which is where we're at with rammstein. They go on and on and on about power imbalances and how wrong it is a 60 year old rock star has sex with fans in their 20s, and honestly, while these make sense in theory, in practice, i dont really think these power imbalances are meaningful or invalidate consent. From my own indepentarian perspective, people in row zero were generally more free to say no to till than most workers under capitalism (or socialism, for that matter) are to say no to their bosses. Seriously.
And these guys are so obsessed with bringing about a better world through authoritrian means that its scary. They want to punish people for having different opinions than them, using language they dont like, engaging in dating customs and rituals that they dont approve of, etc. While I can value the idea of makng the world better, they take it to such an absurd extent that it does great damage to peoples freedom.
Which brings me to the old left, liberalism, whatever you wanna call it. Yes, I would consider liberalism to be the old left. And liberalism and libertarianism are very similar. I consider myself a form of libertarian, but not a right wing one. Right wing ones tend to be dogmatically opposed to all regulations for any reason, while I weigh the tradeoffs between regulation and liberty and go with the side where i think the balance is greater. I do try to maximize liberty, but I also recognize that government action is necessary to do so sometimes. Like with covid regulations, I think people coughing in my face violated my liberty to, you know, live. I think seatbelt laws are worth the effort and the tradeoff. I'm not stupid about it.
But then on things like sexuality, I'm very libertarian/liberal. I suport gay rights, trans rights, abortion. Not for "woke" reasons, but because it's just the right thing to do. people should be free to live however they want as long as they're not harming others.
I support decriminalization of drugs, prostitution, etc. On prostitution, yes, I hear the argument that women are coerced into it by capitalism, but hey, welcome to capitalism in general. My own ideology on economics is intended to free people from such coercive forces, but that's obviously another discussion for another day (just...read other crap on this blog, I dont shut up on this issue).
But at the same time, I also support freedom of speech to the point of near absolutism, and am a thorn in the side to those who want to regulate that. I think people have a right to be racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, what have you, as long as they do not act on it in a way to take away the rights of others. I dont believe in thought crime, only actual crime done through actions. I dont support hitting people because they hold crappy views. People have a right to live as they want, the line comes when their thoughts turn into actions that translate to harm to others. And speech is generally more related to thought, and unless its an active incitement to action I dont believe in banning it.
The fact is, I am a thorn in the modern left's side, because being an older form of left based on liberalism/libertarianism and a live and let live philosophy, i dont fit well with the left. Another issue that seems to separate me from both the left and the extreme right is im a big believer in ideas like rule of law, constitutional rights. Whereas the left and right seem to be illiberal these days and believe in direct action that may violate well justified legal rights that exist within our society.
BUt that doesnt mean im aligned with the right, as the right is just as bad or worse. FUndie christians are nuts who want to turn us into a de facto theocracy. Trust me I was one of them once. And the alt right is like staring into the abyss that leads to the rise of hitler like figures. Dont think for one minute i endorse THOSE guys simply because i dont like the woke.
The fact is, I'm a third force between the modern left and right. Im both libertarian and liberal, and fit well into social libertarianism or what Yang himself once called "liberaltarianism." In understanding the times terms, I reject both the extreme forces of the likes of fundamentalist christianity, but also the forces of marxism and postmodernism on the left. I am a humanist, and that is the basis for my worldview. Secular humanist, cosmic humanist, it doesnt matter, im a bit of both at this point, although politically im generally closer to secularism due to my post christian worldview and a high value being given to separation of church and state. I believe public policy should be a bit ideological, but also very scientific and based on things like proveable facts and ecidence.
I hate both the left AND the right. Because both are authoritarian, and watching the christians and alt right on the right, and the postmodernists and marxists on the left, I feel like Im watching horseshoe theory at work. Both seem authoritarian, both seem heavily ideological to the point that they're out of their freaking minds, and I consider both to be a threat to secular liberal values. And it's weird, trumpers act like liberals are communists, but then leftists weirdly consider liberals to be "right wingers". Well, I'm neither. As I said, third force that won't tolerate either of the two sides' crap. I despise wokeness, but also the authoritarianism of the alt right.
So yeah, it seems baffling how much concern trolling i seem to be seeing in the rammstein community going on about how they fear the community is gonna turn alt right. I mean, have you seem the band's songs and lyrics? Pretty sure several rammstein acts are banned in about 12 southern states given all of the weird anti woke and anti trans hysteria going on down there. But at the same time this new authoritarian left based on things like "antifa", radical feminism, is also no good to me.
And before people say "WeLl If YoU oPpOSe FaScIsM yOuR aNtIfA"....uh...no. You guys are crazy left wing extremists who embrace illiberal means to reach your goals. I'm one of those "three arrows" guys to embrace a social democratic symbol in which I reject both the reactionary tendencies of the right, but also the reactionary tendencies of the left. Heck, given the prominence of social justice ideology and its distinctness from marxism, we probably should be adding a fourth arrow to represent a new form of reactionary politic that didnt exist at the time of the creation of such a symbol.
And yeah, that's where I'm at. Sometimes Im more right than leftists want, sometimes im more left. In reality I'm just someone who embraces liberal democracy, the rule of law, and a general live and left live libertarian ethos in approaching others. I dont believe i deserve to get crap for that, but given how ideological the spectrum is these days I feel like I get attacked by all sides despite being, in my opinion, perfectly reasonable.
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