Current Events > PSA: Liberal =\= Left

(+) Yeah! (+)

That's like saying conservatives are left because fascism and authoritarianism is a thing.

Stop it. Liberals in the USA are center/center-right

Conservatives are bad because they are fascist and authoritarian, though.

I think COVID is really what made this distinction clear to me. Breaking down my social circle both online and offline, liberals are all for the drop in restrictions and are now parroting right wing talking points regarding masks, lockdowns, etc. and reeaally seem to care about the "economy." Seems my leftists peers/friends are in the "wtf are we doing" boat.

Hasn't liberalism in the US been an economical thing and not social?

SomeGuyUO posted...

Hasn't liberalism in the US been an economical thing and not social?

Honestly, I'm pretty sure we've been using "liberal" wrong since day one and we refuse to admit it.

nexigrams posted...

Conservatives are bad because they are fascist and authoritarian, though.

Yeah true in a modern US sense but that wasn't really my point

SomeGuyUO posted...

Hasn't liberalism in the US been an economical thing and not social?

for the most part but people have been using "liberal" and "democrat" interchangably for a long time here and dems have been really big on tepid lip service to progressive social movements since at least the 60s.

This has been a conservative tactic for decades.

RobertDoback posted...

I think COVID is really what made this distinction clear to me. Breaking down the my social circle both online and offline, liberals are all for the drop in restrictions and are now parroting right wing talking points regarding masks, lockdowns, etc. and reeaally seem to care about the "economy." Seems my leftists peers/friends are in the "wtf are we doing" boat.

Because the far left has alienated moderate leftists like me with all this woke, defund the police, all standardized tests are racist bullshit. Covid safetyism is the latest.

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Because the far left has alienated moderate leftists like me with all this woke, defund the police, all standardized tests are racist bullshit. Covid safetyism is the latest.

Fuck off.

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Because the far left has alienated moderate leftists like me with all this woke, defund the police, all standardized tests are racist bullshit. Covid safetyism is the latest.

The US doesn't have a far left. So I'm pretty sure you are just full of shit and were never on the left.

0x4B616E6A6F posted...

Liberals in the USA are center/center-right

This is an important point and very true. The USAs idea of "left" is far removed from the rest the world. Bernie Sanders was left leaning center. America has no real left aligned politicians. Joe Biden is on the right.

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Because the far left

lol ok

Seems awfully convenient that any criticism of "the left" can just be dismissed with "there is no real left in America"

WorsCaseOntario posted...

Seems awfully convenient that any criticism of "the left" can just be dismissed with "there is no real left in America"

Such as?

WorsCaseOntario posted...

Seems awfully convenient that any criticism of "the left" can just be dismissed with "there is no real left in America"

Dude, the Dems would be fucking Tories in the UK. Political definitions don't happen in a vacuum, they aren't relative. They have real concrete definitions and no mainstream political candidate or party falls into the category of "the left".

nexigrams posted...

Conservatives are bad because they are fascist and authoritarian, though.

Well ok...

Let's look over at Canada. Protesting the wrong thing there in defiance of the Liberal Party gets you labeled a terrorist and allows the Government to seize your bank accounts.

Let's now look at 2020 under Trump. Billions of dollars of damage, not to mention lives lost, were caused by leftist and anarchist groups vandalizing cities. A federal courthouse in Portland was attacked night after night. I don't remember Trump mobilizing the military to crush the rioters...

There are many millions of good liberals out there. There is certainly a big difference between liberals and leftists.

It's always funny to see people on an internet forums claim conservatives are facist authoritians while simultaneously supporting authoritarianism from their favored political parties.

ScazarMeltex posted...

The US doesn't have a far left. So I'm pretty sure you are just full of shit and were never on the left.

Ive never voted Republican in my life. If Trump is the nominee in 2024, I will vote for whoever the Democrat nominee is. But I will consider voting for a Republican down ballot.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

This is an important point and very true. The USAs idea of "left" is far removed from the rest the world. Bernie Sanders was left leaning center. America has no real left aligned politicians. Joe Biden is on the right.

Just move to glorious Scandinavia already since you love it so much.

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Ive never voted Republican in my life. If Trump is the nominee in 2024, I will vote for whoever the Democrat nominee is. But I will consider voting for a Republican down ballot.

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Just move to glorious Scandinavia already since you love it so much.

All the self-awareness and subtlety of a car bomb

I mean now that democrats are conservatives yeah this is pretty obvious lol

RamboCell29 posted...

Well ok...

Let's look over at Canada. Protesting the wrong thing there in defiance of the Liberal Party gets you labeled a terrorist and allows the Government to seize your bank accounts.

Let's now look at 2020 under Trump. Billions of dollars of damage, not to mention lives lost, were caused by leftist and anarchist groups vandalizing cities. A federal courthouse in Portland was attacked night after night. I don't remember Trump mobilizing the military to crush the rioters...

There are many millions of good liberals out there. There is certainly a big difference between liberals and leftists.

It's always funny to see people on an internet forums claim conservatives are facist authoritians while simultaneously supporting authoritarianism from their favored political parties.

