Why do so many people who call themselves "leftists" seem so obsessed with placing people into groups? And why do they insist on treating people as mere members of these groups instead of treating them as individuals? Is it because people who think of themselves as leftists have low-wattage intellects and difficulty dealing with complexity? Or is it because people in groups are easier to regulate and take care of?
Labor-union think-tank "economist" and self-described leftist Max Sawicky gives us another specimen of lefty groupism to examine. In his view of the world, there are exactly three political philosophies: Left (good), Right (not good) and Libertarian (sometimes good). But Max can't figure out what to do with people who think outside of his boxes:
Traditionally libertarians took a jaundiced view of U.S. interventionism, especially in military form...The libertarian bloggers seem to be caught up in 9-11, well beyond the point of specific retaliation. A libertarian who buys into an invasion of Iraq has, IMO, severely contradicted his/her philosophy.Speaking only for myself (and not for some larger group that someone like Max might imagine that I belong to) I consider myself an independent thinker, with a range of opinions and I suppose that the closest description would be libertarian. The essence of which, as I understand it, is mainly about letting people think and make decisions for themselves. And that certainly shouldn't imply that I always agree with everybody else who shares some of my opinions and also considers themselves generally libertarian. As a free thinker I tend not to affiliate with many groups, even groups of Free Thinkers who would like to tell me how to Think Freely. So I guess that's one of the key differences between people like me who prefer to do things for themselves (like think) and people who need to be part of a group in order to have their thinking and other things done for them. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 26, 2002 08:30 AM
My my. In my reading, both the Right and the Left make simplisitic and snarling categories to make stupid and insulting remarks about. Your "expose" of the Left in this your lates post is a good indication of groupism that is unconscious but ought to be looked at by you. In general: the Left is filled with Guilt; the Right, with Rage.
A generalization. Right. Or Left.
Look, classifying people into small numbers of groups is always going to generate a certain amount of innacuracy, but that innacuracy brings with it a great deal of theoretical economy. It would be almost impossible to analyze any situation involving a large number of people if you don't divide them up into some groups, even if the lines were somewhat arbitrary at times.
Posted by: Matthew Yglesias on July 27, 2002 11:39 AMHaving lived many years in Germany, I often notice in the German culture an exagerrated tendency to put people into groups and then describing the characteristics of these groups. I would estimate that perhaps 65% of German TV programming involves describing characteristics of various ethnic or national groups and how they are different from Germans. Most annoying to me are the contentions in some of these programs that certain peoples (Croatians, for example) are much like real Germans.
Posted by: tatiana on July 27, 2002 12:39 PMThe left will always prefer groups as will he statist right. Since both philosophies attempt to convert by creating enemies. By designating a group of people as oppressors or inferior you can appeal to the "group" thats left over.
And yes, I realize I've just done the same thing. Except I don't really dislike ststists, just their ideas. I'm willing to accept anyone.
"Being determines consciousness" as Marx put it, that is what so many leftists think. This has oozed into many areas not immediately apparent. Thus black people must all think alike (and any who deviate from what left wing people think they ought to think must be Uncle Toms). All workers must think alike, and if they don't they're not really workers. Only the leftists themselves are exempt from this principle.
Posted by: Michael Lonie on July 28, 2002 08:56 PMThis thread is a riot. It seems like nobody read the post to which Sharkman refers, which post bears no resemblance to his paraphrase. Party on, dudes.
Posted by: Max Sawicky on August 26, 2002 07:41 PM