Do any of them know what the word “liberal” actually means?
I’m on the left, but I’m far from a communist, much less an authoritarian one, and I 100% use lib or liberal as an insult. I think to most people younger than 50, Liberal refers to a certain type of Democratic voter. They’ll hang a BLM sign in their window but support NIMBY policies that keep people of color out of their neighborhoods. They’ll talk a good game about labor rights and unions, but still go to Starbucks and throw a shit-fit if their order is wrong. They cared very deeply about Iraq and Guantanamo when Bush was President, but stopped bringing it up once Obama was in office.
The Third Way Democrats of the 90s basically turned American Liberals into Neo-Liberals. I will still support them when I have to, since they hold all the levers of power over the only ostensibly progressive party in America, and not siding with them at this point basically ensures the rise of fascism, but I have no love for Liberals.
don’t usually agree on that much
Where have you been the last 8 years
Yes, leftists absolutely know what the word “liberal” means. It refers to a pro-Capitalist ideology centered around the idea of individual freedoms via private property rights.
Leftists disagree that allowing private property creates a freer population, and understand that Liberalism is the dominant ideology in developed Capitalist nations.
You can tell this was made by a salty neo lib
“My party is committing genocide and lost all of its credibility and ethos. Boo hoo.”
At least they aren’t using the word “progressive” anymore.
Software developers are staying silent on this one.
“We’d like for our software to ThingDo. Our team has estimated 4 weeks for this work. What’s your estimate?”
“Wait, you want to write it from scratch? Why not just plug in ThingDoer library?”
“…ah, right. Damn libs.”Only good library is the standard library, packages are much better 😤
But I like my libs… Often enough produced with a pretty communistic and anti-authoritarian mindset… (And too often, lack of support for the workers… Ups) But I like them.
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Republicans are also liberals. At least in the true sense of the word. So it’s low-key funny when they use the term liberal as an insult.
I myself am not a liberal. Fiscally at least. Socially I’m a progressive.
I’m just excited to see what happens when they find out their PC has been invaded by libs.
And then proceeds to own them by deleting them all
In American political terminology, “liberal” means a different thing than in Europe. It implies being left-wing on social issues. Republicans by definition cannot be liberals (in the American sense of the term).
It would be like saying “it’s funny when Americans say they’re going to ‘wear their boot’, how are you going to wear part of your car?”
They are using a different definition of the word, and pretending they aren’t is being wilfully ignorant at best. Pretending the other definition doesn’t exist just serves to alienate people who might actually agree with you.
I am the only true leftist. The rest of you are posers and/or feds.
Hey, I’m neither of those. I’m an op!
look, tankies aren’t leftists, they are fascists wearing the skin of the lefties they killed
Fascism isn’t just authoritarianism. It is a certain set of conditions that can essentially be boiled down to as “colonial violence against the imperial core” but it is incredibly more complicated than that.
Words have meaning, and you should look up those meanings before you start just throwing them around.
Words DO have meaning, and you just butchered so many of them it’s not even funny.
fundamentally, fascism is the belief that social hierarchies are not only natural but preferable to any other social system that attempts to disrupt said natural order, all other aspects of fascism stem from this one line of understanding
Social hierarchies are always going to be present, even anarchists believe that. Fascism just assumes that they are natural and inherent, while leftists beleive that those hierarchies should be voluntary or chosen by the people.
Just becauae you haven’t done any political reading doesn’t mean i don’t know what words read.
the entire idea of the progressive moment is to abolish these hierarchies, then again the American “leftist” understanding is so fucked at this point that I can see you believing this, as most “communists” in the states are tankies, that would also explain the horrible misunderstanding of fascism along imperial lines, because you literally don’t have any other larger critical lens in the states, as most of you aren’t upset about the existence of hierarchies, but just have the feeling that you are not in your deserved spot of said hierarchy
Fascism has nothing to do with colonial vs imperial, wtf
Can’t have fascism without a strong national identity and an activist military.
Which again is an entirely separate thing from colonialism. The two may go together but they’re not necessarily linked in any way.
Which colonial power lacks a politically influential profit-seeking military?
The political spectrum is not linear, but circular and fascism and communism sit on the join but with different lie.
Coming from a country that experienced both several times in the past century, I hope the real people tankies would just shut up and move to Russia to learn a life lesson.
nope, the Marx Leninist idea of a vanguard party doesn’t even purport to be communism, rather the idea that you must go through a phase of state capitalism to grow the nation’s capital after a revolution (revolutions tend to destroy capital) before you can enact communism, it’s just that during the age of ML Fascism was the popular new political ideology, and Lenin did heavily base the idea of the vanguard party on a lot of the same basic understanding as the fascists did.
and of course the fascists did what they do and killed the lefties
fascism and communism sit on the join but with different lie.
Don’t leave us hanging.
that’s a stupid definition of fascism.
tankies aren’t leftists
Counterpoint:
The Other Kind of Leftists
Please tell me this tweet isn’t real
Godammit
Would him putting on the Darth Vader armor be an analogue to many “toxic” leftists using doxxing sites dominated by the far-right to try and ruin the lives of people that aren’t 100% into Stalin?
putting on the Darth Vader armor
doxxing sites dominated by the far-right
Yes. Becoming an unkillable cyborg space wizard and outting someone paying for a message board full of Nazi copypasta are the same.
