Doesn’t Bill know a 2010 progressive is a right-wing extremist Nazi fascist today?
“I’d be especially interested to hear from our democrat converts in the comments: what finally did it for you?”
I just realized all of the left’s claims that it represented my values were a lie. As I shared in a piece last year:
“I used to call myself a progressive because I was anti-authoritarian, anti-war, anti-corporation, countercultural, tolerant of diverse viewpoints, pro-truth, pro–freedom of speech, pro–freedom of choice, pro-justice, and pro-equality for all.
“I stopped calling myself a progressive because I am anti-authoritarian, anti-war, anti-corporation, countercultural, tolerant of diverse viewpoints, pro-truth, pro–freedom of speech, pro–freedom of choice, pro-justice, and pro-equality for all.” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/my-two-year-stackiversary-lattice)
I agree fully with all except “pro-freedom of choice” if it means abortion. We give no freedom of choice to the unborn, often up to birth. We are also taking away parents right to choose for their children.
No, I mean the freedom to choose what does or does not go into our bodies, for example. Freedom of choice does not give one the right to terminate an innocent life.
MAA, may I suggest a change of wording to clarify that you meant Freedom of Medical choice? Unfortunately, the phase Freedom of choice has long been associated with pro abortion. I thought you meant pro abortion too.
I was actually quoting something I wrote years ago after awakening to my indoctrination, so it’s not something I can change, but I do include a list of core values in the “In Praise of Dangerous Freedom” portion of that piece you may find clearer:
The biggest thing holding back most people from standing up for their real convictions is they are literally terrified of not being liked, ironically by people they often don't even know. Once you grew a pair and realize what truly matters is being respected, not liked, you'll find you end up respecting yourself a lot more too.
Another funny little twist the lefties threw in: "choice." Who can be against "choice?" Isn't that what conservatives want, freedom and choice? They are pretty good at turning language against itself to mean basically the opposite of what the words mean. We need to reclaim the language. Abortion is the #1 issue which IMO can unite a large voting bloc on the right. We don't even need to specify exactly what we want, we just need to point out the insanity of the Dem's infanticide platform. Virtually no one, including (D) voters, wants 9 mth abortions, and yet for all intents and purposes, that is their platform. And they know it is unpopular, which is why they try to squirm out of questions about it. We have to stop letting them squirm.
Anti-war. Yes, that was me too, a while back. But now, with Obiden, the left is starting the wars and funding them. I thought Republicans were all... I don't know what I thought! That they were my dad or something? I voted for Trump for one reason-- because he wasn't Hillary!-- and haven't looked back!
Where is the military hardware we left in Afghanistan? It’s like we challenged somebody to a baseball game and then gave them the ball, bats, uniforms, and stadium. Was the Iran attack on Israel some Middle East umpire calling “batter up”?
Jeff brings up a good point: "Like many democrats I know personally, Bill claims to be a progressive, but he lives like a conservative." There's a lot packed into that statement, I think.
For most liberals and lefties, it's mindless virtue-signaling. Belonging to a crowd. Not rocking the boat in school or at work. Going along to get along...but also NIMBY. Unquestioningly accepting what the authorities and "experts" told them...unless it applies to their personal favorite things. Wanting to tell others how to live...but not have those laws applied to themselves. Note the self-centeredness of leftists - my view SHOULD BE everyone's view - and also note how that's what they accuse the right of.
Also, not applying any logic to the stream of inane Orwellian propaganda: "a woman's right to choose," "criminal justice reform," "climate change," and so on.
Not willing or able to look at the truth, as defined by real-world outcomes of ideas and policies over time. (E.g., who could possibly be FOR public schooling in the US given its cost and outcomes, and the fact that it's the #1 source of child predation in the world?)
Also, being historically ignorant, if not outright hostile to history itself (the arrogance of "WE weren't there then, but WE are here now, so it WILL work out differently this time").
They never stop to think that Orwell is writing about the left. Maybe Orwell didn't even know that? The Soviets, the Fascists...all leftists. The major wars seemed to be leftists fighting with other leftists about whose version of leftism is "correct." Which is about as ironic as it is sad.
The thing that's struck me about conservatives - genuine small government, Constitutional conservatives, not the fake leftists-posing-as-conservatives sold to us by the MSM - is that they're not operating from "ism" ideology. People of that conservative bent generally don't ask themselves things like "what is the communist/socialist/capitalist response to this issue?" They respond from either logic/reason or intuition, in alignment with actually held (and valued) values. So, the response is natural and spontaneous, not contrived. This naturally leads to more, not less, openness (and is also a soft spot the leftists attack).
As an aside, this is why all "art" that comes from a leftist place or mindset is such cringeworthy crap. As another aside, this is why capitalism actually is better - it's a system that accounts for human nature in the same way that nature accounts for nature (selection), rather than trying to impose a Utopian vision of "fairness" and a system on top of natural processes.
FWIW, I've come to think of liberalism as an impossible position. It's always got to evolve one way or another. Hold onto "experts" and it devolves to leftism. Hold onto individual responsibility, common sense, and the natural order, and it evolves to small-c conservatism.
