The Left are the adults in the room. We need to speak clearly so the children do not think we are taking them to the dentist (we totally are but there’s no need to trigger them).
The Right cannot change, it’s in their nature. It’s practically pointless to try. The best we can do is be tactical, and avoid scaring them.
And how well has being the adults in the room worked for us? In the US, it’s done nothing but marginalize the left time after time. Our choices for leadership boil down to a contest between center-right and fascist, and fascist is winning.
The fact is, people want anger. People understand anger. People are angry, and for good reason. Our society is completely, utterly fucked, and everyone knows it, even if they don’t quite know how or why. And it’s precisely that sentiment that fascists like the MAGA movement prey upon. They give people something to blame for everything being fucked, while what laughingly passes for the left continues pretending everything is fine. And so people go to the right, over and over and over again, because at least the right acknowledges their anger.
There’s a reason that the last time the left had a real moment in this country was when there were massive protests all over the nation, screaming at the top of their lungs, “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” and “DEFUND THE POLICE!” We finally let our anger show, and guess what? This country stood with us, over and over, and mobilized like hell to get Trump out of office. And then the Biden administration abandoned us and called for “civility” and “reaching across the aisle” like we all knew they would, and now the fascists are back.
We are not going to get anywhere as long as we keep trying to be the “adults in the room” and try to be “civil”. We need to get fucking mad, and stay fucking mad, and do the work to make real change whether the other guys want it or not.
We can offer hope instead of fear. The right is steeped in fear, it fuels their entire ideology. If we are able to offer hope, hope is more powerful than fear.
But being the adults in the room we must remember who we are speaking to. We have to converse with them, not at them. If you converse at them, they will simply retreat into the fear bubble because it is familiar, comfortable, and makes them feel safe.
I’m not saying we don’t offer hope. But hope and anger are not incompatible.
You can’t offer hope for a better tomorrow unless you are willing to point out and fix the problems of today. And as long as we are avoiding scaring the right, we cannot do this.
The Left are the adults in the room. We need to speak clearly so the children do not think we are taking them to the dentist (we totally are but there’s no need to trigger them).
The Right cannot change, it’s in their nature. It’s practically pointless to try. The best we can do is be tactical, and avoid scaring them.
And how well has being the adults in the room worked for us? In the US, it’s done nothing but marginalize the left time after time. Our choices for leadership boil down to a contest between center-right and fascist, and fascist is winning.
The fact is, people want anger. People understand anger. People are angry, and for good reason. Our society is completely, utterly fucked, and everyone knows it, even if they don’t quite know how or why. And it’s precisely that sentiment that fascists like the MAGA movement prey upon. They give people something to blame for everything being fucked, while what laughingly passes for the left continues pretending everything is fine. And so people go to the right, over and over and over again, because at least the right acknowledges their anger.
There’s a reason that the last time the left had a real moment in this country was when there were massive protests all over the nation, screaming at the top of their lungs, “BLACK LIVES MATTER!” and “DEFUND THE POLICE!” We finally let our anger show, and guess what? This country stood with us, over and over, and mobilized like hell to get Trump out of office. And then the Biden administration abandoned us and called for “civility” and “reaching across the aisle” like we all knew they would, and now the fascists are back.
We are not going to get anywhere as long as we keep trying to be the “adults in the room” and try to be “civil”. We need to get fucking mad, and stay fucking mad, and do the work to make real change whether the other guys want it or not.
We can offer hope instead of fear. The right is steeped in fear, it fuels their entire ideology. If we are able to offer hope, hope is more powerful than fear.
But being the adults in the room we must remember who we are speaking to. We have to converse with them, not at them. If you converse at them, they will simply retreat into the fear bubble because it is familiar, comfortable, and makes them feel safe.
I’m not saying we don’t offer hope. But hope and anger are not incompatible.
You can’t offer hope for a better tomorrow unless you are willing to point out and fix the problems of today. And as long as we are avoiding scaring the right, we cannot do this.
The Right cannot change, it’s in their nature.
The right will change, and we’ll figure out how. That or their immutability will figure into the great filter of the human species.