Obviously you're in the States, and I'm in Europe (thus come from a different philosophical tradition I guess), and I think in the States you have different definitions, or perceptions, or understandings of 'left' and 'right' and certainly 'liberal'. The latter word, 'liberal' no longer bears any relation to the actual meaning of the word, as in 'freedom' and 'permission'. In America I get the impression it actually means the opposite, judging by those who call themselves 'liberal' - to me they seem like the worst kind of regressive bigots.
As regards your definition of 'the left' - there is clearly such a world of difference between what you define as the 'progressive' left and the 'regressive' left that, in fact the 'regressive' have nothing whatsoever to do with 'socialism' - in fact, the type you are describing here are, in actual fact, fascists.
The best example of this is of course Marx and his cult. These people are 'fascists pretending to be socialist'. Or fascists in 'left' clothes. But they are still fascists in the sense of 'a small minority group controlling everything and telling people what they can and cannot think, feel, do and believe.'
And that's got fuck all to do with socialism. Socialism, in fact, is inseparable from liberalism - because providing security to everyone in terms of 'all their basic needs are met' essentially liberates them. They are then no longer dependent on IngSoc or the state, meaning the official narrative doesn't get them anymore - they are free to think and believe and ask questions and pursue higher order needs.
This state of affairs is obviously the true enemy of those in power, and that explains their tactics throughout the ages. But that's an entirely different essay. But I would do this reminder, that Marx was an agent of the bankers & industrialists (the oligarchs, the 'cabal' etc.) whose sole purpose was to 'capture' the socialists, discredit and destroy the genuine socialist opposition, and then become the honeypot and 'controlled opposition'. Unfortunately, Marx has done his work well. Now in America in particular, whenever an American hears the word 'socialist' they have been conditioned to see visions of Stalinist Russia - which, as I say, was a fascist state pretending to be socialist. Stalinism had nothing to do with socialism.
'If Marx had not existed, it would have been necessary for the Establishment to have invented him'
I think your differentiation of the two type of leftists is excellent.
When you complain about those on the right (I’m a classical liberal, conservative-leaning libertarian myself) lumping the two together, what you leave out is that the “progressives” have consistently refused to reign in, let alone denounce, the regressives on the left. The regressives have been setting the agenda for the left at least for the entire time of the Biden Administration.
Substantively, on your as I said generally very good piece, especially the first half, I disagree with you on two points.
First, you claim that regressives don’t have ANY values. The one value they seem to hold sincerely is being for the “oppressed”.
But radical woke regressives actually believe oppressor-oppressed ideology. Regressives believe in their radical, immoral DEI / Intersectionality / Critical Race Theory ideology where the evil rich white male Christian (and Jewish where applicable) implicitly-biased white patriarchy is responsible for all evil - and little good - in our zero-sum-power-based world, and that the oppressed PoCs are morally justified to use any and all means necessary to overthrow their oppressors.
Which leads to my second point of disagreement. Older American ”progressives” have buried their heads in the sand re: woke regressives, telling themselves it was about LGBT+ rights, and not only refuse to denounce their radical, mostly young regressives, but, even worse, have continually shifted several of their views towards the regressives on ever more topics.
(I was in Silicon Valley for over 30 years, and have mostly liberal/progressive friends from there, some of whom I discuss politics with).
These progressives are no longer completely pro free speech. In particular, they are very happy to go along with the censorship by Big Tech (“it’s not the government doing it…”, despite the Twitter files and Zuckerberg admissions to the contrary). They have little problem with “cancel culture.”
Many of them are for “trans rights” so much that they are for chemical and surgical procedures on children. They surely are on the side of trans rights when the subject of biological males in women’s/girls sports comes up.
More and more, especially since Roe v. Wade was overturned, they are openly anti-Christian. But of course they are still sympathetic to Islam (the “mostly peaceful” religion…).
The *actual* ”progressives” on the becoming il-liberal left need to denounce and root out the regressives who believe the oppressor-oppressed garbage. But most of those you call “progressive” still have their heads in the sand on this topic. Or where they see the problems, they refuse to openly denounce them, and happily go along with a Democrat party agenda that is more and more openly regressive.