There is no way to sit on the fence forever saying "anything goes, we can all get along, all people and all ideas are valid." This is b/c the hard truth is that not all people nor all ideas are valid. Some are very bad and very destructive. Some cultures really are better than others in every meaningful way. To allow them into civil society is to dismantle civil society. And guess what the first thing they will get rid of is? Liberal ideas.
Well said! So many of your points resonated with me, but this one probably the most:
“Not willing or able to look at the truth, as defined by real-world outcomes of ideas and policies over time.”
It is abundantly clear that leftists generally operate from a mindset of, “This *feels* like it should work, and it makes us look kind/virtuous/whatever,” but they never go back and do an after-action review. When things don’t work the way they hope/promise, there’s never any introspection. There’s never any true effort to find root causes and address them. They always move on to the next thing that “feels” right.
Maybe it’s my very “engineer” mindset, but I simply cannot wrap my brain around the unwillingness to look at outcomes and evaluate their effectiveness. “This didn’t work out like I hoped, so maybe my assumptions/approach/methods are incorrect.” With the Left, it’s more like, “This didn’t work out like I hoped/promised, so I just need to do it more/faster.” (This is, of course, in parallel with, “Which group can I blame?”)
Facts vs. feelings. Open mindedness over tunnel vision. Real world vs. fantasy. Will we ever bridge that divide, or are we just too fundamentally different?
Exactly. I always go to public education as an example. The left has had a hold of it for generations now, probably, what, 60+ years? And they spend an enormous amount of money, last I looked, about $16k per student per year, near the top in the world. And the results are laughably horrific. Among the worst in the developed world. In some districts, not one student can read, write, and do math. Not even one out of thousands. Think of the disservice to these kids!
But, do they ever go back and evaluate what caused this (extremely expensive) failure? No way! It's always "systemic" this and "structural" that, which are themselves outdated 1970s ideas from post-structuralist / post-Marxist thinkers. IOW, they're using their own ideology to explain away why their own ideology has failed. Circular logic. If only they could do it more!
And when you ask what they want to do differently, it amounts to "spend more money." "Corporations have more money than us..." etc. Total non sequiturs that shouldn't fly among even elementary school educated people. Where is the feedback loop? Where is the willingness to try different things? The open mindedness? The ability to accept criticism, evaluate failures, and adjust one's own strategies and tactics accordingly?
Instead, they go with "everyone else is wrong, reality is wrong, the outcomes are actually good, and we need to make people see how right and great we are." Which has turned literally all of our intellectual fields of work and study into Potemkin villages. They're all fake, completely composed of manufactured "research" to support a failed 50-year old ideology.
"The first step in understanding the state of education today is to review how government came to be the dominant force behind schooling in the United States. From the outset of the first settlements in the New World, Americans founded and successfully maintained a decentralized network of schools through the 1850s. Then, beginning in New England, a wave of change swept across the country, which soon saw states quickly abandoning the original American model of decentralized, private education in favor of government-funded and operated schools.
"This movement not only altered the direction and control of elementary and secondary education in the United States, but it also contradicted many of the principles Americans had fought for less than a century earlier:
- A country founded in opposition to central governmental authority allowed for bureaucratic management of its schools.
- A country synonymous with "free enterprise" and distrust of legally protected monopolies built a government monopoly in schooling.
- A country that stretched the exercise of individual choice to its practical limits in nearly every sphere of life severely limited the exercise of choice in schooling, assigning the responsibility for education to the discretion of government authorities.
"The system of K-12 government schooling that exists to this day clashes with the political, economic, social, and cultural traditions of the United States to an extent unparalleled by any other institution in American society."
And then they have the unmitigated gall to wring their hands about homeschooling parents being unqualified to teach their children and worrying about said children’s learning 🙄
I don't think leftists think it feels like it will work, they just want cover to do what they want with no repercussions, so they will take any & every excuse to cover up their depraved lifestyles.
There’s a lot of that, for certain. But I am friends with a lot of liberals (wha? 🤣), and the ‘average’ lib really does operate on feelings. They want to continuously do things that “feel” good or “look” like they care. They don’t want to confront the facts that prove their solutions are crap. Now, if we are talking about Liberal leaders, you are spot on. They take advantage of the feelz of their followers and promise all good things will happen if they will only keep them in charge. For them, it’s all about power and control.
Even worse, liberals never seem able or willing to realize that their solutions are pure crap and don't work. They just do the same things over and over and over....
I’ve often thought this way. Leftist thinking is best left out of engineering schools as physical laws tend to not lend themselves to being ignored. Conservatives are better thinkers and get better results because they deal with reality.
I have certainly found this to be true. I know that we need all sorts of people in this world. How boring would it be if we all felt the same about everything! But I really can’t understand people who continually do the same thing over and over - with consistently disastrous results - just because it seems like the ‘compassionate’ thing to do. Education is a great example. As is the homelessness situation. The good news is that it seems (at least to me) that a lot more people are getting a clue.
I *have* found that most people in STEM fields are more conservative (as a general rule). I agree that it’s because we live in ‘reality’. The theoretical is interesting, and certainly worthy of study and investigation. But reality is reality. Too many people don’t like ‘reality’.
