Oh, I have another example.
I support single-payer health care. I didn’t support Bernie’s “Medicare for all” bill. Consequently, I was told that I wanted poor people to die.
Yes just seems like semantics and assholes on the internet but definitely being used like how that lady did to bash lefties in general, it’s the centrist take of “people on both sides are too extreme”
You shouldn’t give air to people who purity test like this. They are looking for you to say “how high” when they say jump. It’s just ego.
Smash that block button and keep it moving. You cannot win any sort of engagement.
1 Like
Yeah I think that, both on the internet and off, people are pretty nuts and many of them are assholes.
I guess it would not surprise me to learn that these traits are more common in local politics. But I have a hard time believing it’s more prevalent among leftists. I mean, look at the other guys. Maybe the leftist crazies and assholes are more hypocritical than the people who don’t even pretend to be good, I can buy that.
I think it’s unavoidable that while politics is going to attract people who sincerely want to make their town/county/state/the world a better place, it is also going to attract people who sincerely want to control other peoples’ lives.
Yep. You can replace “leftists” with any radical group if you change which virtues they are signaling.
You’re right. It’s ego.
It’s moral narcissism!
No she didn’t. She bashed a very specific type of leftist, who has also happened to be the type that has taken over activist spaces. for the record, the “lady” in the video is an outspoken critic of Iranian oppression and has come under fire from “leftists” for her nuanced takes on radical Islam, human rights violations across the middle east, and criticism of groups like the Houthis, who many of the “pro-palestine” leftist activist crowd has started supporting because…reasons?
Also, these purists start taking over ALL activist spaces, and it never ends well.
Here’s an example:
https://x.com/AlannaVagianos/status/1758507466176782603?s=20
If only those Repro Rights groups would just shut up about the Reproductive Rights crisis created in Gaza, then we could get back to the Serious, Nuanced Work of continuing a genocide.
I don’t understand, is your position that the Repro Rights orgs are in the wrong here for standing up for Repro Rights in Gaza?
2 Likes
I’m managing a campaign for state assembly. My candidate, if elected, will have exactly zero say on what goes on in the Middle East. Yet every fucking day we get “ceasefire now” comments.
How do I talk to these deeply unserious people on such a nuanced issue? they don’t want to hear nuance. They want my candidate to use their pre-approved buzzword.
I’m not saying the issue doesn’t matter to a state legislator. What we can influence here is how people are treated here, in our state and in our district. We want kids to feel safe in school, people to feel safe at their jobs, and the folks who live here to be able to feed their families. When we say we want to combat hate, that means being sensitive to the fact that nodding along and saying “ceasefire now!” without adding any nuance does serious harm to our Jewish friends. We want to combat hate, so that means saying “we support Israel’s right to defend itself” without adding nuance does serious harm to our Muslim friends.
What I’m seeing on the ground is that only the first response is acceptable to a segment of the left and nuance is NOT what they want to hear.
1 Like
Did you even read the second link?
Or either link?
Do you know Hamas’s stance on reproductive rights? I mean, before October 7th.
Once again, you are proving exactly the point she was making in the video, but do go on.
Watevs
1 Like
No, I didn’t read either, and don’t plan to, and don’t really care about Hamas’s position on Repro Rights, which I can only assume is terrible.
It just seems like you’re criticizing activists for focusing on their area of interest, because it makes it harder for Nuanced Centrists to win elections.
2 Likes
but…Repro rights in the USA is supposedly their area of interest! I’m criticizing them for wanting their activist organization to move away from their single issue, which dilutes their effectiveness in securing reproductive rights!
People want someone with the same moral center as themselves and think what’s going on in Gaza is as nuanced as slavery in the 1850s. I don’t think people are being unreasonable or unserious if they feel that way.
2 Likes
Yea that article seems like dogshit, I saw a response to it I believe the other day but can’t find it now, but isn’t what planned parenthood did essentially showing solidarity? and then as someone said before some candidates notably don’t want to discuss it because they won’t want to be dragged for the view?
I mean labor unions do this plenty no? You build power as a group which can be used to then further your cause and other likeminded causes, I would imagine planned parenthood and others discussed this and decided that losing some support for their mission is either, worth the gain the other cause receives or that it can also galvanize supporters for them replacing ones they lose but in the end I’m sure it’s a moral issue as it should be to be in solidarity.
As far as random activists attacking and being attacked, so?
When I’m told to my face that I support genocide for stating the following:
I want peace, I condemn Hamas, I denounce Netanyahu, I want the hostages released, and I want hostilities to end.
that is not reasonable.
2 Likes
That’s just a random person, it’s not the “left” no?
1 Like
He is a known leftist “activist” in San Diego County, with many supporters and friends in the party.
Funny you use that example, because the SECOND article I posted talks about it…and planned parenthood got destroyed for their statement. Here’s a quote:
Recently, Planned Parenthood released a statement on the Oct. 7th attacks and the broader conflict between Israel and Palestine. Their statement condemned Hamas’s attacks on civilians, and specifically condemned sexual assaults committed against Israeli women during the violence. They also noted how thousands of Palestinian women and children had been killed in Israel’s counteroffensive, stated the need for Palestinian women to maintain access to reproductive and maternal healthcare, and condemned both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The social media reaction to such a balanced and empathetic statement? Furious, unrelenting anger.
The statement was quote-tweeted thousands of times by social media users outraged by the statement. Planned Parenthood was accused of spreading Israeli propaganda, ignoring Palestinian deaths and fabricating rape claims, and enabling genocide. These outraged users aren’t conservatives who always oppose Planned Parenthood—they’re progressives furious that an organization they normally support put out a statement they hated. Now there are calls to end donations and Planned Parenthood staffers are fighting with donors. Their own employees, affiliates and organizers are making public statements against them.
2 Likes
Again, i would argue that it’s solidarity no? You’re essentially saying leave solidarity for pragmatics right?
Why should they limit themselves to the USA? I’m sure there are plenty of USAian Repro Rights activists that speak out about international problems all the time. You want them to stop talking about this one because it makes things awkward for your candidate for political office.
2 Likes
I don’t know the answer. All I know is what I see and hear every day. As someone involved in politics on a professional level, The loss of our ability to have a civil, nuanced discussion about these things is incredibly upsetting.
If people with perfectly normal views (I don’t like war and killing, I don’t like terrorism, I want both sides to agree to a peace deal, I want places for both groups to live without being killed or living in fear, I don’t like rape or murder) are constantly screamed at by the purity police, it drives those people away from the cause. It just does. I’m sorry, but that’s reality.