Here is the Political Compass Test: https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
Here is "Libertarian Municipalism", which I consider to be the political foundation of left-libertarianism (which Gandhi was). https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-libertarian-municipalism-an-overview
Obviously you're in the States, and I'm in Europe (thus come from a different philosophical tradition I guess), and I think in the States you have different definitions, or perceptions, or understandings of 'left' and 'right' and certainly 'liberal'. The latter word, 'liberal' no longer bears any relation to the actual meaning of the word, as in 'freedom' and 'permission'. In America I get the impression it actually means the opposite, judging by those who call themselves 'liberal' - to me they seem like the worst kind of regressive bigots.
As regards your definition of 'the left' - there is clearly such a world of difference between what you define as the 'progressive' left and the 'regressive' left that, in fact the 'regressive' have nothing whatsoever to do with 'socialism' - in fact, the type you are describing here are, in actual fact, fascists.
The best example of this is of course Marx and his cult. These people are 'fascists pretending to be socialist'. Or fascists in 'left' clothes. But they are still fascists in the sense of 'a small minority group controlling everything and telling people what they can and cannot think, feel, do and believe.'
And that's got fuck all to do with socialism. Socialism, in fact, is inseparable from liberalism - because providing security to everyone in terms of 'all their basic needs are met' essentially liberates them. They are then no longer dependent on IngSoc or the state, meaning the official narrative doesn't get them anymore - they are free to think and believe and ask questions and pursue higher order needs.
This state of affairs is obviously the true enemy of those in power, and that explains their tactics throughout the ages. But that's an entirely different essay. But I would do this reminder, that Marx was an agent of the bankers & industrialists (the oligarchs, the 'cabal' etc.) whose sole purpose was to 'capture' the socialists, discredit and destroy the genuine socialist opposition, and then become the honeypot and 'controlled opposition'. Unfortunately, Marx has done his work well. Now in America in particular, whenever an American hears the word 'socialist' they have been conditioned to see visions of Stalinist Russia - which, as I say, was a fascist state pretending to be socialist. Stalinism had nothing to do with socialism.
'If Marx had not existed, it would have been necessary for the Establishment to have invented him'
Very good explanation. I learned differences from this. Thanks
I think your differentiation of the two type of leftists is excellent.
When you complain about those on the right (I’m a classical liberal, conservative-leaning libertarian myself) lumping the two together, what you leave out is that the “progressives” have consistently refused to reign in, let alone denounce, the regressives on the left. The regressives have been setting the agenda for the left at least for the entire time of the Biden Administration.
Substantively, on your as I said generally very good piece, especially the first half, I disagree with you on two points.
First, you claim that regressives don’t have ANY values. The one value they seem to hold sincerely is being for the “oppressed”.
But radical woke regressives actually believe oppressor-oppressed ideology. Regressives believe in their radical, immoral DEI / Intersectionality / Critical Race Theory ideology where the evil rich white male Christian (and Jewish where applicable) implicitly-biased white patriarchy is responsible for all evil - and little good - in our zero-sum-power-based world, and that the oppressed PoCs are morally justified to use any and all means necessary to overthrow their oppressors.
Which leads to my second point of disagreement. Older American ”progressives” have buried their heads in the sand re: woke regressives, telling themselves it was about LGBT+ rights, and not only refuse to denounce their radical, mostly young regressives, but, even worse, have continually shifted several of their views towards the regressives on ever more topics.
(I was in Silicon Valley for over 30 years, and have mostly liberal/progressive friends from there, some of whom I discuss politics with).
These progressives are no longer completely pro free speech. In particular, they are very happy to go along with the censorship by Big Tech (“it’s not the government doing it…”, despite the Twitter files and Zuckerberg admissions to the contrary). They have little problem with “cancel culture.”
Many of them are for “trans rights” so much that they are for chemical and surgical procedures on children. They surely are on the side of trans rights when the subject of biological males in women’s/girls sports comes up.
More and more, especially since Roe v. Wade was overturned, they are openly anti-Christian. But of course they are still sympathetic to Islam (the “mostly peaceful” religion…).
The *actual* ”progressives” on the becoming il-liberal left need to denounce and root out the regressives who believe the oppressor-oppressed garbage. But most of those you call “progressive” still have their heads in the sand on this topic. Or where they see the problems, they refuse to openly denounce them, and happily go along with a Democrat party agenda that is more and more openly regressive.