That is at the top of the list of what I feel is wrong with the Leftist zealots. come to mind: Climate change and gender dysphoria. When either of those topics are shown to be problematic, the left just doubles down.
"They never stop to think that Orwell is writing about the left. Maybe Orwell didn't even know that?"
Actually, Orwell knew that precisely as INGSOC stands for English Socialism. "Animal Farm" was also a harsh critique aimed at communism. Although Orwell considered himself a democratic socialist, he was actually one of socialism's fiercest critics as evidenced by the steelman arguments against it he presents in the requisite "The Road to Wigan Pier."
i have always been on the left until recently, since the pandemic they have definitely been the orwellians. plus, it seems to have robbed them of any sense of humor and increasingly they remind me of the saying, frequently wrong but never in doubt. i watched a comedy special done in scotland to protest their new censorship law, and it made me think of the left here and how it is possible to be concerned, serious and dedicated about issues without becoming censorious, uptight, smug, humorless twat
Well, they were the Orwellians in the past as well. The opposite of what our media and professors told us. Fake news, propaganda, entire fake towns to cover up what they were doing and what life was actually like. Struggle sessions. Public humiliation rituals. Repression. Mass graves. There are even pictures of Mao's red guard wearing medical masks like we had during covid. (Read or listen to Michael Malice's book about the Soviet Union for a taste.)
The thing is leftist ideologies are all aimed at reordering an already ordered world against its natural ordering principles. They are hubristic in assuming people know better than God/nature. So, they will always fail. Where I've landed is that what is real (as opposed to what is ideological) is all that really matters, throw the labels aside: authoritarianism vs. self-reliance; subservience vs. personal responsibility; micromanagement vs. freedom; confinement (incl. confiscation) vs. liberty; collectivism vs. free association; tyranny vs. rule of law; and so on. I don't need "isms" to tell me which side of those dichotomies is better for society.
The left here has an arrogant self assurance that their ideas and only their ideas have any validity. They believe that others have nothing to contribute and God forbid, they would never consider modifying their positions in any way. To paraphrase, being a leftist means never having to say you're wrong.
Excellent article in our small independent monthly paper showing how the Nazis were socialists (It's in the acronym NAZI), using Goebbels as an example. So, by no extension really, the fascist NAZI's were also leftists, as most certainly this government is today. Tell a Democrat this if you want to see their head explode.
Yeah, I mean, it's in their name: National Socialist German Worker's Party. The propagandists on the left will say "that's b/c they wanted to recruit leftists to their cause." Uh-huh, sure. And devout Christians call themselves satanists to woo lefties to church.
It's big government. It's government micromanaging the economy. The Nazis believed in - and carried out - confiscation and nationalization of private property, including taking a manufacturing co. and forcing it to make "the People's car" (Volkswagen).
So, then the propagandists will say, what about the "nationalist" bent. Well, as I understand it Stalin was also a "nationalist" of sorts. So, were the Soviets then "right wing?" How about the Castros? No, the whole fascism = right wing was a leftist media invention from the very start to deflect blame from leftism for the destruction caused by leftism. Our media was always on the side of the left. Even as they were murdering 100s of 1000s of people.
Sowell has written about this. Fascism came from Mussolini, who was a Socialist, whose father was a Socialist as well. As such, it's an evolution of Socialism. As Sowell says, it's of the left. The point of Fascism is more or less to use "private co's" to run cover for the government, so the government can do what it wants w/o facing the consequences when things go south.
Very, very much like current times. "It's those d@mn Rx co's who 'captured' regulatory agencies!!" Uh, no. Other way around. Rx has been drafted into the MiC, which is headed by the government entity called the security state.
I recall hearing that the main difference between Nazis and Soviets was "National Socialism" vs "International Socialism". The Nazi party wanted Socialism to benefit Germans specifically, whereas the Marxists/Soviets intended it to be a worldwide "revolution of the proletariat" for "the benefit of all oppressed workers".
They did hate each other, but it was because Hitler was convinced that "The Jews" were behind Marxism, not because they weren't both socialists.
I believe that split also existed within the Soviets, where there were two schools: the Stalinists and the Trotskyists (Troskyites?). Stalinists wanted communism to stay in Russia, Trotsky's followers thought it needed to be global. What we call neocons and neoliberals today are basically Trotsky's followers, decades later. Still, they're all leftist ideologies, whether socialism, communism, fascism, or the "neos." I guess leftists are just miserable, humorless people who are obsessed with power and war.
It's why the Bible exists. The How-To instructions for living. The Ten Commandments. Why there can't be YOUR truth and MY truth (that's what we call opinion). Events happened, documents were signed, laws were passed, shots were mandated. Until "leftists" can learn to accept that truth exists, and be willing to turn off their MSM and root around for the actual TRUTH, there's very little hope for converting them. "bees don't waste their time telling flies that flowers taste better than sh"t" etc etc
It's the same reason why so many Americans are "Christians" but don't really act as though they believe it. "All the good people around me are 'X' [Christian, Progressive, whatever] therefore I need to be 'X' too in order to be a Good Person."
