Radical Leftist Disillusioned By Leftist Culture

[Forty Two]

PTSD is a serious issue that needs to be worked around. But it's hard not to get the feeling that a lot of this triggering shit is people who have traditionally been unheard in society (for whatever reason) co-opting it for their own empowerment. That is, there's a psychological pathology going on here in that people whose views have been largely ignored traditionally are acting out against that perceived injustice. Not that I'd even touch that with a ten foot pole in regards to some of my activist friends. I just nod politely when they start up with this shit...

Perhaps, but couple that "traditionally unheard in society" argument with an ideology with a plank that says that people who can claim membership in some sort of protected group not only get protection from discrimination, but also get the privilege to discriminate, harass, and silence others and to speak first (be high up on the "stack"), etc., and have that be "not sexist" or "not racist" because "sexism and racism = prejudice plus power" - so, like Bahar Mustafa, fmr. Diversity Director at a British College stated and wrote publicly, and with zero irony, "I, as a minority woman of color, cannot be racist or sexist" while explaining how her express and deliberate discrimination based on sex and race was not sexism or racism and not even improper.

I think this is just part of the same pathology, not an ideology.

Well, there we disagree because these ideas are part of an ideology. Nothing I said in that paragraph is odd or even extreme these days. That's the prevailing view among Progressive feminists in the US and UK.

[Forty Two]

However, those who make such statements would claim it as a righteous ideology rather than their personal pathology, I suspect.

Definitely. But it doesn't change what it likely is - a pathology from being ignored for most of their lives.

But, these are not people who have been ignored. These are privileged, middle and upper class people who are claiming to be among an oppressed class. Bahar Mustafa, the example I used above, came from a wealthy, upper class family and attended university. She's white, although she claims to be "of color," and well-to-do. She's never been ignored in her life.

I agree with Forty Two that the problems start when groups start demanding that their own take of correct behaviour be imposed willy-nilly on others. As a society, we of course agree that some human behaviours must be sanctioned - that's why we have a legal system. But outside those agreed upon laws and associated sanctions, the default position should be to allow individuals the freedom we would want for ourselves...

The thing is, it's not a real problem. It's just hyperbole from the likes of coito and dave dodo. Look at how well A+ went. That's how all these groups end up. They are no threat to the rest of society.[/quote]

This is where you are wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S3yMzEee18 - they assault, batter, intimidate and silence. They use the power of the State to hurt people.

Professor Laura Kipnis -- http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... versy.html

At the university level, at least, these folks ARE the establishment.

These positions are being taken seriously -- take Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian being invited to the UN to speak about how the internet needs to be censored, and taken seriously.

And, what about the prosecution in Canada of Elliott for the crime of disagreeing with a feminist. He won, after three years of litigation and preliminary injunction preventing him from accessing the internet, because the complainant Stephanie Guthrie lied through her teeth?

These are not isolated things that don't matter.

[pErvinalia]

However, those who make such statements would claim it as a righteous ideology rather than their personal pathology, I suspect.

Definitely. But it doesn't change what it likely is - a pathology from being ignored for most of their lives.

But, these are not people who have been ignored. These are privileged, middle and upper class people who are claiming to be among an oppressed class. Bahar Mustafa, the example I used above, came from a wealthy, upper class family and attended university. She's white, although she claims to be "of color," and well-to-do. She's never been ignored in her life.

That's a non-sequitur. Being middle class doesn't mean someone's views haven't been ignored most of their life. It's their views that matter, not their class.

[Exi5tentialist]

I always considered myself a progressive and a leftist

On what possible grounds? You don't support democracy on your own forum. What progressiveness have you ever brought to the table?

[pErvinalia]

You don't need to support democracy in a private organisation to be a progressive.

[Svartalf]

democracy is not catering to the single crank that is not representative of the people at large, least of all of their best interests

[Exi5tentialist]

democracy is not catering to the single crank that is not representative of the people at large, least of all of their best interests

I totally agree. What's your point?

Oh, you haven't got one.

[Svartalf]

If you don't catch it, others will

[Exi5tentialist]

If you don't catch it, others will

Depends on how contagious it is, surely.

[rachelbean]

I could give you my history, my beliefs, the ways I've voted and organisations and causes I have given my time to...but i doubt if any of that matters to you. If it does, it is likely just so you can use it to continue your lectures about how we should be running the forum, so instead I'm going to drink this cider and watch some House of Cards

[pErvinalia]

Fascist!

[Svartalf]

Hedonist, have!

[pErvinalia]

Legbearded feminazi Labour Toryist!!

[Svartalf]

or maybe you'll get a suspension from the mods

[Exi5tentialist]

I could give you my history, my beliefs, the ways I've voted and organisations and causes I have given my time to...but none of that matters to you. If it does, it is likely just so you can use it to continue your lectures about how we should be running the forum, so instead I'm going to drink this cider and watch some House of Cards

Don't worry rachelbean, I'm not going to stick my neck out proposing new changes to the forum. You wouldn't listen to them anyway and you'd call me a troll - wouldn't you? Such is your progressiveness. I'm just wondered how you squared your history of authoritarianism with your statement that you always considered yourself a progressive and a leftist. If you don't wanna answer, I'm not going to drag you out and make you. What kind of a democrat do you think I am?