The weird thing for me, back when I was a college aged baby leftist in the early 10s, we all hated America, a lot, we just hated the “tankies” too. Saying “fuck America” was no controversial statement.
Fast forward to now, the baby “leftists” of today seem way more defensive of the West and are openly hawkish. Like, I have my criticism of the anarchist movement back then but “NATO-Anarchism” wouldn’t have been a thing back then. The baby leftists of today are NeoCon Warhawks who like labor unions.
I have the same experience as you. I think the difference is Trump and the increased polarization that started about when Obama was first elected. Liberals and demsocs felt safer to challenge the status quo when the status quo was ostensibly already leaning “left”. But then Trump got elected, and in the face of the extreme unity within the Republican Party behind Trump, the Democrats also had to push for extreme unity. And what this meant was severe rejection of anything other than the party line.
Yeah, I think you’re pretty on point. The rise of Trump did lead a lot of baby leftists towards embracing the DNC out of fear.
I suspect the rise of actual challenges to US hegemony contributed too. It’s easy to hate America when you know it has no serious challengers, you’re hate means nothing then. Now with a big scary superpower on the horizon, it gives you more incentive to embrace the status quo.
Hence “scratch a liberal and and a fascist bleeds.” Only the slightest inconvenience reveals fake leftists. Turns out leftism isn’t just rounding up tips for food drives.
The weird thing for me, back when I was a college aged baby leftist in the early 10s, we all hated America, a lot, we just hated the “tankies” too. Saying “fuck America” was no controversial statement.
Fast forward to now, the baby “leftists” of today seem way more defensive of the West and are openly hawkish. Like, I have my criticism of the anarchist movement back then but “NATO-Anarchism” wouldn’t have been a thing back then. The baby leftists of today are NeoCon Warhawks who like labor unions.
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2021/10/15/cointelpro-fbi-anarchism-disrupt-left/
I have the same experience as you. I think the difference is Trump and the increased polarization that started about when Obama was first elected. Liberals and demsocs felt safer to challenge the status quo when the status quo was ostensibly already leaning “left”. But then Trump got elected, and in the face of the extreme unity within the Republican Party behind Trump, the Democrats also had to push for extreme unity. And what this meant was severe rejection of anything other than the party line.
Yeah, I think you’re pretty on point. The rise of Trump did lead a lot of baby leftists towards embracing the DNC out of fear.
I suspect the rise of actual challenges to US hegemony contributed too. It’s easy to hate America when you know it has no serious challengers, you’re hate means nothing then. Now with a big scary superpower on the horizon, it gives you more incentive to embrace the status quo.
Hence “scratch a liberal and and a fascist bleeds.” Only the slightest inconvenience reveals fake leftists. Turns out leftism isn’t just rounding up tips for food drives.