Excellent post. I too have problems with Ayn's statement: a) conquered is the wrong word I think, guided would be better b) agree with you that if we 'leave them alone' then you have the outcome of Chamberlain 'leaving Hitler alone'.
"The left sees the right as uncaring and stupid; the right sees the left as naïve and irresponsible" ... or both (especially the left) see the other as evil, which justifies eliminating them (thus 'doxxing' or violent threats)
"The problem of the left is selfish narcissism, the problem of the right is paranoia" ... well, paranoia on the right can be justified because they know history and see what's going to happen "that we repeat because we don't know history"-the left ignores history because in their minds they have a better solution than what was tried before (they don't, eventually sin nature takes over and history repeats)
FYI I am a conservative Christian Constitutional conservative (which includes true liberalism and most libertarianism beliefs, ha!) The USA was founded on personal liberty and rule of law; however as John Adams observed: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The current Left-vs-Right fight is evidence of that statement.
I tried to be even-handed with my lists to find corresponding elements on both sides.
It does not mean that the weight of the phenomenon is equal, but you have to admit, that building personal bomb-shelters and filling it with the prepper supplies or being full time preoccupied with the rapture IS kind of paranoid.
The problem with the left is that their extremes are mainstream.
Yes, "building personal bomb-shelters and filling it with the prepper supplies" is only rational IF you are there to use them when things "blow up". Of course, there are lots of wealthy (and thus intelligent) businesspeople who have spent the last 10+ years investing in said shelters/preps, hoping their biz paranoia skills will take care of them when things go south.
Regarding Parousia (Rapture, that I believe in as a Christ follower), that won't happen until 'all that can be saved are', which requires Christ's Church to actively point others to Christ ('full time' if possible). Unlike Communism, proselytizing for Christ has no downsides for anyone involved.
The Left/Marxist extremes will eventually destroy any nation they grab power from. Much of the destruction of nations in history has been with Marxist (even before Marx!) principles and actions. :(
If you see the conversation with your sister as indicative of “leftists,” I understand your post. And, certainly, there are many on the left who would respond similarly (crickets) to your question to her.
I consider myself a progressive liberal, but not exactly a Democrat. So take that for whatever you think it’s worth. And while I do see many far-left positions as patently absurd, it seems to me that at least some of your statements about “the left” tend to show that position in its most extreme. What troubled me the most about these lists is that you appear to see the “right” as leaning toward compromise, and the “left”—well, not so much. I agree that the extreme left position seems not open to compromise. But so does the extreme right. If I were to describe the extreme right, I would describe that position as “I care about me and mine and not about anyone else.” Is this accurate? No; at least, no more so than an extreme left example is accurate.
I hope the question at the end of your post (Is there any leftist out there willing to compromise?) is answered in the affirmative. I know they are out there.
It seems most likely that neither side of this political line understands the other especially well. Several years ago I read an Atlantic article describing a survey that was taken (though I forget by whom). Its intent was to determine whether the left or the right had a better grasp of certain issues. The initial result showed that the right understood the issues better. But the survey was challenged, because the issues that it covered were issues that the right tended to care more about, so it was possibly skewed. A similar survey, concerning issues that the left tended to care more about, showed the exact opposite: the left understood these issues better.
Excellent post. I too have problems with Ayn's statement: a) conquered is the wrong word I think, guided would be better b) agree with you that if we 'leave them alone' then you have the outcome of Chamberlain 'leaving Hitler alone'.
"The left sees the right as uncaring and stupid; the right sees the left as naïve and irresponsible" ... or both (especially the left) see the other as evil, which justifies eliminating them (thus 'doxxing' or violent threats)
"The problem of the left is selfish narcissism, the problem of the right is paranoia" ... well, paranoia on the right can be justified because they know history and see what's going to happen "that we repeat because we don't know history"-the left ignores history because in their minds they have a better solution than what was tried before (they don't, eventually sin nature takes over and history repeats)
FYI I am a conservative Christian Constitutional conservative (which includes true liberalism and most libertarianism beliefs, ha!) The USA was founded on personal liberty and rule of law; however as John Adams observed: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The current Left-vs-Right fight is evidence of that statement.
Thanks, Harry,
I tried to be even-handed with my lists to find corresponding elements on both sides.
It does not mean that the weight of the phenomenon is equal, but you have to admit, that building personal bomb-shelters and filling it with the prepper supplies or being full time preoccupied with the rapture IS kind of paranoid.
The problem with the left is that their extremes are mainstream.
Yes, "building personal bomb-shelters and filling it with the prepper supplies" is only rational IF you are there to use them when things "blow up". Of course, there are lots of wealthy (and thus intelligent) businesspeople who have spent the last 10+ years investing in said shelters/preps, hoping their biz paranoia skills will take care of them when things go south.
Regarding Parousia (Rapture, that I believe in as a Christ follower), that won't happen until 'all that can be saved are', which requires Christ's Church to actively point others to Christ ('full time' if possible). Unlike Communism, proselytizing for Christ has no downsides for anyone involved.
The Left/Marxist extremes will eventually destroy any nation they grab power from. Much of the destruction of nations in history has been with Marxist (even before Marx!) principles and actions. :(
If you see the conversation with your sister as indicative of “leftists,” I understand your post. And, certainly, there are many on the left who would respond similarly (crickets) to your question to her.
I consider myself a progressive liberal, but not exactly a Democrat. So take that for whatever you think it’s worth. And while I do see many far-left positions as patently absurd, it seems to me that at least some of your statements about “the left” tend to show that position in its most extreme. What troubled me the most about these lists is that you appear to see the “right” as leaning toward compromise, and the “left”—well, not so much. I agree that the extreme left position seems not open to compromise. But so does the extreme right. If I were to describe the extreme right, I would describe that position as “I care about me and mine and not about anyone else.” Is this accurate? No; at least, no more so than an extreme left example is accurate.
I hope the question at the end of your post (Is there any leftist out there willing to compromise?) is answered in the affirmative. I know they are out there.
I know they are out there. I can name a few here on Substack.
(Like @Caitlin's newsletter) or Tim Pool, people I would not mind having debates with.
Still my contention is that the 'right' has a better overall understanding of concerns of the left and vice versa.
I do not think that your perception of the extreme right is accurate.
...but let me think about it a little more....
It seems most likely that neither side of this political line understands the other especially well. Several years ago I read an Atlantic article describing a survey that was taken (though I forget by whom). Its intent was to determine whether the left or the right had a better grasp of certain issues. The initial result showed that the right understood the issues better. But the survey was challenged, because the issues that it covered were issues that the right tended to care more about, so it was possibly skewed. A similar survey, concerning issues that the left tended to care more about, showed the exact opposite: the left understood these issues better.
I would need to have a chance of dissecting both. Probably both are right, skewed, biased and predictably stating the obvious all at he same time