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Originally Posted by longsuffering
If you were just a little bit self-aware you might understand why I, and many others here by the looks of things, are sick of your liberal left is dangerous schtick and you don't like that you're getting more and more push back on the bs you post.
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I don't have a problem with the liberal left. I have a problem with the illiberal left. What we're experiencing today isn't a tug-of-war between the left and the right; it's an assault on liberalism from both the left and right. And if the impulses of the illiberal left go unchecked, they'll undermine liberal values and institutions sufficiently to make a takeover by the populist right that much easier. I'm far from the only person to recognize this threat.
Quote:
Originally Posted by longsuffering
One would never know that by reading your posts. You continually make it sound like SJWs are the biggest threat democracy facing is today.
I don't blindly support the left, particularly SJWs but I can identify where the serious threats to personal freedom and democracy originate and I'll prioritize resolving the real and immediate threats over worrying about the threat presented by political correctness run amok.
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As a Canadian in 2018, the illiberalism of the far left is closer to me, to my social milieu, than the illiberalism of the far right. I'm not American, and I don't have an especially strong interest in American politics. The American far right is only marginally closer to me, socially and politically, than Putin's regime. Both terrible. And both cultures I regard myself as having essentially no influence over, and so don't feel any particular responsibility to call out*.
Of course I do call it out on the very rare occasion when someone in my social circle defends Trump, or expresses nativist sentiments. But as an educated, liberal, urban Canadian under the age of 50, that's extremely rare. And how often are illiberal far right ideas expressed on this board? On the few occasions it does happen, the poster is immediately dogpiled. And I don't see the point in being the 12th or 20th person to express my disapproval with scathing remark. But you can consider me there in spirit if you like.
As I've already said, I'm not the sort of person who gathers together with people who share my beliefs and calls out those other people over there. I find it pointless. I call out what I see as the blind spots and unchallenged assumptions of the company I'm in. But Stephen Fry put this all far better than I can:
* As an aside, I think I'm the only one on this board who has criticized Ovechkin for chumming around with Putin, a leader who is far worse even than Trump. And yet I'm confident that if an American NHL star expressed support for Trump and exchanged Christmas presents with him, he would be subject to a tidal wave of criticism and denunciation.