Posted on 05/01/2022 5:09:17 PM PDT by Signalman
Dear Abby: I’m a liberal Democrat and my entire political party is full of insufferable nags. What do I do?!
That was the entire point of New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg’s article this week wherein she fretted that normal Americans are perhaps drifting to the political right because the left has become so indefensibly annoying.
“For those who get most of their politics online, this can be what the left looks like — a humorless person shaking her head at others’ insensitivity,” she wrote. “As a result, an alliance with the country’s most repressive forces can appear, to some, as liberating.”
Without saying it outright, Goldberg was getting at the left’s defining qualities today. Its allies have become so miserable, so toxic, so angry and weird that it’s repulsing voters. They call people “racist” for any reason at all. They push for the sexualization of children in public schools. And they shut down all discourse that threatens their delicate ideology.
Look what’s happening with the Elon Musk-Twitter drama. A billionaire wanted to buy a publishing company — not something unheard of — and it was an unnecessarily drawn out, messy fight for him to do it because the left wing and Democrats believe they alone dictate what counts as fair discourse.
Goldberg declared the left “stagnant,” but what she really means is that it’s miserable. It’s stuck in a rut because its activists are singularly motivated by negative emotions now. What do they talk about these days? Persecuting Trump supporters who were in Washington on Jan. 6, Covid as a means of controlling the populace, and “equity” for anyone who claims to be oppressed (i.e. the Democrat voter base).
“When the left becomes grimly censorious, it incubates its own opposition,” wrote Goldberg. “The internet makes things worse, giving the whole world a taste of the type of irritating progressive sanctimony…”
She says this like it’s a problem created by the right, or even unassuming independents who must not be able to distinguish between the “online” left from the real left. It’s not. It’s people like Goldberg who wanted to teach children about transgenderism and how it sucks to be white. That people were repulsed by their weird fixations isn’t their own fault. It’s the fault of the left for being so creepy, unhappy, and maladjusted.
Look at Florida. The hottest controversy there now is whether kindergarten teachers should be able to explain to students what it means to be “gender queer.” Leftists are adamant that they get to talk about sexual identity with kids. It’s dumb. Even a majority of Democrats in that state know it’s dumb.
Look at the reaction to the district judge in Florida who struck down the airline mask mandate. Leftists are furious that they can’t tell people to cover up their noses and mouths anymore (at least for now).
Look at the election of GOP Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. His central campaign theme was that public school kids shouldn’t be instilled with the idea that being white is an irredeemable sin. The left nearly needed an exorcism.
Look at your own encounters with these people. The funny thing about left-wingers is that they feel absolutely no reservation about showing up to a social function and popping off with their political opinions on race, sex, and equity.
Any normal person thinks to himself, “I’d rather not.” Leftists don’t. They see it as their duty to ensure that everyone knows how they feel (miserable).
You don’t like it? Tough.
Goldberg knows her movement is an emotional and mental mess. She just can’t bear to break the news.
They’re always angry. They’re always upset. They’ve lost their grip. Goldberg could have just said that, but instead, she whined about conservatives and independent Americans who aren’t into the gross and distasteful things that the movement she belongs to has produced.
“In the short term, however, it’s frightening to think that backlash politics could become somehow fashionable, especially given how stagnant the left appears,” she continued.
The left doesn’t “appear” anything. It’s undeniably vulgar, and fewer people want to be part of it. Maybe Goldberg should just admit it and stop making excuses for how awful the left-wing Democrat movement is.
“Leftism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might have an opinion different from their own.”
An overall tendency toward negative emotions.
Feels of anxiety or irritability. Poor emotional stability.
Feelings of self-doubt.
Being self-conscious.
Experiencing moodiness, sadness, or depression.
Easily stressed or upset; unable to handle stress well.
Dramatic changes in feelings.
That quote is absolutely true.
My ancestors landed on this continent in the early 1600s as puritans, and within a couple years, left that unholy alliance and formed their own denomination.