It's a matter of social approval for certain "good" and "bad" beliefs.
What I find interesting is that I've always felt I was "anti-authoritarian, anti-war, anti-corporation, tolerant of diverse viewpoints, pro-truth, pro–freedom of speech, pro–freedom of choice, pro-justice, and pro-equality for all"...pretty much everything except countercultural, and I always considered myself to be conservative. (not "A" conservative, just conservative)
Being conservative *is* countercultural as “cultural” means the all-encompassing propagandizing, social engineering, and mass indoctrination into socialist ideology most people are oblivious to like fish swimming in polluted water.
Ditto. I was shaped by the 60s and was extremely liberal through the 90s. Then, during the Obama years, and after becoming a business owner, I changed dramatically. I still have many classic liberal values that diverge hugely with the one world order freaks. Isn't it ironic that the music groups of the 60s who were so anti establishment and counter culture are now thoroughly politically correct and shilling and beholden to their overlords. Maybe it's too many drugs, but probably just fundamental stupidity.
It took me several years recently to realize that liberal ideas have shifted so dramatically from the 60s and my idea of "liberal." I'm still having trouble with the shift! Liberal, in my mind, is still the anti establishment and counter culture. And about Antifa being anti-fascist? That's a new and bizarre idea.
I think this is where MAA was unclear. The values she **and I** held haven't changed. Those who we had shared them with have changed. Their brains were broken by TDS and the pandemic psyop. See Dr. Michael Nehls, The Indoctrinated Brain.
This is why my favorites these days as a former Progressive are Jeff and Tucker, along with Matt and Glenn. Horseshoes, anyone?
And, Peace, it’s been shocking to see old friends come out in support of Pharma & censorship & - in practice - oppose the Nuremberg Code. Mind-blowing.
Maher is shifting positions for sure. Ideologically unstable Democrats have been doing that since Reconstruction, but he’s still a whack job. “You’re not going to like” conservatives solving problems such as puberty blockers and violent 3rd-world gangs for neighbors? Isn’t that like Bill cutting off his generous nose to spite his smug face?
FWIW, all the dems I know - which sadly is mostly everyone I know except RFK supporters - have considered Maher conservative for several years now. It's only people "on the right" who keep saying he's a democrat and liberal who is changing his mind and counting it as a "win" for us. I'm so out of it I didn't even know who he was until somewhere during the pandemic when I saw a post on X, and thought, he's right!
There was a story about the red shoes a few years back. There's nothing alarming about women wearing red shoes; it's common. You don't see many men in red leather shoes.
Yes, he argues that the problem with extreme left-wing ideology is that it might provoke an extreme right-wing backlash. He can’t bring himself to argue the problem with extreme left-wing ideology is that it’s ANTI-SOCIAL: anti-freedom, anti-prosperity; anti-SANITY.
Maher is not the only one shifting. There are others like Jeffery Sachs (WEF connected, head of the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University). The Smarter Ones notice the big shift in the new multi-generational Narrative being engineered and they don't want to be left without a seat on the new gravy train leaving the station. These chameleons are very, very slick and crafty in how they craft their word shifting vocalizations. Such don't really stand for much excepting that they value most living well. And I about this, and their 'beliefs', I am sure they lie to themselves without really being aware of doing so.
People like Maher have been taken mind captured captive the same as most of us have. Such are well capable of being blind to themselves.
Who knows? And you are right, some of them wake up. But I think they are the few who embark upon a truly new course. I notice, for example, that Jeffrey Sachs hasn't quit the Sustainability Center at Columbia. A lot of them want the cushy life such as comes with subsidized Woke.
Doesn’t Bill know a 2010 progressive is a right-wing extremist Nazi fascist today?
“I’d be especially interested to hear from our democrat converts in the comments: what finally did it for you?”
I just realized all of the left’s claims that it represented my values were a lie. As I shared in a piece last year:
“I used to call myself a progressive because I was anti-authoritarian, anti-war, anti-corporation, countercultural, tolerant of diverse viewpoints, pro-truth, pro–freedom of speech, pro–freedom of choice, pro-justice, and pro-equality for all.
“I stopped calling myself a progressive because I am anti-authoritarian, anti-war, anti-corporation, countercultural, tolerant of diverse viewpoints, pro-truth, pro–freedom of speech, pro–freedom of choice, pro-justice, and pro-equality for all.” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/my-two-year-stackiversary-lattice)
I agree fully with all except “pro-freedom of choice” if it means abortion. We give no freedom of choice to the unborn, often up to birth. We are also taking away parents right to choose for their children.
No, I mean the freedom to choose what does or does not go into our bodies, for example. Freedom of choice does not give one the right to terminate an innocent life.
MAA, may I suggest a change of wording to clarify that you meant Freedom of Medical choice? Unfortunately, the phase Freedom of choice has long been associated with pro abortion. I thought you meant pro abortion too.
