No one Likes the Left

One of the great observations I’ve made, at least on social media, but also in person is that half the problem American leftists have with their arguments for societal change is that they aren’t popular and they tend to shame people rather than offering them a different vision of the future.The mother superior, finger wagging attitudes are not a way to make friends. This can be observed across the pandemic and climate change. Many people were shamed for choosing to not take the vaccine. People lost friends, family, and relationships over that debate and instead of engaging in a conversation about it and addressing the real concerns, anyone who questioned it was simply dismissed.

The climate crisis is even worse. Anyone who objects to some of the science or the conclusions reached is dismissed at the face. People will complain “the planet is burning and no one is doing anything about it!” The hysteria has sapped the climate debate of seriousness that should be afforded to the crisis and yet the narrative has completely devolved into unnecessary shouting that accomplishes nothing.

It annoys me that these progressive policies can’t get more traction. It’s always a fight to move society forward to a new vision and view. So why do Leftist arguments just seem to fall flat?

Not-so-welcoming

When it comes to how welcoming the Left can or cannot be I know first-hand what it is like to join up to the Liberal cause. My ex-girlfriend always thought I was a bit suspect because I used to be a republican and only started voting left and becoming more liberal in 2012. A life-long democrat herself (her parents too!), she just couldn’t understand why someone with my identities would be anything other than liberal. This attitude is also often observed about other BIPOC who don’t align with the Liberal cause of the Democrats. President Biden said, “If you don’t vote for me you’re not black,” flatly in the 2020 race. If someone is considering making a shift in their political alignment these strategies are the not the way to make friends and influence people.

One of the charges I also hear often is that people on the right are more “open-minded” than people on the Left. As the observation goes, people on the Right are open to different view points on things and consider more sources than Leftists who dogmatically repeat the same talking points they heard on MSNBC and elsewhere. I have to say that this observation isn’t wrong but it is a little disingenuous. People on the right will openly consider that the 2020 election might be stolen and there is an international cabal trying to ruin their lives but the idea that gay people or black people should be equal members of society is just a bridge too far.

Litmus Tests

Another thing the Left is really good at is creating a series of barriers to entry. Gatekeeping is real. When someone is interested Left-wing politics there are a series of rituals that they have to perform. There are books to read and new language to learn. Joining up with Green Greenwald, Ben Shapiro, or even Alex Jones isn’t so difficult. You can even keep your prejudices, bigotry, and hate. And let’s face facts, hate and anger binds people together far more than love and peace. In this way, I think the Left has really lost its way. One of the problems is that the Left tends to be more educated than the Right. Trump wasn’t being an idiot when he said, “I love the uneducated.” He was stating a truth about the movement he was leading. The Right is a place where you can leave your education or lack thereof at the door and be welcomed. Not so much these days for the Left where a reading of Marx is de rigeur. What is a working person to do?

Paywalls

One of the reasons I’ve never put Cameron Journal content behind a paywall is because I believe strongly that one of the most important things I can do is release my content to the internet without a paywall. So many sites with quality news coverage and commentary have everything locked behind paywalls. I subscribe to Apple+ News for just this reason and I also have subscriptions to the New York Times and Bloomberg. I have Feedly with 150 sites only some of which I can read with any regularly due to paywalls. When you dive into the right-wing ecosystem like Breitbart or the Daily Caller, you won’t find any such problems. It has been pointed out by myself and others that this makes it easy for people to engage with Right-wing narratives and puts Left-wing narratives away from view. Part of this is economic in scope as Right-wing commentators sell vitamins and other fly-by-night products to pay for their services. This is less common over the on Left where such strategies just don’t work and aren’t viable.

What Does this Mean?

The Left can certainly do more to be more welcoming to people. This is especially true for those that live on the coasts and simply wish they could nuke the fly-over states. They can spend less time trying to test people our or making them read theory and more time on talking about policies and material conditions. I recall that when I was running Rouges magazine I hired a tech editor for our tech coverage and he was a die-hard QAnon MAGA. I convinced him that universal healthcare was a good idea. He asked me why I wasn’t in charge of messaging for the DNC. I didn’t throw a book at him. I didn’t complain about the emotional labor of educating him. Instead, I engaged with him over time and showed him a new view. If Leftists and progressives in this country are going to convince a majority of the population to pursue a new course in society this is the way forward.

The way forward is not in high-minded theories, litmus tests and “circular firing squads” but in engaging with real people and their problems. Being more friendly to people and meeting them where they are is good politics. It is the first rule of retail politics. This was understood by Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Bill Clinton. However, it is no longer fashionable to say that. In our divisive time all matters are blended through the wrong lens. Talk to real people, validate their concerns and tell them a way forward. The Left just needs to stop being so damn unlikeable.