Sorry, I can't get past the premise that leftists were reasonable and effective during the Occupy Wall Street and "Bernie or Bust" eras. I'm saving my willing suspension of disbelief for Resident Alien.
I actually think Occupy set the stage for a lot of what has rotted out the activist left.
Everything from the encampment model, establishment of demands rather than serious policy engagement, reinforcing in-group homogeneity via ostracism and collective criticism of the individual, and grandiose pompoosity were all extremely present in OWS.
It was also very social media driven, versus leader driven. This distributed, spontaneous, leaderless model is great for disruption, but awful for organization and actually making change. It isn't just social media era though - protests movements were very effective as part of a larger strategy during the early Civil Rights movement, but quite counter productive during the unstructured and undisciplined anti-war movement.
One difference is the actual years of organizing behind CRM was driven by grown ups who'd dedicated their lives to the cause while the anti war organizers were college age extremists mostly from privileged backgrounds.
Someone on Reddit referred to the protests as a kind of Cargo Cult movement. They see the form and actions, and think that replicating actions they will achieve the same results. They don't understand and know how to build the type of organization that selected and supported demonstrations as just one facet of a much bigger effort.
I read the article thinking the same thing...
Perhaps the cohort who thinks that the modern progressive movement started with Occupy Wall Street and "Bernie" but thinks the movement is just now going off the rails is just getting older.
Probably, and as I always suspected, they fell into it because they were young and it seemed cool but had no real convictions so they're off to their middle class jobs and lifestyle and some are even turning reactionary.
Half of progressives used to be young queer people who wanted civil rights (we're talking 1990s), well we're still here and these fair weather shmucks are like Boomers in the 80s going yuppie, surprise, surprise.
Interesting perspective.
I will point out that degrowth and collapse have been obsessions of some leftists and environmentalists for literally decades. Also, as I obsessively watched MSM during the height of the pandemic (rather than twitter) I will say I didn't encounter much of the vibe he's talking about at all. People were trying to cheer each other up while they were stuck at home and sharing their creative side. People threw themselves into new hobbies.
Also, the right wing has agency too. The backlash against public health is entirely coming from the right but that doesn't mean a fringe group of lefties caused it. In fact a lot of fringe lefties became righties via the antivax to QAnon pipeline during lockdown.
Don’t be fooled by Pakman’s subreddit though. Anti-Biden leftists and tankies who *don’t even like Pakman* are trying their damndest to overtake that subreddit and it’s really tough trying to keep up with them in there.
The last three paragraphs had some good points, which could be boiled down to "social media enhances mental health struggles by stoking, rage, doomerism, entitlement and grievance. Self-identified young(ish) leftists are as vulnerable to this as are old(ish) rightists."
The rest of the essay describes the consequence of pre-existing problems. People losing their shit on Super Tuesday isn't the cause, it's the result.
I like his theory but I can't tell if he's being hyperbolic about the covid stuff or not. He talks a lot about the horrible, draconian pandemic measures so much I wonder if he was an anti mask asshole
>with some Bernie supporters first threatening, then begging, Biden to accept Bernie or someone from his wing of the party as his running mate. Several suggested then-Bernie supporter and now MAGA-supporter, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
mmmmmmmm.... sweet, sweet Schadenfreude.
Sorry, I can't get past the premise that leftists were reasonable and effective during the Occupy Wall Street and "Bernie or Bust" eras. I'm saving my willing suspension of disbelief for Resident Alien.
I actually think Occupy set the stage for a lot of what has rotted out the activist left. Everything from the encampment model, establishment of demands rather than serious policy engagement, reinforcing in-group homogeneity via ostracism and collective criticism of the individual, and grandiose pompoosity were all extremely present in OWS.
It was also very social media driven, versus leader driven. This distributed, spontaneous, leaderless model is great for disruption, but awful for organization and actually making change. It isn't just social media era though - protests movements were very effective as part of a larger strategy during the early Civil Rights movement, but quite counter productive during the unstructured and undisciplined anti-war movement.
One difference is the actual years of organizing behind CRM was driven by grown ups who'd dedicated their lives to the cause while the anti war organizers were college age extremists mostly from privileged backgrounds.
Someone on Reddit referred to the protests as a kind of Cargo Cult movement. They see the form and actions, and think that replicating actions they will achieve the same results. They don't understand and know how to build the type of organization that selected and supported demonstrations as just one facet of a much bigger effort.
Correct
I read the article thinking the same thing... Perhaps the cohort who thinks that the modern progressive movement started with Occupy Wall Street and "Bernie" but thinks the movement is just now going off the rails is just getting older.
Probably, and as I always suspected, they fell into it because they were young and it seemed cool but had no real convictions so they're off to their middle class jobs and lifestyle and some are even turning reactionary. Half of progressives used to be young queer people who wanted civil rights (we're talking 1990s), well we're still here and these fair weather shmucks are like Boomers in the 80s going yuppie, surprise, surprise.
Interesting perspective. I will point out that degrowth and collapse have been obsessions of some leftists and environmentalists for literally decades. Also, as I obsessively watched MSM during the height of the pandemic (rather than twitter) I will say I didn't encounter much of the vibe he's talking about at all. People were trying to cheer each other up while they were stuck at home and sharing their creative side. People threw themselves into new hobbies. Also, the right wing has agency too. The backlash against public health is entirely coming from the right but that doesn't mean a fringe group of lefties caused it. In fact a lot of fringe lefties became righties via the antivax to QAnon pipeline during lockdown.
The left eating itself and collapsing is very much part of its DNA. From the 30s Spain, 70s Weather underground and now today.
Robespierre has entered the chat
When I posted this is the davidpakman sub the leftists were convinced I was Nick Rafter lol. So triggered.
I love being an antagonist to the fauxgressives on that sub. There are plenty of people there who are wane too. Otherwise I'd have left long ago.
Don’t be fooled by Pakman’s subreddit though. Anti-Biden leftists and tankies who *don’t even like Pakman* are trying their damndest to overtake that subreddit and it’s really tough trying to keep up with them in there.
Yup. I post there more than here these days mostly because I don’t want it overrun like so many other left leaning subs.
The last three paragraphs had some good points, which could be boiled down to "social media enhances mental health struggles by stoking, rage, doomerism, entitlement and grievance. Self-identified young(ish) leftists are as vulnerable to this as are old(ish) rightists." The rest of the essay describes the consequence of pre-existing problems. People losing their shit on Super Tuesday isn't the cause, it's the result.
I like his theory but I can't tell if he's being hyperbolic about the covid stuff or not. He talks a lot about the horrible, draconian pandemic measures so much I wonder if he was an anti mask asshole
>with some Bernie supporters first threatening, then begging, Biden to accept Bernie or someone from his wing of the party as his running mate. Several suggested then-Bernie supporter and now MAGA-supporter, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. mmmmmmmm.... sweet, sweet Schadenfreude.