I was actually quoting something I wrote years ago after awakening to my indoctrination, so it’s not something I can change, but I do include a list of core values in the “In Praise of Dangerous Freedom” portion of that piece you may find clearer:
• https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/i/51525621/in-praise-of-dangerous-freedom
I later refined these values and include a simplified list in the footnotes under the categories of LIBERTY, COURAGE, LOVE, REALITY, and CREATIVITY:
• https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/my-two-year-stackiversary-lattice#footnote-3-51525621
The biggest thing holding back most people from standing up for their real convictions is they are literally terrified of not being liked, ironically by people they often don't even know. Once you grew a pair and realize what truly matters is being respected, not liked, you'll find you end up respecting yourself a lot more too.
I agree Freebird
Thanks for the clarification. At first, I thought you meant pro abortion.
Another funny little twist the lefties threw in: "choice." Who can be against "choice?" Isn't that what conservatives want, freedom and choice? They are pretty good at turning language against itself to mean basically the opposite of what the words mean. We need to reclaim the language. Abortion is the #1 issue which IMO can unite a large voting bloc on the right. We don't even need to specify exactly what we want, we just need to point out the insanity of the Dem's infanticide platform. Virtually no one, including (D) voters, wants 9 mth abortions, and yet for all intents and purposes, that is their platform. And they know it is unpopular, which is why they try to squirm out of questions about it. We have to stop letting them squirm.
I agree and yet the GOP will stay far away from it and the Dems are ramping up to use it once again as a cover for corruption in the election process.
They want some choices, but not all. Look at all those states trying to eliminate Donald Trump from the ballot, so that you couldn't choose him.
I can be against 'choice' when the choice is between suicide and suicide. But I get what you are saying.
"Freedom of choice" to commit murder.
Anti-war. Yes, that was me too, a while back. But now, with Obiden, the left is starting the wars and funding them. I thought Republicans were all... I don't know what I thought! That they were my dad or something? I voted for Trump for one reason-- because he wasn't Hillary!-- and haven't looked back!
They've always both been pro-war, with few exceptions. War is the funding mechanism for the Uniparty and its deep state masters.
Used to be that nobody was openly "pro war." It was like being "pro abortion."
Good times.
Where is the military hardware we left in Afghanistan? It’s like we challenged somebody to a baseball game and then gave them the ball, bats, uniforms, and stadium. Was the Iran attack on Israel some Middle East umpire calling “batter up”?
Jeff brings up a good point: "Like many democrats I know personally, Bill claims to be a progressive, but he lives like a conservative." There's a lot packed into that statement, I think.
For most liberals and lefties, it's mindless virtue-signaling. Belonging to a crowd. Not rocking the boat in school or at work. Going along to get along...but also NIMBY. Unquestioningly accepting what the authorities and "experts" told them...unless it applies to their personal favorite things. Wanting to tell others how to live...but not have those laws applied to themselves. Note the self-centeredness of leftists - my view SHOULD BE everyone's view - and also note how that's what they accuse the right of.
Also, not applying any logic to the stream of inane Orwellian propaganda: "a woman's right to choose," "criminal justice reform," "climate change," and so on.
Not willing or able to look at the truth, as defined by real-world outcomes of ideas and policies over time. (E.g., who could possibly be FOR public schooling in the US given its cost and outcomes, and the fact that it's the #1 source of child predation in the world?)
Also, being historically ignorant, if not outright hostile to history itself (the arrogance of "WE weren't there then, but WE are here now, so it WILL work out differently this time").
They never stop to think that Orwell is writing about the left. Maybe Orwell didn't even know that? The Soviets, the Fascists...all leftists. The major wars seemed to be leftists fighting with other leftists about whose version of leftism is "correct." Which is about as ironic as it is sad.
The thing that's struck me about conservatives - genuine small government, Constitutional conservatives, not the fake leftists-posing-as-conservatives sold to us by the MSM - is that they're not operating from "ism" ideology. People of that conservative bent generally don't ask themselves things like "what is the communist/socialist/capitalist response to this issue?" They respond from either logic/reason or intuition, in alignment with actually held (and valued) values. So, the response is natural and spontaneous, not contrived. This naturally leads to more, not less, openness (and is also a soft spot the leftists attack).
As an aside, this is why all "art" that comes from a leftist place or mindset is such cringeworthy crap. As another aside, this is why capitalism actually is better - it's a system that accounts for human nature in the same way that nature accounts for nature (selection), rather than trying to impose a Utopian vision of "fairness" and a system on top of natural processes.
FWIW, I've come to think of liberalism as an impossible position. It's always got to evolve one way or another. Hold onto "experts" and it devolves to leftism. Hold onto individual responsibility, common sense, and the natural order, and it evolves to small-c conservatism.
There is no way to sit on the fence forever saying "anything goes, we can all get along, all people and all ideas are valid." This is b/c the hard truth is that not all people nor all ideas are valid. Some are very bad and very destructive. Some cultures really are better than others in every meaningful way. To allow them into civil society is to dismantle civil society. And guess what the first thing they will get rid of is? Liberal ideas.
Well said! So many of your points resonated with me, but this one probably the most:
“Not willing or able to look at the truth, as defined by real-world outcomes of ideas and policies over time.”
