Define what being a "Leftist" is

[Lead]

Yes, I would.

I didn't expect to get an definition directly from one who identifies as such. Thread already overperformed what I was hoping to learn.

 

[Renard]

The left has moved, it's been poisoned with collectivism, obsession with identity, enforcing equality of result, power politics, intersectionality, censorship, thought policing, false moral crusades, self-destructive open border policies, double standards based on group identity, etc. These people aren't liberal, so you need another word to describe them.

 

[Sketch]

Someone who hates white people and is into a lot of gay shit.

I would also add to the list someone who has 100k plus posts on a karate basket weaving forum.

 

[Lucifer Alpha]

I would also add to the list someone who has 100k plus posts on a karate basket weaving forum.

Leftists don't like MMA. It's too manly.

 

[brothir]

Are we talking from a US-centric perspective or a universal one?

 

[Lead]

Are we talking from a US-centric perspective or a universal one?

You can say both.

 

[Sketch]

Leftists don't like MMA. It's too manly.

In that photo, which one do you think is the bear? I would say both.

 

[panamaican]

On here I don't think it has any meaning at all. It's more about what it isn't than what it is. A leftist/liberal/SJW have become terms to describe anyone who doesn't believe that the U.S. should be exclusively defined by a traditional Christian, white, European ("white" and "European" are not mutually inclusive), "poverty is a sign of laziness and immorality" culture.

Essentially, any definition of the U.S. that allows other possibilities to operate on equal footing with the above definition is a leftist, liberal or SJW.

In the real world? I don't know, I don't run into anyone who uses the term "leftist" in real life.

 

[JosephDredd]

I think it should be made evident in this thread that these are attempts to define American leftists/liberals. In Canada and the dozen European nations that rank higher than America on quality-of-life indexes they would define them much differently.

 

[Daverisimo]

Leftist and liberal ideologies are not only different, but are in fact mutually exclusive. I'll write more later, but @Trotsky nailed most of it.

 

[TheComebackKid]

Nowadays leftists are most easily defined as bat shit crazy. The paradigm is no longer conservative vs liberal...it's sane vs insane.

In 2018 liberals believe in open borders, high taxes, high regulation, not producing our own energy. They think grown men should be allowed in the bathroom with little girls. They support the notion of defining your own gender. They embrace Islam and treat Christianity like they're the ones blowing up shit every day. They believe Russia hacked the election and think Hillary and Obama are upstanding citizens. When you stand up publicly and state something they disagree with then they riot, attack people with rocks and sticks, burned down buildings, shut down highways, chant death to cops. The women walk around in pussy hats. They believe everything and everyone is racist, sexists, homophobic, ect. The left is now the home for the retard and insane. Trump broke em.

Just look at the leftist posters on this board. They are clearly deranged individuals.

 

[Liquid Smoke]

Leftists are authoritarian. Liberals are the antithesis of that. Libertarians are the real liberals.

 

[Necromantic]

I hear this term frequently and believe it's like other terms in politics where it's so broad of a term that it ends up meaning whatever a person wants it to mean. So what better place than here to get some feedback.


How do you define the term "Leftist"?
Is there a distinction between a "Leftist" and a "Liberal"
If yes, is a "Leftist" a radicalized version of what a Liberal is meant to be?

The definition on google is this:
1. a person with left-wing political views.
2. having or relating to left-wing political views.

Left and right is how much liberty vs government controls your life.

So a leftist wants government control over you. Say, forcing you to use pronouns or face jail/fine.

Free speech and 2nd amendment (freedom to protect yourself) are right wing.

Now, we will never be all the way to the right...think libertarian, but we need to have some level of government aka societal control---- you will be oppressed to some degree. But I think it should be to the least degree possible and be a productive nation.


I will post a thread some time with a bunch of links and shit but don't have time for it now.

Liberal and conservative are completely different. A liberal does not = a leftist.

 

[VivaRevolution]

I can't speak to the perspectives of dumbshits who use the term to fear monger.

However, in terms of how leftists differentiate the two, liberals prioritize identity issues that result from uneven distribution of power, while never wishing to address the distribution of power. Liberals want robust freedom of contract, privatization, and first and foremost to maintain current hierarchies in which they usually retain a privileged position, all while passing tepid remedial measures to bandaid their results. Liberals are more likely to want to be complicit with the neoliberal era of shareholder capitalism that prioritizes upward-pointing profits for the ultra-rich, while conceding breadcrumbs to those sacrificed for them.

Leftists, on the other hand, want to tackle and gut the very source of inequality: power. Philosophically speaking, however, you could differentiate the two on the basis that: liberals want to democratize the political sphere in the daft hope that it will eventually democratize the economic sphere. Leftists realize that the political sphere is downstream from economic sphere, and wish to democratize the economy first and foremost.

I'll co-sign this, but I reject the label leftist. I am a economic progressive.

 

[brothir]

You can say both.

Universally there definitely is a distinction between "leftist" and "liberal", but what the distinction is regional. Liberals in Europe tend to be centrist or right-wing within their respective left/right spectrum, so the distinction there is that they are somewhat opposite terms. The distinction in the US seems to be that "leftist" is used to describe the fringe and the radical left, whereas "liberal" is more of a catch-all to describe the mainstream left.

 

[K1levelgrappler]

Isn't it just a pejorative that shit for brains reactionaries yell at anyone who holds any views to the left of them?

 

[Letssnuggle]

Leftists believe Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election lol

 

[MicroBrew]

I hear this term frequently and believe it's like other terms in politics where it's so broad of a term that it ends up meaning whatever a person wants it to mean. So what better place than here to get some feedback.


How do you define the term "Leftist"?
Is there a distinction between a "Leftist" and a "Liberal"
If yes, is a "Leftist" a radicalized version of what a Liberal is meant to be?

The definition on google is this:
1. a person with left-wing political views.
2. having or relating to left-wing political views.

I would define myself as a leftist but not a liberal. When I think Liberal, I think of mainstream liberals like HuffPo, Hillary, the pro Clinton Democrat party and Academia that knee-jerk defends Islam and thinks free speech should have limits.

 

[Bald1]

I would define myself as a leftist but not a liberal. When I think Liberal, I think of mainstream liberals like HuffPo, Hillary, the pro Clinton Democrat party and Academia that knee-jerk defends Islam and thinks free speech should have limits.

See, and I tend to think of those on the left who defy reality as leftists. As in -

Islam is a religion of peace types.
There is no genetic difference between the two sexes types.
Everyone who disagrees with me is an "ist" types.
The nutters who think stifling open discourse is beneficial types.


@Jack V Savage and I spent a little time trying to define terms to use for the far left folks but didn't come to a consensus, except to agree that there is an illiberal element in the left. How numerous or influential those people are is still up for debate though.

 

[Philo-Publius]

I hear this term frequently and believe it's like other terms in politics where it's so broad of a term that it ends up meaning whatever a person wants it to mean. So what better place than here to get some feedback.


How do you define the term "Leftist"?
Is there a distinction between a "Leftist" and a "Liberal"
If yes, is a "Leftist" a radicalized version of what a Liberal is meant to be?

The definition on google is this:
1. a person with left-wing political views.
2. having or relating to left-wing political views.

It's a different way of saying the same thing.