Fear of the Left . . .

[Guest]

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[_honorentheos]

Are you afraid of leftism, ceebs?

[Guest]

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[_Some Schmo]

This happens just about everywhere I speak. People whisper — yes, whisper — that they are conservative or they support Trump. The last time I experienced people looking around to check whether they were seen speaking to me was with dissidents in the Soviet Union.

If I supported Drumpf, I wouldn't want to admit it either. People can claim it's because they fear the left (lol) but they probably don't want to admit it because they subconsciously realize it's a shameful thing to do.

I've never had a problem telling anyone I was a conservative, especially recently. It's the main reason I think Drumpf is a danger to this country.

People should fear writers who do nothing but spread unnecessary fear. There's truth in that article buried in over-sensationalized crap.

[_DarkHelmet]

Sadly, fear of the left is what defines conservatives today, just as fear of the right defines many liberals. Why are Americans so afraid of each other? A big reason is the media. Fox news is doing their job to make their viewers fear the enemy. Sadly they turned fellow americans into the enemy.

[_Maksutov]

Fear of "The Left" or "The Right" comes from reading or watching alarmists who are selling something. These are big boogeymen, Punch and Judy mockups of reality. They fall apart when you start looking closely. Up and down makes just as much sense as left and right. All of these models are limited and untrustworthy.

[_Chap]

Journalism urging people with no personal reason to feel anxious to start being afraid of the members of some group that the writer opposes politically is a genre with a long and not entirely pleasant history.

It has of course been used historically by people who might be described as being on the left, as well as on the right, although the most famous examples in the history of the last century have come from the right - such as Hitler and the Jews in Germany, McCarthy and communism in the US.

A description like this one, for instance:

In the recent case of a Philadelphia Starbucks manager who asked two black men to purchase something before giving them the code to the restroom, Starbucks immediately appeased the left-wing mob. The company didn’t wait until any facts came out; it simply abandoned the manager and announced it would close every U.S. store one day in May to educate all Starbucks employees about “unconscious bias.”

... makes me think that the writer wants to stir up fear rather than to describe the actual nature of what took place. Noet that we are not told that the manager called the police on the (non-violent, non-threatening) waiting men. But we are on the other hand told about a 'mob', although no mob was involved. This is writing with a very clear agenda, and we would be wise to treat it in that light.

As for the left being 'The Most Powerful Force In America Today' - I can only laugh. That force is in fact the huge political influence of the very great wealth of a tiny fraction of the population, whose power to influence the political process is immense, virtually uncontrolled, and exercised very largely in the interests of growing their wealth and power even further. Compared to them, a few demonstrating college students are chirping crickets versus Tyrannosaurus Rex.

[_Some Schmo]

As for the left being 'The Most Powerful Force In America Today' - I can only laugh. That force is in fact the huge political influence of the very great wealth of a tiny fraction of the population, whose power to influence the political process is immense, virtually uncontrolled, and exercised very largely in the interests of growing their wealth and power even further. Compared to them, a few demonstrating college students are chirping crickets versus Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Exactly. People want to blame everyone but the actual people responsible for the way America is today, and those responsible love that they aren't being blamed. Their propaganda works.

[_Maksutov]

When conservatives control all branches of government but the Trumpies fear The Left, we can all see who the real snowflakes are. They're the ones clutching guns and crying that their religion and their race no longer get to steamroll everybody else. Dennis Prager is a professional wing nut. He's been selling this silliness for a long time, it's his niche market. If you like it, it's because you've passed over a whole lot of better quality thinking and commentary because his appeals to you. It tastes good! Makes you feel good! Well, there ya go.

[Guest]

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