It is abundantly clear that leftists generally operate from a mindset of, “This *feels* like it should work, and it makes us look kind/virtuous/whatever,” but they never go back and do an after-action review. When things don’t work the way they hope/promise, there’s never any introspection. There’s never any true effort to find root causes and address them. They always move on to the next thing that “feels” right.
Maybe it’s my very “engineer” mindset, but I simply cannot wrap my brain around the unwillingness to look at outcomes and evaluate their effectiveness. “This didn’t work out like I hoped, so maybe my assumptions/approach/methods are incorrect.” With the Left, it’s more like, “This didn’t work out like I hoped/promised, so I just need to do it more/faster.” (This is, of course, in parallel with, “Which group can I blame?”)
Facts vs. feelings. Open mindedness over tunnel vision. Real world vs. fantasy. Will we ever bridge that divide, or are we just too fundamentally different?
Exactly. I always go to public education as an example. The left has had a hold of it for generations now, probably, what, 60+ years? And they spend an enormous amount of money, last I looked, about $16k per student per year, near the top in the world. And the results are laughably horrific. Among the worst in the developed world. In some districts, not one student can read, write, and do math. Not even one out of thousands. Think of the disservice to these kids!
But, do they ever go back and evaluate what caused this (extremely expensive) failure? No way! It's always "systemic" this and "structural" that, which are themselves outdated 1970s ideas from post-structuralist / post-Marxist thinkers. IOW, they're using their own ideology to explain away why their own ideology has failed. Circular logic. If only they could do it more!
And when you ask what they want to do differently, it amounts to "spend more money." "Corporations have more money than us..." etc. Total non sequiturs that shouldn't fly among even elementary school educated people. Where is the feedback loop? Where is the willingness to try different things? The open mindedness? The ability to accept criticism, evaluate failures, and adjust one's own strategies and tactics accordingly?
Instead, they go with "everyone else is wrong, reality is wrong, the outcomes are actually good, and we need to make people see how right and great we are." Which has turned literally all of our intellectual fields of work and study into Potemkin villages. They're all fake, completely composed of manufactured "research" to support a failed 50-year old ideology.
"The first step in understanding the state of education today is to review how government came to be the dominant force behind schooling in the United States. From the outset of the first settlements in the New World, Americans founded and successfully maintained a decentralized network of schools through the 1850s. Then, beginning in New England, a wave of change swept across the country, which soon saw states quickly abandoning the original American model of decentralized, private education in favor of government-funded and operated schools.
"This movement not only altered the direction and control of elementary and secondary education in the United States, but it also contradicted many of the principles Americans had fought for less than a century earlier:
- A country founded in opposition to central governmental authority allowed for bureaucratic management of its schools.
- A country synonymous with "free enterprise" and distrust of legally protected monopolies built a government monopoly in schooling.
- A country that stretched the exercise of individual choice to its practical limits in nearly every sphere of life severely limited the exercise of choice in schooling, assigning the responsibility for education to the discretion of government authorities.
"The system of K-12 government schooling that exists to this day clashes with the political, economic, social, and cultural traditions of the United States to an extent unparalleled by any other institution in American society."
https://www.mackinac.org/3249
Reminds me of John Taylor Gatto!
And then they have the unmitigated gall to wring their hands about homeschooling parents being unqualified to teach their children and worrying about said children’s learning 🙄
Absolutely! The left is driven almost entirely by feelings, emotions. Dr. Laura always says "Feelings have no intellect."
I don't think leftists think it feels like it will work, they just want cover to do what they want with no repercussions, so they will take any & every excuse to cover up their depraved lifestyles.
There’s a lot of that, for certain. But I am friends with a lot of liberals (wha? 🤣), and the ‘average’ lib really does operate on feelings. They want to continuously do things that “feel” good or “look” like they care. They don’t want to confront the facts that prove their solutions are crap. Now, if we are talking about Liberal leaders, you are spot on. They take advantage of the feelz of their followers and promise all good things will happen if they will only keep them in charge. For them, it’s all about power and control.
Even worse, liberals never seem able or willing to realize that their solutions are pure crap and don't work. They just do the same things over and over and over....
and don't forget it's it's usually all about the money.
Yes, well said, and this has been my experience as well.
I’ve often thought this way. Leftist thinking is best left out of engineering schools as physical laws tend to not lend themselves to being ignored. Conservatives are better thinkers and get better results because they deal with reality.
I have certainly found this to be true. I know that we need all sorts of people in this world. How boring would it be if we all felt the same about everything! But I really can’t understand people who continually do the same thing over and over - with consistently disastrous results - just because it seems like the ‘compassionate’ thing to do. Education is a great example. As is the homelessness situation. The good news is that it seems (at least to me) that a lot more people are getting a clue.
I *have* found that most people in STEM fields are more conservative (as a general rule). I agree that it’s because we live in ‘reality’. The theoretical is interesting, and certainly worthy of study and investigation. But reality is reality. Too many people don’t like ‘reality’.
Also “it didn’t work out because of ___” (insert favorite scapegoat).
“Unwillingness to look at outcomes.”
