We need a new word for “Left”
Like “feminism,” the word & concept have been highjacked
Whenever someone — especially a male and/or anyone who leans toward the “right” — criticizes feminism, I ask them some questions. In short order, it becomes crystal clear that they know precious little about what feminism is or isn’t.
In a way, I can’t blame them. The word and concept have been highjacked and corrupted. Second Wave feminists like Mary Daly and Andrea Dworkin broke free and taught us to finally name the problem.
Then, along came the Third/Fourth Wave. Now, we have Slut Walks, men are women, drag queens in our schools, and pornography and prostitution are revered forms of female empowerment.
Translation: We need new words to differentiate between such polar opposites.
This, of course, brings me to the Left. I was a high-profile figure in what was then called the “radical left” (no relation to what is now called the “radical left”). So, I am speaking from direct, personal experience.
For example, I gave a rousing speech to thousands of cheering rebels at the 2014 March Against Monsanto in NYC’s Union Square Park. We called out genetic engineering, corporate control of food, and the lack of labels on GMO products.
Today, the “left” gleefully behaves like an unpaid public relations team for Big Pharma and their genetically modified “vaccines.”
Back then, we rallied for (among many other things) less digital surveillance, more privacy, and full freedom of speech. I recall an event on July 4, 2013, called “Restore the Fourth.” We were defending the Fourth Amendment and calling out the government for spying on us. Here’s a photo I took that day on Wall Street:
Today’s “left” is all about thought policing, groupthink, and hive minds. They censor, silence, and cancel. They proudly line up for digital passports and condemn anyone who dares to ask questions about privacy.
I could go on but you get the idea.
We desperately need new words to differentiate between such polar opposites.
(Then again, what we really need is fewer words and far more action but that’s a different article.)
Deb and I have discussed this quite a bit. Where we live, the Left is a bad joke. At every critical junction, they've been foot soldiers for corporate looting and the government's constant, sanctimonious , neofascist control freaking. When issues are less immediate, i.e. further away, they'll mouth some empty principles. The rest of the time, they're having fratricidal status panics. What can anyone accomplish with shitheels like that? We concluded that anything we do, ourselves, had best be done on a small scale and needs to address the pre-political. Mickey, your own efforts are exemplary in this. They look like a way forward.
yes, thankfully what we do not need is new ID politics........ what we need is people on same page, common sense, I see that as a key way to reconquer the political space for working people..... all working people, gig workers, small businesses, underpaid workers, exploited ones, basically whoever is against status quo. The hardest part is finding ways to connect humanely, without technology then things can develop from there, principles and pragmatism; instead of laptop class dogmatics and other drama approaches, which focus on virtue signaling.