SonamTashi wrote: ↑Sat Jan 25, 2020 2:02 pm
I'm 26 and I've never really seen any of these things discussed in real life--but I'm probably in my own bubble. Either way, I think the internet makes these issues appear way bigger than they are. Not that there aren't people sincerely saying these things because there probably are, but I think most of this kind of content online can be sourced back to either satire or right wing trolls. For example, subreddits that track these kinds of things, i.e. /r/cringeanarchy, are well known for developing large subscriber bases consisting of Nazis, White Supremacists and other Fascists, as well as for posting fake content. Part of the problem is this kind of behavior compounds itself. It is Poe's Law in action. No matter whether the content is originally satire or a troll, on the internet many people will believe it is real.
I've had these discussions face to face, with a number of people, usually in their early to late 20s. I'm 43 for frame of reference. To be fair, I do live in the most "radlib" place you can live - the Pacific Northwest. So yeah, we're not talking about misunderstandings due to trolls or anything. This is actual stuff I've witnessed, had said to me directly etc. It is worse on the internet of course, like everything. A couple of the examples I gave - Burritos as cultural appropriation, someone telling me I should "ask an Indian person" before practicing Buddhism - came from conversations with people I know in real life. I don't use any social media any more other than this forum, so my exposure internet wise was never huge, and had decreased greatly.
People who actually believe it in real life aren't part of the left (they're actually often referred to as Radical Liberals/Rad-Libs). None of the Anarchists, Communists or Socialists I speak with say these kinds of things, and most of them are young. This kind of thing is just liberalism cloaked in leftish language. Btw, it probably doesn't mean anything but I haven't actually seen most of these things discussed in quite a while even online until I saw this thread. Perhaps it is starting to die out. More likely I've bubbled myself away from that.
Edit: Actually one recent thing this all reminds me of is the "cancelling" of Contrapoints.
Where I live a lot of the "anti-oppression" stuff on allyship etc. coming out of supposed anarchists is as bad as the radlib sort of folks, basically no notion of solidarity, common struggle, or even common good at all, just white guilt and constant means testing of your friends as a major part of "activism". Compared to actual socialist or anarchist ideals (whatever we want to say about those), it's a pale imitation, and that's being generous. Durutti would definitely be rolling over in his grave.
Cancel culture is bizarre, and one of the most idiotic things to come out of the "social justice"..cultural mileu. I'd heard very briefly about the contra points and it's indicative of the exact kind of shittiness I'm talking about, no wonder we are getting nowhere:(