That is at the top of the list of what I feel is wrong with the Leftist zealots. come to mind: Climate change and gender dysphoria. When either of those topics are shown to be problematic, the left just doubles down.
“…the left just doubles down.” All. The. Time!
Thank you for those astute observations, RU.
"They never stop to think that Orwell is writing about the left. Maybe Orwell didn't even know that?"
Actually, Orwell knew that precisely as INGSOC stands for English Socialism. "Animal Farm" was also a harsh critique aimed at communism. Although Orwell considered himself a democratic socialist, he was actually one of socialism's fiercest critics as evidenced by the steelman arguments against it he presents in the requisite "The Road to Wigan Pier."
i have always been on the left until recently, since the pandemic they have definitely been the orwellians. plus, it seems to have robbed them of any sense of humor and increasingly they remind me of the saying, frequently wrong but never in doubt. i watched a comedy special done in scotland to protest their new censorship law, and it made me think of the left here and how it is possible to be concerned, serious and dedicated about issues without becoming censorious, uptight, smug, humorless twat
Well, they were the Orwellians in the past as well. The opposite of what our media and professors told us. Fake news, propaganda, entire fake towns to cover up what they were doing and what life was actually like. Struggle sessions. Public humiliation rituals. Repression. Mass graves. There are even pictures of Mao's red guard wearing medical masks like we had during covid. (Read or listen to Michael Malice's book about the Soviet Union for a taste.)
The thing is leftist ideologies are all aimed at reordering an already ordered world against its natural ordering principles. They are hubristic in assuming people know better than God/nature. So, they will always fail. Where I've landed is that what is real (as opposed to what is ideological) is all that really matters, throw the labels aside: authoritarianism vs. self-reliance; subservience vs. personal responsibility; micromanagement vs. freedom; confinement (incl. confiscation) vs. liberty; collectivism vs. free association; tyranny vs. rule of law; and so on. I don't need "isms" to tell me which side of those dichotomies is better for society.
🎯🎯🎯
The left here has an arrogant self assurance that their ideas and only their ideas have any validity. They believe that others have nothing to contribute and God forbid, they would never consider modifying their positions in any way. To paraphrase, being a leftist means never having to say you're wrong.
And that they have the right and the duty to tell everyone else how to live their lives.
Wonder if there will be a similar comedy special from Kanada, since the gvmt there just adopted censorship as well?
Excellent article in our small independent monthly paper showing how the Nazis were socialists (It's in the acronym NAZI), using Goebbels as an example. So, by no extension really, the fascist NAZI's were also leftists, as most certainly this government is today. Tell a Democrat this if you want to see their head explode.
Yeah, I mean, it's in their name: National Socialist German Worker's Party. The propagandists on the left will say "that's b/c they wanted to recruit leftists to their cause." Uh-huh, sure. And devout Christians call themselves satanists to woo lefties to church.
It's big government. It's government micromanaging the economy. The Nazis believed in - and carried out - confiscation and nationalization of private property, including taking a manufacturing co. and forcing it to make "the People's car" (Volkswagen).
So, then the propagandists will say, what about the "nationalist" bent. Well, as I understand it Stalin was also a "nationalist" of sorts. So, were the Soviets then "right wing?" How about the Castros? No, the whole fascism = right wing was a leftist media invention from the very start to deflect blame from leftism for the destruction caused by leftism. Our media was always on the side of the left. Even as they were murdering 100s of 1000s of people.
Sowell has written about this. Fascism came from Mussolini, who was a Socialist, whose father was a Socialist as well. As such, it's an evolution of Socialism. As Sowell says, it's of the left. The point of Fascism is more or less to use "private co's" to run cover for the government, so the government can do what it wants w/o facing the consequences when things go south.
Very, very much like current times. "It's those d@mn Rx co's who 'captured' regulatory agencies!!" Uh, no. Other way around. Rx has been drafted into the MiC, which is headed by the government entity called the security state.
I recall hearing that the main difference between Nazis and Soviets was "National Socialism" vs "International Socialism". The Nazi party wanted Socialism to benefit Germans specifically, whereas the Marxists/Soviets intended it to be a worldwide "revolution of the proletariat" for "the benefit of all oppressed workers".
They did hate each other, but it was because Hitler was convinced that "The Jews" were behind Marxism, not because they weren't both socialists.
I believe that split also existed within the Soviets, where there were two schools: the Stalinists and the Trotskyists (Troskyites?). Stalinists wanted communism to stay in Russia, Trotsky's followers thought it needed to be global. What we call neocons and neoliberals today are basically Trotsky's followers, decades later. Still, they're all leftist ideologies, whether socialism, communism, fascism, or the "neos." I guess leftists are just miserable, humorless people who are obsessed with power and war.
Well said!!
Great comment RU!! 👏👏👏
It's why the Bible exists. The How-To instructions for living. The Ten Commandments. Why there can't be YOUR truth and MY truth (that's what we call opinion). Events happened, documents were signed, laws were passed, shots were mandated. Until "leftists" can learn to accept that truth exists, and be willing to turn off their MSM and root around for the actual TRUTH, there's very little hope for converting them. "bees don't waste their time telling flies that flowers taste better than sh"t" etc etc
It's the same reason why so many Americans are "Christians" but don't really act as though they believe it. "All the good people around me are 'X' [Christian, Progressive, whatever] therefore I need to be 'X' too in order to be a Good Person."