Lmao check out all the salty libs seeing themselves get called out in these comments.
- sincerely, an anarcho-syndicalist
The only time I ever see evidence of Anarcho types they are being literally as annoying as possible.
Edit for clarity, it’s never “I started this charity/group/political campaign with signups/events/or public engagement.” Only ever “fuck everything, I can’t wait for society to fall apart such that the magic future can begin”
Bro you gotta be constructive not destructive if you want to sway opinions
Anarchists are pretty active in their communities, with mutual aid and direct action being cornerstones of the ideology and whatnot. If you spent any time in activist spaces you’d know that
The point is they need to bring the nice side to public spaces, not be insular with the nice, and turn the mean to everything else.
I think what you’re describing is less of an anarchism problem and more of a “people in general” problem. I’m an anarchist and I’d like to think I conduct myself pretty well for the most part, even in political discussions. I won’t say I haven’t been an ass online or in person before but that’s not due to my ideology. I’m just an ass sometimes. Same as everyone else. I will concede that we can be a bit insular at times and that’s certainly a weak spot for many anarchists
I’ll level with you on that. Everyone is an ass sometimes for sure. I’ve been pretty facetious so far so I’ll try to be more legit in this comment, as you have been legit too.
I’m of course discussing an anecdotal perspective. I totally get down with a lot of what leftists discuss, when they do so constructively.
To clarify: much leftist discourse is about what’s wrong, and destruction of society (to build something better). Eventually it all smells of doomerism. I was anecdotally calling for leftists to talk about constructive things they are attempting, that “the rest of us” could see, and align with.
I acknowledge the world is in a rough spot right now. I acknowledge liberals are not always right. I acknowledge many liberal policies need to go. But from the perspective of the observer… The skeptic… The dude just paying bills and living, liberals are trying to build things, and affect change. Leftists seem to just want to destroy.
My hope would be that through constructive cooperation liberal “realistic” policy is brought closer to leftist idealistic goals.
*Realistic in that the policy actually gets voted on and made into law
I returned because I noticed your edit. I was being a bit snide, mostly because the meme is assuming everyone who calls someone a lib is authoritarian-aligned. If you’d like to know about the positive work I do as an organizer, I’d be happy to share. However, to me those actions are just the right thing to do and not worth bringing up randomly.
That’s fair. Below I clarified as well, this is a meta.thread. of course no one is discussing their work here. Also my opinion is anecdotal. Of course there are leftists who work very hard to move the window, and help others.
…you said, being literally as annoying as possible and contributing nothing constructive
…he said, fully cognizant of the hypocrisy, which is why he decided to contribute a snarky editorial comic
Yeah, that
Bro you gotta be constructive not destructive if you want to sway opinions
At least I admitted my hypocrisy and did something about it. You’re just doubling down on a lazy stereotype to avoid engaging with constructive criticism.
To paraphrase your own claim, it wasn’t “I started this charity/group/political campaign with signups/events/or public engagement.” Only “fuck anarcho types always annoying me”
This is a thread about how folks act. So this is a “meta” politics thread.
This isn’t the place I, or leftists would describe /do that. I’m describing other times and places where said behavior was observed.
Critical thinking.
I will not stand for this anarchist erasure
It’s more that OP seems unable to fathom anyone to the left of them being both rational and uncool with liberalism. That’s why they specifically said “Authouritarian Communists,” the SpOoKiEsT LeFtIsTs.
Almost like AuthComs are authoritarian before they are communist, and thus have more in common with the American Fascist Party than any actual leftists.
I use lib for shared objects.
wait until you learn about fiscally liberal vs socially liberal.
I ‘am’ an anarcho-communist and I don’t like libtards. Libtards to me are ‘progressive capitalists’ that have no systemic insight what so ever and think all it takes to bring upon heaven on earth is to try and be nice.
I mean, you should try and be nice obviously but you are not going to soy latte your way outta this my dudes.
I don’t like libtards.
You can just call them liberals. You don’t need to meld the term to a slur.
I mean, you should try and be nice obviously
By shaving the first two letters off an r-bomb? Come on, guy. I get what you’re saying, but this is an awful way to phrase it.
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Friend I’m not a friend of liberals myself but can we please not use ableistic terms that end with “-tard”?
Reserve that shit for the right wing
Ok, even though I know this will make no difference to ‘you people’ (sorry just cannot help myself xD).
In this case I choose to use this specific word because it’s so obviously a dogwhistle for right wing extremists that in the context of this meme I think it’s funny, since my actual stance is neither authoritarian or rightwing.
I don’t seriously mean to perpetuate negative stereotypes with regards to people with mental handicaps.
Just as a curiosity, are you by any chance from the US? I just cannot imagine anyone from Europe making such a big deal about a joke like this, let alone use the term ableist.
I guess my brain has just rotted as a result of a few decades of being on the internet. Inside i’m still an edgy teen apparently. No actual offense meant :)
I get it, i know how it is. I’m an Israeli anarchist, you can tell by a previous post and my user name.
