I used to love the left, politically. To me it symbolized reason, rationale, and progressive thinking. Today I find myself wondering how it has lost its way.
The Good
I think back fondly on the what the left meant to me …
I remember Obama’s stirring hope speech, it seemed as though the left finally had a champion. He was eloquent, calm, positive and seemed to call to our higher angels on what it meant to be a citizen of the world.
I remember attending a debate between a Christian and an Atheist in my 20’s. At one point in the debate, the Christian was making the point about the importance of faith, and someone called out from the crowd “faith never flew an airplane”. The atheist debater responded instantly, “we will allow the gentleman to make his point.” The fundamental rule of the debate and conversation was the freedom to make one’s argument. This was a part of the left, they wanted to work and address specific problems. There was engagement on a reasonable and intellectual level.
It stood for reason, hope, engagement, tolerance, …
The Ugly
When Trump came to power what amazed me, more than that he could ascend the highest office, was how the left reacted to it. The tribe of reason and calm lost their ever loving minds. They went from reason to shouting in a matter of hours. There was crying … adults crying … on television.
To me this illustrated the amount of disconnect in the world. The left had slowly stopped the conversation because they felt they had “won”. The atheist movement had won the debate against the creationists, pro-choice had won over pro-life, etc. The left had their “mission accomplished” moment and Obama was the peak. The problem with peaks is that there is nowhere to go but down.
The left had forgotten one thing in their victory, “a man turned against his will is of the same opinion still”. Just because a majority agreed and the legal system notarized it, did not mean everyone thought the same way as you.
The Bad
Over the years I have seen the following trends on the left:
- a movement from atheism to anti-theism
- a movement from pro-democracy to anti-facism
- a movement from pro-diversity to anti-racism
- from conversation to labelling
- from calm resistance to shouting
This transition seems to me like ego has become prevalent in the movement. It is no longer a journey for truth but a crusade to be right. And if one thing history has taught us it is this … the belief we are right covers a multitude of wrong-doings.
It has surprised me how the left reacts to protests. When there is a protest in the name of a cause they believe to be just there is little concern for tactics in those protests that cause harm. But when it is a protest by some or for a cause they do not agree with the smallest infraction is symbolic of the entire cause. This is not the hallmark of reason and the genuineness that I expect from the left.
The left has moved away from addressing problems to labeling them. They label them with terms like racism, bigotry, fascism in hopes of shutting them down, despite in certain cases these labels either not actually being applicable or incorrectly applied. This does not solve the problem and only serves to exasperate it.
There is a reason the left is criticized of virtue signalling so frequently – that’s because it is the last bastion of a movement that thinks it has won and needs the support of others to vindicate its stance. A movement seeking truth and reason does not need numbers. It needs conversation, reason and engagement.
The Hope
What the left needs to realize is that you can never leave the table of debate. You don’t “win” these topics of religion, belief, freedom. There will always need to be discourse, conversation and engagement. We will always have to understand our fellow humans, why and how he/she/they think differently. If we want diversity we have to accept all of it, not just the parts we like.
We will have to evaluate ourselves and the success of our actions not against the words of those who agree with us but with how much understanding and empathy we can show to those who disagree with us.