Monday, October 16, 2017

Left to Our Own Devices


I just posted this on my Facebook page. If you'd like to join the conversation, you can friend me HERE.
Friends, 
I'm writing this off the cuff because I'm truly terrified about where the liberal movement is heading. If you had told me during the W years how much more progressive we would be in 2017 I'd have been absolutely thrilled. But somehow our growth and enlightenment has led us into a "purity test" rabbit hole, one that seems less based on beliefs and more concerned with one-upping each other as to how "woke" we are. (Yes, some of you: I KNOW sexual harassment of men is wrong. Since when did gay men become so humorless?) 
In the past week, David France introduced the world to Marsha P. Johnson -- through another trans woman of color's eyes, a woman who was a peer of Marsha's -- and he is being crucified by millennial activists. ("A cisgender gay white man shouldn't be telling this story!") Now I'm hearing that people are calling for Dianne Feinstein, who has been a reliable if not perfect senator, to be Hillary-ed out in California. And we all know what "we" did to Hillary the presidential candidate, which was just enough to keep a few voters we needed in MI, WI and PA home. I could go on and on with other examples, but I think you know what I'm saying. 
I am not some idiot who thinks this is "political correctness" run amok. (That's what people who are put out that they can't be racists with impunity anymore say.) But I feel like I spend more time arguing with progressives than Republicans these days. It's like a generation of kids found out about the terms "white privilege," "erasure" and "colonialism" but don't quite understand what they mean, yet are running around misapplying them to all kinds of situations. (I'm fairly certain David France did not take control of any countries while making his Netflix doc!) And it feels like the Russian plan to pit us against one another could EASILY win this clown a second term in office if we don't start coming together now. (With no one in power on Capitol Hill caring about this administration's gross misdeeds, I wouldn't count on his removal, guys. And it's a lot easier for an incumbent to get re-elected.) 
I want us to continue to hold people accountable, whether they be candidates, politicians, filmmakers, etc.. But if we don't take POWER of something, we will continue to lose all of the progress we finally made during the Obama years. I believe we can walk and chew gum at the same time. But I think we need to learn to better pick our moments -- and not trash people whose intentions are good. (Win and then push the candidate to do better.) 
Where do we go from here?

A simple retweet would have sufficed ...

UPDATE:


Ha! Turns out we're not alone. Read HERE.

4 comments:

Rix said...

But it is political correctness run amok. PC was only supposed to make one be aware, polite, and considerate in life and especially in discourse.

It is now being used as an excuse to bully and silence anyone that isn't as "woke" as the loudest person in the room think they are.

jaragon said...

The politically correct gestapo is out of hand - and no Ken I don't think it's an excuse to be racist- but there are reactions like the one you mentioned that are just plain stupid- and yes you have people using terms which they have no idea of what they are saying- but this is the sad state of our culture in the 21st century.

Edgar_Carpenter said...

This has nothing to do with "political correctness", and as you say, everything to do with ignorance. There is never just one good approach to a problem

The narrow, mostly young and ignorant of history activists who are attacking our allies have not yet learned that to move forward we need coalitions of people from different sub-cultures, economic classes, and educational environments. People who are straight, LGBT, and other. Old and young.

And to make coalitions, you have to accept that other people's ideas may be different from yours but still progressive, still moving us forward. More than that, they may be progressive in an area you want allies in, while not progressive in other areas. You don't have to be in complete agreement to work together.

The purists lost us the last Presidential election, and their holier-than-thou self congratulation will very likely lose us the next one, too. They are much more interested in proving how ideologically pure they are than actually bringing about political change.

Joe said...

My stance as of today is that what we are seeing is the disintegration of the Elephant/Donkey party system and the media super structure that supports it. The McCarthy-like madness of a Russian Devil is just one example of of total collapse of National concerns and a pandemic of 'Where's Mine' mentality in D.C. So what's next? The Right is clearly more solidified (although sad alcoholics like McConnell make the illusion of dysfunction) and appears to be able to navigate its course without much resistance. The tea leaves will settle quickly as 2018 is upon us and November elections only one year away.