I should probably come clean right from the start. I’m pretty left-wing, which puts me in interesting company in the pages of the Trig. I believe in all sorts of nonsense; in the sanctity of education for all, in healthcare as a fundamental right, and in the necessity of trade unions to counter the natural greed in the heart of man. I also believe that “left” and “right” are barely functional labels of convenience now, both used to indicate what political content you’re allowed to share within your own little echo chamber.
In reality, we find ourselves somewhere on a four-way ‘conservative vs progressive, authoritarian vs liberal’ axis. I’m certainly no conservative and you’ll find no love of authoritarianism here.
Which presents a problem.
Social justice or social lynch mob?
I weep for my people, we bleeding heart loony lefties, because the ‘progressive’ Left now has the monopoly on censorship. Look no further than university campuses no-platforming those who don’t cater to their political orthodoxy, or how entire careers have been ended over callous tweets. Our ‘polite society’ is now so polite, so coldly, terrifyingly polite, that we’ve forgotten how to actually be a society.
Why?
Because we are spineless. Just as the Right mistrusts intellect, the Left mistrusts strength. There is no political will to do or say anything new, just in case it turns out to be incorrect. Progressives no longer create. They censor and analyse and shut down new mutations within our society that may contribute to genuine progress.
How do we fix this? A great place to start is to realise that we’re not fighting the same battles our predecessors fought in the 60s and 70s. There is still so much to do, but the enemy is cunning and has shifted the battlefield. Where we once fought against intellectual repression, we now have so much information that the world seems huge and terrifying. We have so much culture that students have taken to burning books. Steel yourselves, fortify, and consider the possibility that some of the ideas you don’t want to listen to might be worth hearing.
The danger of regressive-progressive politics
We used to be a lot better at picking our friends. In a truly connected world, it’s just as easy to find new ways to blame white men for your problems as it is to blame immigrants. In this, the Left also corners the market on shocking hypocrisy when it comes to supporting actions taken by barbaric nations, just because they happen to be taking shots at mean ole whitey.
Are we perfect? No, no we are not, but we’re a long way from throwing gay people off roofs. I point-blank refuse to let the alt-right be the only ones fighting for the soul of the West. Minor differences in doctrine, often unrelated to the task at hand, lead to a level of squabbling and paralysis that you’d never see on the other side. What’s the point in championing diversity when it all grinds to a halt at the first sniff of a diverse opinion?
Would the freedom of thought that gave us the counter-culture of the ’60s, the Beat Generation and punk rock flourish in today’s repressive ‘radical’ community? I think not. This is the crux of what I’m saying here. Pushing for social equality, championing egalitarianism and sticking it to the man; none of it’s fun anymore!
In creating a movement that seeks to pander to every oppressed group under the sun, the monster we’ve birthed is something that nobody in their right mind can realistically identify with. The time is fast approaching where those of us who stand for true freedom, and those who want to see real progress for human beings around the world, are going to need to start letting the cunts know that they are cunts again.
Otherwise, all is lost.