I’m making a bit of a fuss over it because i find this trend within myself, having grown up in a nationalist family and a religious school, i tend to say those words as instinct as well and am trying to unlearn this behavior.
I grew up as an edgy teen as well so i guess i can relate, but now I’m intp young adulthood and trying to be better to not repel potential friends.
That sounds like a worthy and potentially wholesome effort indeed. I would just like to say that I think sincerity is more important than seriousness. Best of luck to you my friend.
Much respect for being an anarchist in Israel btw, especially in these interesting times.
Solidarity from The Netherlands.
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> is anarcho-communist
> accuses others of lacking systemic insight
I’m unsure what you mean by this. Would you be willing to elaborate?
They probably read 2 words that they don’t like.
I like the idealism in communism and I have been thinking about how to implement communism without very authoritarian structures, and the anarchist way seems to be the only way, but I don’t see how it would be able to sustain our current lifestyle and amount of people. Exploitation of dependencies without authoritarian structures seems unavoidable to me and avoiding dependencies would probably require that people provide themselves with the resources ; which requires more labor and resources. As of right now, I don’t see a flawless system. (that includes capitalism)
So personally I think, saying that the other people have a bad systemic insight in the context of any general ideology is ungranted.
At what point does a structure become authoritarian? There are numerous Anarchist and Marxist propositions for how to structure a Socialist and eventually Communist society, so if there’s a definitive cutoff point for you you can find something to research.
What leftist theory have you read? Not as a “read more theory!” Snark, but more so I can give recs based on your answer to the authoritarian question posed in the last paragraph.
Honestly I am not well-read on leftist theory as in formal education. I look into things that I have encountered and think for myself. I would appreciate new ideas and things to look into.
I appreciate the call out on my vagueness in regards of authoritarian structures. Thanks for that.
It isn’t as much a concrete point like “having a police”, but rather the human nature. I see a lot of protective behavior in people. The idea of communism is a sacrificing one in the sense that you give some of yours to get more for everyone. As a system will teach people within the system that the system is good. It is expected that people will be generally protective of the system. So sacrificing some freedoms for the protection of the system seems like a very normal evolution of those ideals. And you don’t need to worry as the system is good which is why you are protecting it. So over time, just like under any hierarchical system, the power will move towards the “core” of the system. Under capitalism the wealthy and under communism the state. Under communism, protecting the system will have a strong hand and will move the power to the “core”. The “core” is the state. the system and the state are extremely similar. So the state will behave as if an Attack on them is an Attack on the system. Justifying additional force and moving power into the core. Under somewhat authoritarian capitalism, we can observe that behavior quite clearly. But the state and the core isn’t as similar and an “attack” on the “core” isn’t an Attack on the state. Creating the shit that we can observe today under capitalism. Where the state are corrupted by the core while pretending to not be and fighting against the elements of the core that haven’t paid them. In communism, the power goes to the state and the state happily accepts it, turning it more and more authoritarian over time.
So from my pov, authoritarian Systems are an issue but are also seemingly required to protect the system and it’s people. Capitalism sucks as it kinda assume hierarchy and “sneaks” exploitation in. But a authoritarian state acts a little bit as a counter force to the “core”. (While a full on authoritarian state will of course take control over the “core”) While any liberal state, enables the “core” to move more power to itself quicker. Communism is much better in regards of assuming hierarchy as it doesn’t. But an even slightly authoritarian state with communism places the “core” and the state together as a unite without a real counter force and will eventually be very authoritarian. An liberal communistic System would avoid hierarchy and by that protect itself from placing the “core” in the hands of the state, but it would live itself vulnerable by “small” actors trying to build an hierarchy as people generally like to do, and enables “small” local exploitation.
I just don’t see a way for any of them to not fail. Currently I believe that the violence of the public is the only way to reset the failing systems. That violence is just usually a little late and not just, fair or merciful. Leading to a lot of unjust pain and suffering.
I don’t see how to escape this shit.
Please call me out on my shit take. Thanks.
I think you have done a lot of thinking, but haven’t really engaged much with Marxism or Anarchism with regards to philisophy.
For Marxism, check out Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels.
For Anarchism, The Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin is good.
The “Human Nature” issue is one that every leftist movement has had to engage with and “solve.”
It is true that I haven’t really engaged with Marxism and/or anarchism beyond the basics. I can look into it, thanks.
Out of curiosity, do you think I have a point? What would be your critic? I don’t want to take your time, so only respond if you feel like it. I understand if you don’t have the time.
Libtards
Is a right wing fascist term. I don’t think you’re an anarcho-communist. I think you’re a right wing pretending to be leftist to try to suppress the Democratic vote. You guys have tells.
“Liberalism is the ideology of capitalism, free markets, representative democracy, legal rights and state monopoly on violence. It includes a large portion of the present day political spectrum, from the centre-left social democrats to the far-right conservatives and American libertarians.”
That is… a lot of people
Yes. Liberalism is the dominant ideology in the World today.
I’d say they both agree on the main point of both philosophies “everyone has to follow every ridiculous rule I come up with except me”