Seventh Day Baptists.
The Puritan Church become known as the Church of Boston back then and sometimes referred to as the harlot.
One of mu ancestors, Mary Dyer, was hanged Jun 1st 1660 on or near Boston Commons for preaching the Quaker faith in and around Boston.
CS Lewis wrote, in THE pilgrim’s Regress, of people addicted to misery.
This is really a thing.
Some people are so twisted up inside that they just cannot feel their version of happy unless they think they have some reason to be resentful, angry or just plain old unhappy and put upon.
This is equally true if it’s something they feel on their own account or if they feel it vicariously for others, judging themselves able to think what ought to offend others and upset them based on some crude metric, some externality or check box they’ve checked on some list.
Oh, and people of that description who don’t feel that way? They aren’t really that thing ... but are things like white of the inside or what have you.
When you offend the perpetually offended, those who are addicted to being offended and miserable, and they tell you you’ve offended them, just smile and say “You’re welcome!” and maybe toss in a “Glad I could offend you.”
Don’t bother even caring that they are offended, because really they are likely a form of happier bring offended that they would be not being offended.
Offend them more if it’s not something disagreeable to you.
That description sure sounds like me when I was a 15 year old girl. My fav teacher sat with me at lunch break and explained that nobody really is judging you, looking at you critically....they are pretty much thinking about themselves. Just be nice to people and do good things, be the best you can be. I will never forget her.....
Like free speech, keeping groomers and pedos away from kids, fighting crime, making living affordable, etc.
Its not surprising the majority of women vote democrat.
Its interesting that once married they tend to vote less and less liberal. They see how it affects their husbands finances, therefore HER finances, and they don’t like that.
The majority of women comprise most of the mentally ill people in america. 1 in 4 are on psych meds and another 1 in 4 need to be on psych meds but are not.
I worked with a couple of Liberal Democrat women for several years. One actually called herself a Socialist. They had all of the Neurotic Traits in that list. It was like walking through a minefield everyday. If something didn’t go their way, if you disagreed with them, I knew I could potentially find a EEO complaint coming my way.
It was nearly as big a minefield as the year or so working with a tranny, or the pagan witch I worked with.
What a career.
Problem is Misery loves company and they get their kicks making everyone else miserable too.
Bingo! You are exactly right. Liberalism is immaturity, cloaked with the pretense of moral and intellectual superiority.
They believe unprotected sex without consequences is an entitlement, and if they can add free college to that entitlement list, so much the better.
To the Democrat leadership they are useful idiots, nothing more.
Look at that log in your own crazy eye.
Hmm I thought you were officially OFO...
They are communists.
p
When you always seek the lowest common denominator, you eventually get to the bototm of the barrel.
I had to break ties with a college roommate after 50+years of "friendship," over her constant, ill-informed nagging about leftist grudges. There were years of eye-rolling rudenesses over politics, but here's an example of one of the thousand paper cuts that ripped it for me:
One day she asked me to pick her up from a meeting. She came out of the building bringing an older transgender woman with her and asked if I would also drive that person home, to which I said, "Sure," simply because my long-time friend had asked me. I worked in the arts all my adult life, and was not in the least alarmed. My extra passenger said little but seemed angry and wary; I asked "her" courteously for directions, and made one or two brief pleasant comments about the weather during the 10-minute ride.
Afterward, my liberal friend and I went out to dinner. Out of nowhere she began ranting about how hateful Christians are to gays and especially transgender people, looking at me accusingly. Later, I realized that when her trans acquaintance said she needed a ride, my friend had probably warned that I might treat her rudely—because I'm a Christian.
Negative projection as the basis for scolding had become typical from my old friend, even though I had done nothing to deserve it. Just the opposite, in fact. A normal person would have said, "Thanks for giving her a ride." Or even, "I wasn't sure how you'd feel, but I thought you might be okay with it, and you were—so, thanks."
But no.
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