this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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I don't, necessarily. I assume people who think left is the only way, and there's no room for a center or right are different.
What of the reason that hypothetical person thinks that is because they have looked at most positions and the left is what makes the most sense in the big picture?
I don't think I have ever seen a position on the right that I agreed with personally, and even when it comes to the left/center stuff.. there's a ton of disagreement within the left. It's very much not a unified thing.
Look at anarchists and authoritarian leftists, for example, sure they're both left, but about as different as they can get. And then within each "major" ideology you got tons of splinters and disagreements and smaller stuff. From Anarcho communism to market socialism to Anarcho syndicalism, to Democratic socialism, and so on.
At some point you have to think about what people really mean with the left/right divide.
I encourage you to keep picking stances based on the individual issue, instead of towing a party line. And know what? That may always align with the "left" and that's great for you. The issue is if "left" is used as a shorthand for "good," even if it's been that way consistently in the past.
I, too, am almost universally left leaning on most issues, but there are some (arbitrary gun laws, for instance) that the left just doesn't make sense on. Same with a lot of the more 'woke' aspects. Blindly following the leftist ideology means I accept those. I do not, and consequently the left doesn't accept me sometimes because of that. Thus, I don't identify with that term. Not labeling myself allows me to reform my beliefs without anywhere NEAR slas much cognitive dissonance, rather than being metaphorically shackled by a certain in group's beliefs.
Edit: towing? Toeing? Toe ring? Idk man.
Can you elaborate on the gun laws and woke stuff? With gun laws you'll find to see that leftists very much do not have a unified position on it lol.
Sure thing, though I'd prefer not to get TOO into a splinter discussion.
Arbitrary banning of guns based on random characteristics just doesn't work. Gun violence is a people problem, not a tool problem. We'll do much more to curb gun violence if we address the things that are causing it, instead of just removing the tool. So things like socioeconomic disparity, mental health, bigotry, etc. there are some gun control laws I'm for (voluntary buybacks, mandatory classes, mental health screening, mandatory registry) and a lot I'm against (bans based on arbitrary features like caliber, look, magazine capacity - realistically anything that isn't concealability related, as that's the biggest factor on gun violence.)
The too-woke thing, this one is a bit more fringe I think. I have less nuanced of a position on it, but it's mostly around the concept of cancel culture. The idea that it can be so easy for some innocuous thing said or done in the past to come up, and that can cause you immense social harm even if you've shown you don't align with that statement/action any longer.
That, and a sense of overcorrection with regards to mens role in society, where in certain circles it can feel very much like being a man is just bad. I recognize that both of those are kinda niche, mostly online-only though.
Edit:and again, it's not about a specific topic or anything. I don't choose to identify with ANY political labels, left right center or alt, I think holding too strongly to the label is just going to make it harder for you to shift when some new information becomes relevant.