It's a matter of social approval for certain "good" and "bad" beliefs.
My in-laws were staunch Democrats but definitely lived like conservatives. Haha
What I find interesting is that I've always felt I was "anti-authoritarian, anti-war, anti-corporation, tolerant of diverse viewpoints, pro-truth, pro–freedom of speech, pro–freedom of choice, pro-justice, and pro-equality for all"...pretty much everything except countercultural, and I always considered myself to be conservative. (not "A" conservative, just conservative)
Being conservative *is* countercultural as “cultural” means the all-encompassing propagandizing, social engineering, and mass indoctrination into socialist ideology most people are oblivious to like fish swimming in polluted water.
I used to say I was a progressive, but now that just means that I am progressively disappointed.
Good one, Ned 😂
Ditto. I was shaped by the 60s and was extremely liberal through the 90s. Then, during the Obama years, and after becoming a business owner, I changed dramatically. I still have many classic liberal values that diverge hugely with the one world order freaks. Isn't it ironic that the music groups of the 60s who were so anti establishment and counter culture are now thoroughly politically correct and shilling and beholden to their overlords. Maybe it's too many drugs, but probably just fundamental stupidity.
It took me several years recently to realize that liberal ideas have shifted so dramatically from the 60s and my idea of "liberal." I'm still having trouble with the shift! Liberal, in my mind, is still the anti establishment and counter culture. And about Antifa being anti-fascist? That's a new and bizarre idea.
I think this is where MAA was unclear. The values she **and I** held haven't changed. Those who we had shared them with have changed. Their brains were broken by TDS and the pandemic psyop. See Dr. Michael Nehls, The Indoctrinated Brain.
This is why my favorites these days as a former Progressive are Jeff and Tucker, along with Matt and Glenn. Horseshoes, anyone?
And, Peace, it’s been shocking to see old friends come out in support of Pharma & censorship & - in practice - oppose the Nuremberg Code. Mind-blowing.
Yep. Neil Young......Pharma fan.
With his long history of seizures and a child severely mentally disabled, that singer/songwriter is likely vax injured and thus also brain addled.
Welcome to the tolerant, generous, sensible, anti-war, freedom loving, free choice and speech conservatives! 🤩
Maher is shifting positions for sure. Ideologically unstable Democrats have been doing that since Reconstruction, but he’s still a whack job. “You’re not going to like” conservatives solving problems such as puberty blockers and violent 3rd-world gangs for neighbors? Isn’t that like Bill cutting off his generous nose to spite his smug face?
FWIW, all the dems I know - which sadly is mostly everyone I know except RFK supporters - have considered Maher conservative for several years now. It's only people "on the right" who keep saying he's a democrat and liberal who is changing his mind and counting it as a "win" for us. I'm so out of it I didn't even know who he was until somewhere during the pandemic when I saw a post on X, and thought, he's right!
I've wondered if he isn't trying to backpedal before he goes down with the rest of the red shoe club. https://x.com/MarcACaputo/status/1031263632167002112
There was a story about the red shoes a few years back. There's nothing alarming about women wearing red shoes; it's common. You don't see many men in red leather shoes.
https://ellacruz.org/2018/05/02/is-this-the-mystery-of-the-red-shoes/
Yes, he argues that the problem with extreme left-wing ideology is that it might provoke an extreme right-wing backlash. He can’t bring himself to argue the problem with extreme left-wing ideology is that it’s ANTI-SOCIAL: anti-freedom, anti-prosperity; anti-SANITY.
Or is he just exploiting the easy laughs? The left has become a joke. We've all laughed our way through the news, without the aid of a comedian.
Maher is not the only one shifting. There are others like Jeffery Sachs (WEF connected, head of the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University). The Smarter Ones notice the big shift in the new multi-generational Narrative being engineered and they don't want to be left without a seat on the new gravy train leaving the station. These chameleons are very, very slick and crafty in how they craft their word shifting vocalizations. Such don't really stand for much excepting that they value most living well. And I about this, and their 'beliefs', I am sure they lie to themselves without really being aware of doing so.
People like Maher have been taken mind captured captive the same as most of us have. Such are well capable of being blind to themselves.
They seem like the types that just re-position to take another bite. Let's hope they're sincerely waking up a la Naomi Wolf.
Who knows? And you are right, some of them wake up. But I think they are the few who embark upon a truly new course. I notice, for example, that Jeffrey Sachs hasn't quit the Sustainability Center at Columbia. A lot of them want the cushy life such as comes with subsidized Woke.
It's nice to see Biden and Co. bringing us all together albeit unintentionally.
😆
Nice to see that I am in good company, MAA. The Republican establishment also had me going there, for a while.
this is excellent!!
100%! Same here!
Margaret AA - Ditto/Ditto!
Both parties are controlled by AIPAC. It’s right there in the numbers.
Like most of us Vietnam war-era babies.