The Turn

The Tablet ^ | 8 Dec 2021 | Leil Leibovotz

[Rummyfan]

For many years—most of my politically cognizant life, in fact—I felt secure in my politics. Truth and justice, I believed, leaned leftward. If you were some version of a decent human being, you cared about those less fortunate than you, which meant that you supported a whole host of measures designed to even the playing field a little. Sometimes, these measures had unintended consequences (see under: Stalin, Josef), but that wasn’t reason enough to despair of the long march to equality. Besides, there was hardly an alternative: On the other end of the political transom lurked despicable creeps, right-wing orcs who either cared for nothing but their own petty financial interests or, worse, pined for benighted isms that preached prejudice and hate. We were on the right side of history. We were the people. We were the ones giving peace a chance. And, no matter the present, we were always the future.

This belief carried me through high school, and a brief stint in a socialist youth movement. It accelerated me in college, sending me anywhere from joint marches with Palestinians to a two-week hunger strike in Jerusalem trying (and failing) to lower tuition for underprivileged students. It pulled me to New York, to Columbia University, to more left-wing politics and activism and raging against Republicans whose agenda, especially in the 2000s, seemed like nothing more than greed and war.

[Rummyfan]

Because, after 225 long and fruitful years of this terminology, “right” and “left” are now empty categories, meaning little more than “the blue team” and “the green team” in your summer camp’s color war. You don’t get to be “against the rich” if the richest people in the country fund your party in order to preserve their government-sponsored monopolies. You are not “a supporter of free speech” if you oppose free speech for people who disagree with you. You are not “for the people” if you pit most of them against each other based on the color of their skin, or force them out of their jobs because of personal choices related to their bodies. You are not “serious about economic inequality” when you happily order from Amazon without caring much for the devastating impact your purchases have on the small businesses that increasingly are either subjugated by Jeff Bezos’ behemoth or crushed by it altogether. You are not “for science” if you refuse to consider hypotheses that don’t conform to your political convictions and then try to ban critical thought and inquiry from the internet. You are not an “anti-racist” if you label—and sort!—people by race. You are not “against conformism” when you scare people out of voicing dissenting opinions.

[BenLurkin]

There is nothing wrong with caring about those less fortunate than yourself.

There is everything wrong with wanting government to get involved.

[cuz1961]

Yup.

Jhn 12:4 - But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said

Jhn 12:5 - “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii[fn] and given to the poor?”

Jhn 12:6 - This he said,

not that he cared for the poor,

but because he was a thief,

and had the money box;

and he used to take

what was put in it.

/\

Judas to commies,, same same.

SSDD.

.

[Track9]

RATS love high unemployment but also like low unemployment numbers. If you want a lesson in cognitive dissonance, figure that out.

[marron]

Good read.

[piasa]

That was quite a turn. As aggravating as some leftists can be, instead of thinking they are beyond hope and fit only to be humiliated and mocked as they often do to us without success, it may be helpful in dealing with them to remember that a lot of them are left only out of fear, the same kind of childish peer pressure we all went through, and need to be lifted out of their self-imposed echo chamber and prison.

[faucetman]

“It doesn’t matter what good people “on the left” believed and did 60 or 70 years ago. Those people are dead now, mostly. They don’t define “the left” anymore than Abraham Lincoln defines the modern-day Republican Party or Jimi Hendrix defines Nickelback.”

A good read. (I remember reading the quote above recently, but none of the rest of the article) I don’t remember the “Nickelback” quote either. Yes, I know who Nickelback is. Chad Kroeger.

Favorite Chad Kroeger song.

Santana featuring Chad Kroeger - Into The Night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ9nQNx0KEs&ab_channel=SantanaVEVO

Great Song Great video! Enjoy!

Best wishes and prayers to Carlos Santana.

Music lovers, experience “D0VYDAS”

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dovydas

This guy is INCREDIBLE! MUST WATCH all (most) of his videos.

[skeeter]

Caring for the less fortunate makes one a decent human being.

Using the less fortunate for one’s own aggrandizement and enrichment makes one a contemptible piece of trash.

[Macoozie]

” you cared about those less fortunate than you, which meant that you supported a whole host of measures designed to even the playing field a little.”

yeah . . not so much.

lost me with that crapola.
If the article continues and the Lefty claims to have “Seen The Light”, good for him/her/it.

Now, make up for all the damage you have caused to the millions impacted by your shiite brained leftsim.

That’ll never happen. Feel Good Apologetics like this mean nothing.

[sasquatch]

I’ve donated to Salvation Army for years.

Now I’m a racist. What to do?

[FLT-bird]

My nephew and I met up for a few beers a couple months ago and had a conversation very similar to this. I’ve always been on the Right. I’ve also always been an Independent rather than a Republican because I never liked or trusted the Republican party establishment. (remember that Ronald Reagan was very much an anti establishment Republican).

He’s always leaned more Left but we both agreed that the Democrats are no longer the party of the working man. Its debatable how long ago they abandoned the working class but there is zero question they have. All the Neocons like Bill Kristol, Max Boot, Jennifer Rubin, etc are now Democrats. Meanwhile Trump is the president that did not get involved in any wars and acted to bring US troops home. It is the Democrats who support all sorts of abuses of power by the 3 letter agencies. The top brass at the Pentagon like Mark Milley spout wokeisms like “White Rage”. Wall Street gave FIVE TIMES as much money to Biden as it did to Trump.

The open borders that bring in a flood of cheap labor to crush the working class? Democrats. Censorship on the internet and on college campuses? Democrats and Leftists. Obliterating due process for any male even accused of anything by a female on college campuses? Democrats. Obliterating women’s sports in the name of transgender ideology? Democrats. Anti Science.....tell me about Chromosomes......Democrats. My body my choice? Democrats are dead set against that now.

All of the above was anathema to my liberal 1960s college professors and teachers.

He and I though coming at it from different directions found we have ended up at pretty much the same place. I don’t know if I’ve convinced him to vote for Trump specifically but he definitely is not voting for Democrats any more.