*dismissive wank gesture*

DowntownMrSmith posted...

Ive never voted Republican in my life. If Trump is the nominee in 2024, I will vote for whoever the Democrat nominee is. But I will consider voting for a Republican down ballot.

Nobody. Is. Buying. Your. Gimmick.

RamboCell29 posted...

Let's look over at Canada. Protesting the wrong thing there in defiance of the Liberal Party gets you labeled a terrorist and allows the Government to seize your bank accounts.

Protesting isn't what got them labeled terrorists and had their accounts frozen. It was the disruption of international trade, the blocking of critical infrastructure and the attempt to use intimidation to overthrow a democratically elected officials.

RamboCell29 posted...

Well ok...

Let's look over at Canada. Protesting the wrong thing there in defiance of the Liberal Party gets you labeled a terrorist and allows the Government to seize your bank accounts.

Let's now look at 2020 under Trump. Billions of dollars of damage, not to mention lives lost, were caused by leftist and anarchist groups vandalizing cities. A federal courthouse in Portland was attacked night after night. I don't remember Trump mobilizing the military to crush the rioters...

Dont forget about:

Democrats shamelessly gerrymandering the state of New York after years of complaining about Republican gerrymandering

Democrats complaining the filibuster is the end of democracy when theyve used it all the time when in the minority

IfGodCouldDie posted...

Protesting isn't what got them labeled terrorists and had their accounts frozen. It was the disruption of international trade, the blocking of critical infrastructure and the attempt to use intimidation to overthrow a democratically elected officials.

I read this and all I think of is that if the roles were reversed you'd be asking me how the boot tastes...

lol liberalism is definitely still left of center no matter how much you tell yourself the window has moved

RamboCell29 posted...

I read this and all I think of is that if the roles were reversed you'd be asking me how the boot tastes...

you know it's possible to support some protests and not others, right?

RamboCell29 posted...

I read this and all I think of is that if the roles were reversed you'd be asking me how the boot tastes...

So you lack reading comprehension, thanks for not wasting my time and revealing that information very early.

WorsCaseOntario posted...

Seems awfully convenient that any criticism of "the left" can just be dismissed with "there is no real left in America"

whos alt is this

American progressives aren't "Left" either, though they seem to like to fancy themselves radicals. Vastly superior to their conservative counterparts, but that's a pretty low bar.

AloneIBreak posted...

American progressives aren't "Left" either, though they seem to like to fancy themselves radicals. Vastly superior to their conservative counterparts, but that's a pretty low bar.

We don't pretend to be left. We are very aware that on a global scale we're trying to emulate what some European countries are doing right, and a lot of that stuff is center left.

RamboCell29 posted...

I don't remember Trump mobilizing the military to crush the rioters...

Yeah, he just agencies send out people in unmarked vans/uniforms to kidnap them, when he wasn't having the police use tear gas so he could get a photo holding a bible.

loafy013 posted...

Yeah, he just agencies send out people in unmarked vans/uniforms to kidnap them, when he wasn't having the police use tear gas so he could get a photo holding a bible.

Trump also deployed the military so idk what the fuck he's talking about

g980 posted...

lol liberalism is definitely still left of center no matter how much you tell yourself the window has moved

but as a liberal i do wish more people would differentiate liberals from the alt-left folks

g980 posted...

but as a liberal i do wish more people would differentiate liberals from the alt-left folks

You followed up your shitpost with another shitpost. Good job.

0x4B616E6A6F posted...

You followed up your shitpost with another shitpost. Good job.

i'm correct in both posts, so yeah it was a good job.

So liberalism is left of center according to you? What part of the political spectrum and global history backs this up?

You said differentiate liberals from the "alt-left" folks? What is the "alt-left" according to you?

Im not a liberal, Im a leftist!

Shut up lib

0x4B616E6A6F posted...

We don't pretend to be left. We are very aware that on a global scale we're trying to emulate what some European countries are doing right, and a lot of that stuff is center left.

the big issue with that is that, while capitalism persists, the things that they're "doing right" are unsustainable and come at the expense of well-being in a lot of poorer countries

WorsCaseOntario posted...

Seems awfully convenient that any criticism of "the left" can just be dismissed with "there is no real left in America"

its nobodys fault but your own that you are calling things by the wrong name

averagejoel posted...

the big issue with that is that, while capitalism persists, the things that they're "doing right" are unsustainable and come at the expense of well-being in a lot of poorer countries

Good thing we're not a poorer country

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Liberals can be left wing or right wing

0x4B616E6A6F posted...

We don't pretend to be left. We are very aware that on a global scale we're trying to emulate what some European countries are doing right, and a lot of that stuff is center left.

I'm glad you acknowledge this, but I really think you're one of the few. Nonetheless, for all my bitching about progressives, they're far and away my favorite mainstream political movement.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Look up the definition of the word.

g980 posted...

lol liberalism is definitely still left of center no matter how much you tell yourself the window has moved

g980 posted...

but as a liberal i do wish more people would differentiate liberals from the alt-left folks

You do subscribe to the classic left-leaning position of worshiping billionaires.