So, David Pakman had a pretty interesting conversation with a DSA leader who is thinking about leaving the DSA over the response to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He mentions how he has these economically left positions, but he just can't see the world the same way as others in the DSA on the issue of Israel-Palestine. It was also mentioned that it seems like these views are related to a metaphysical worldview.
And to be honest, I feel the same way. I've written pretty extensively on this blog about how despite having views that are left of the democratic party on economic issues, that on social and foreign policy issues, I'm actually quite moderate. I don't fit in with the left at all. And to answer the question posed in the video, yes, it is a metaphysical worldview that leads to these kinds of falling out with the left.
Much of the modern left is driven my postmodernism. As Ive mentioned before, it's based on critical theory and tends to look at the unequal relationships between dominant, "privileged" groups and the underprivileged. And often times, they almost reflexively assume that the privileged group is bad and the underprivileged one is a victim. Which is why you got man hating radfems throwing their crap around with the rammstein situation. It's also why so many lefties are obsessed with racial minorities and LGBTQ+ rights when honestly, these aren't super important issues with me. Because that's how these guys view the world. Through these power imbalances between these groups. it's literally their worldview.
I also mentioned how on foreign policy lately, that this manifests with an anti western bias and a pro third world/"global south" bias. It leads to a worldview in which the US and European powers are inherently bad, and the rest of the world is their victim, and if only they didn't interact with the rest of the world as they do, that things would be better. And that's why the modern left is pro russia and anti ukraine, as well as pro palestine, and anti israel. They just reflexively see the west as bad because their worldview is inherently biased against the west and in favor of other cultures they see as "oppressed" by them.
Honestly, it's all brain rot to me. I mean, as I've said before, these ideas make sense within a certain sociological context. They're LENSES. They're a SINGLE way to view the world of many. But that doesnt mean you should ALWAYS USE IT AND IT SHOULD DEFINE YOUR WORLDVIEW. Which is what the left does.
And this is why I myself, despite having left of the democratic party views on economics, am pretty moderate on social issues and foreign policy. Because my own ethics explicitly don't use that lens. They might occasionally take it into consideration, and use it as a tool to understand things from a certain point of view, but they aren't defined by that worldview.
And I know a lot of leftists are gonna be acting like im gearing up for my "Dave Rubin" or Jimmy Dore" style "this is why I left the left" moment, but honestly, in retrospect, this was NEVER me. So I can't really leave something I was never a part of. As I get older, I kinda realize that I'm not really becoming more moderate, I always was moderate, and just because I thought that Bernie Sanders was based in 2016 doesn't mean I have the same metaphysical worldview as the crazy lefties.
Heck, I'm not even THAT far left on economics these days. I'm not really a socialist. I mean, I'm kind of mildly interested in stuff like worker cooperatives or codetermination, but I don't think it's this big end all be all that defines my politics. I've always been more on the capitalist side of things. My views have always simultaneously embraced but also hated capitalism. It was always "the least bad" system for me, and if I do become moderate on THAT as I get older, it's in the fact that because the left has gotten so anti capitalist, I've had to shift to emphasize the times where it actually does do things right. This isn't me moving right, as much as embracing my more liberal philosophical origins, rather than leftist ones.
As I get older, some might think I'm becoming more conservative again. Not really true. I've just been forced to embrace the parts of me that have always been more conservative, and fight against the overton window shifting to my left. As I've said previously, in 2012, the left was never as crazy as it is today. Lefties were still trying to overcome the image that they were communists and SJWs, and a lot of my support of the left came from the fact that they were neither. Even if some strains of thought occasionally influenced such things, they didn't DEFINE them. Now in the 2020s I find myself having to deal with the same left wing crazies that I used to think were only conservative strawmen. No, they're real. They're just not liberals, they're "leftists". And as I get older I realize that yes, even if I have disagreement with other liberals, I'm more liberal than I am leftist.
Like....you can be a liberal, but think the democrats suck on policy and think they can and should do better. You can look at Canada or Europe and think we should have single payer or a beverridge healthcare system rather than obama care. You can look at welfare and want UBI. You can want a $15 minimum wage. You want free college and student debt forgiveness. These ideas are not inherently exclusive to leftism. They're also compatible with liberalism. And just because you are "left" on a handful of economic positions doesn't mean you're a "leftist" or subscribe to the metaphysical worldview that they do which is based on marxism and postmodernism.
And that's actually kind of the secret of Bernie Sanders' coalition. He called himself a socialist, but most of his followers and supporters were actually just left leaning liberals like social democrats and stuff. Most of them werent interested in real socialism or marxism or postmodernism. If you asked them what socialism is it was when the government did things. Ya know, the American bastardization of the idea that's really just...welfare capitalism. Not actual leftism based on a marxist or postmodernist view of the world.
I've come to realize I have little in common with actual "leftists", and I actually think most leftists are quite stupid in terms of public policy. Their moralities and metaphysical views of the world are out of touch with reality, and I largely reject them. Just because I overlap with them on a handful of economic positions doesn't mean I am one of them.
And I think that's where this DSA guy is too. He might have some views on economics that are "left", but he's still a liberal on foreign policy issues. And you know what? That's reasonable. I mean, to me, that's the "correct" position to have. I feel like the modern left has lost their mind. ESPECIALLY on foreign policy.And honestly, I've rebranded myself in the past few years because of them.
Probably around 90% of my convictions are still the same as when I founded this blog. Most changes in rhetoric or actual changes in policy come from further research and fleshing out my worldview. But my actual worldview in terms of how it relates to politics is largely the same. However, as we shift from me being left of most of the left in 2016, to me being to the right of "leftists" in 2023, I'm kinda embracing that moderate framing more and more.
I just felt like this was worth talking about given my own frustrations with the left as of late, especially with the Israel-Palestine situation. I just can't support Palestine right now. Not with how extreme and genocidal they are. I'm not saying Israel is perfect, but I do find them the more reasonable party in the conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment