It takes Ross Douthat a very long time to get to his point about “cancel culture” in his New York Times column but he does get around to it eventually:
I don’t expect “The Cat in the Hat†to be unpublished or my own tracts to swiftly vanish. But it was a good thing when liberalism, as a dominant cultural force in a diverse society, included a strong tendency to police even itself for censoriousness — the ACLU tendency, the don’t-ban-Twain tendency, the free-speech piety of the high school English teacher.
Now liberal cultural power has increased, the ACLU doesn’t seem very interested in the liberties of non-progressives anymore, and Dr. Seuss sells as pricey samizdat.
I don’t know what awaits beyond this particular Zebra, and I’d rather not find out.
The problem is that progressives aren’t liberals. Liberals defend freedom. I don’t know what progressives believe in these days. Power, that’s for sure. Beyond that I simply don’t know. I’m not a progressive.
Presumably, he’s making what is another example of a slippery slope argument. It certainly look looks like there’s a chain of steps in a bad direction involved.
“The problem is that progressives aren’t liberals. “
That’s true by definition, but I’m not sure its helpful, or the problem. Labeling aside, at what point are there members of a party in sufficient numbers to redefine it?
There have been bizarre, desperate, attempts to define Republicans, especially Trump supporters, as white supremacists, authoritarians etc. I know lots of Republicans, many who would call themselves Trump supporters, but I’ve never met a Nazi or white supremacist. And just what were all these authoritarian policies Trump dictated? However, I have met plenty of Democrat voting people who would describe themselves as progressives. Go to OTB. Hell, they even have a TV network with a moniker calling themselves progressives – MSNBC. Not to mention a not insignificant number of elected officials (Read: The Squad, or Chuck, Nancy, Bernie, Pete, AOC, Kamala and Joe……) all behaving as such.
People are busy making excuses for it, but the Democrat Party has been subject to a hostile takeover.
I dont personally know any of the woke types, but I know they exist. I dont really see any evidence that they have taken over. Even at OTB most people make fun of the extreme purity police. Notice that when McWhorter came up when he published a critique of the woke McWhorter got a lot of support. What I do see is that the same cases keep coming up over and over so I am not really sure how wide spread this really is.
There is a skin head group in our area but while I cared for one as a trauma pt I donor personally know them. I know tons of Trump supporters who are firmly in the cult. They quite freely tell me that Trump has never lied, he is a good Christian and is the only person who can save America. I see pts in the ICU who refuse to believe they really have Covid and some who have refused IV medications because we put chips in them so we can track them.
As far as Nazi/white supremacist I do know that in coal country where Trump has very strong support, and even at our local high school, it became cool to tell n*gger jokes again after Trump was elected. That has died down.
All that said most of the Republicans I know, just like Democrats are good, decent people. I dont feel the need to turn them into caricatures of evil people.
Steve
That’s my experience as well. It’s also my experience that most Democrats are more conservative than the Democratic leadership. Maybe it’s just Chicago.
The media always publicize the most extreme views and actions. It’s really a form of titillation. Whole so-called movements, like the sexual revolution, really were minority movements.
As to Progressives, they are an inherently authoritarian, anti-democratic movement with roots going back to the Radical Republicans during Reconstruction. Both Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were progressives. The main theme in their day was how to remove the Congress and President from public rule making, how to transfer that power to the bureaucracy. That has been largely achieved, and our elected officials are quite constrained in what they can do.
I would agree that Liberals are not Progressives, because Liberals do support individual freedoms and limits on government power. But the Democrat Party is now in a confused state. Lunatics and anti-semites like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar get all the press and drive the news sound bites. They even intimidate long-serving liberals like Schumer and Pelosi. But they do not YET control the party.
I do not agree that the ACLU is a civil rights organization. They have always been a communist front, and their support for civil rights is limited to a few cases that serve their political agenda. The SPLC is not a civil rights organization either. It is a money raising scam. Now the NRA is a civil rights movement.
That’s crazy!
But the implants do itch, anything for that?
” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar get all the press and drive the news sound bites. ”
I can go days w/o reading about those people if reading left wing sites. If I read left wing sites I can find stuff almost every hour it seems.
“Now the NRA is a”…. front and lobby for the gun companies. FTFY.
Steve
“The Squad†are not confused and did not arise from nowhere or spontaneously,
https://brandnewcongress.org/
The NRA sells memberships and is organized for profit along the lines of PETA.
Let’s stipulate that most people, period, are good people. Its not an unreasonable assertion; I’ll let others decide if its 70/80/90/95% of the population.
It doesn’t change the observation about a party. Take a look at the executive orders issued, and the legislation proposed by Democrats. Liberal, or progressive?
Dave’s a Democrat but not a progressive. Fine fellow. Steve (despite my kvetching) is a Democrat; most likely liberal, but probably not a progressive. Seems like a fine fellow. But look at the way the Democrat Party has been posturing and governing for years now. Look at those carrying their water in the media. Progressive. And autocrats for sure.
What national level legislation has been passed that was progressive? Which executive orders? At state and local levels, sure there has been some but not so much at the national level. The current spending bill? When have the Democrats ever been shy about spending? They have always been the tax and spend party (with the GOP as the spend and cut taxes party). Green New Deal? Just talk. Reparations? Just talk. Health care reform? Obamacare certainly wasn’t what progressives wanted. So I am sure that must be a couple of things that count, but it just isn’t that much.
What you really have is a lot of promotion of “The Squad” by the right wing media creating fear, while in practice that bunch of junior legislators hasn’t really passed anything . AOC gets some attention from Dem leadership when they want to make sure the progressive wing is on board. She is young and attractive so she gets asked to compaign.
Link goes to rating of bills by AOC. Only rates 2019 but I would bet 2020 is similar. 0, as in none, of her bills passed into legislation. Her bills generally got fewer co-sponsors from other Democrats than almost any other legislator.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/alexandria_ocasio_cortez/412804/report-card/2019
Two can play that game.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/15/progressives-have-bold-agenda-biden-should-act-their-priorities-his-first-100-days/
Denying the leftward push is bizarre.
How many of those have actually passed? The game involves actual legislation that has made it into law, not some wish list.
Steve