Very often, I see people say 'get your own house in order' & I agree with this when that house is defined by ideology, ethics, principles.
-
-
-
I disagree with it when its based on immutable characteristic. eg 'sort out white people' is less useful than 'sort out liberal lefties.'
-
Because the latter is a set of ideas & approaches and discussion of what the key principles are & how to go about them is essential.
-
But what is key is whether the intention in criticising aspects of the Left is to fix it & thus strengthen it or to undermine & weaken it.
-
And critical reflection on whether what you are doing is likely to achieve that (assuming arrogantly that anyone is listening at all)
-
Therefore, its important that liberal lefties criticise illiberal leftism from consistently liberal lefty principles not right-wing ones.
-
Which is not to say that we should not be listening to liberal or moderate conservatives or acknowledging when they have a good point.
-
The centre-right & centre-left can provide balance & insight to each other & can ally most productively against the extremists on both sides
-
But we can only fix liberal leftism by doing liberal leftism & addressing the parts of the left which just aren't that.
-
If you think the liberal left is best abandoned, do that, but if you retain its principles,make sure they are at the centre of your critique
-
A parallel is in Islam. Ex-Muslims abandoned this set of ideas finding them unworthy on a root level whilst reformers try to fix the problem
- 1 more reply
New conversation -
-
-
I've tried so hard to distill my thoughts in a piece, but the topic is so large that it's impossible to know where to begin. Haha good luck!
-
Yes, I'll have to come at it from an angle and it will long enough to make my editor want to kill me & ppl will still tell me I missed loads
-
It's never enough, I've found. It's all connected. Talk about one thing, and it's almost necessary to explain the underpinnings.
-
Yep. Can go on forever. However, you have to pull a thread out and follow it or you'd never write anything ever.
-
Absolutely. I look forward to reading it.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Fascinated to see the ideas
- End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Eager to see it! I've been struggling with this and found myself mostly on the 'arrogantly assuming anyone's lisening' side you mention.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.