Leftist - Blog Posts
I need people to think for a few extra seconds when they see a political take and figure out whether it is actually a leftist idea or just a facist idea with leftist words. “POC shouldn’t date White people because systemic racism creates an inherent unhealthy power inbalance” has the same outcome as “never mix.” “Uneducated people shouldn’t be allowed to vote, this is why Trump was elected” has the same outcome as literacy tests. If the central message has to do with restricting people’s rights to free speech and bodily autonomy, it’s probably not actually a leftist idea.
I'ma just leave these here for like... *Cough* Research purposes and such.
Leftist men say “let’s eat the rich” but still make you cook it first
Is this sarcasm or serious?
Alright this is gonna be tough for alot of ya'll to hear but leftist and progressive spaces need to be more welcoming to men especially cis het white men. The more we speak bad about men the more men will go down the alt right pipeline. And obviously that's a bad thing. If we want men to be on our side we should create a space where they can also feel included because if we don't more men will go down the alt right and alpha male pipeline
This is going to be a Christian based post so if you're not interested in reading a leftist opinion based on Christian beliefs, I invite you to just keep scrolling
I don't know how a human person can look in the eye of an oppressed person and then act in a way that continues to oppress them. The main example I'm thinking about is when the local government voted against a bill that would allow control of assault rifles WHILE SURVIVORS OF THE PARKLAND SHOOTING (literal children no less) WERE IN THE ROOM WATCHING THEM. Furthermore, an incredibly high percentage of people in power claim to be Christians, but lack even the most basic forms of empathy, one of the most fundamental parts of Christianity (and pretty much every other religion / belief system / moral compass??). How can you say you love Jesus, whose only interactions with rich people involved him telling them to sell all they had and give to the poor (the only exceptions being with those who crucified him), and then vote, lobby or otherwise advocate for policies that disenfranchise the poor?
The Acts 2 church is the epitome of the church as far as every Christian I know says, and Acts 2 says: "And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." James 5 starts with a warning to rich people that their wealth is worthless and they will be condemned for the evils they commit just for being rich (including not paying their workers fairly) beginning with "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you" and then continues with an encouragement for poor people to not give up on the faith because their endurance will be rewarded. How can you read these passages and think that being rich is a good thing actually?
In my limited research for this short post I found multiple articles about how being rich is inherently good, one of which was literally titled "Jesus loves rich people." Like okay, technically Jesus does love everyone period, but to excuse your exorbitant wealth that you absolutely don't need while billions of people are barely surviving so that you can be Comfortable+ (which Jesus himself and various other apostles and significant figures condemn explicitly) based on that technicality? Inexcusable.
While class warfare is one of the greatest threats we face across the board, other forms of systematic oppression (which are rooted therein) are still prevalent and need to be fought. To bring a couple things into perspective, Jesus was a brown Palestinian Jew whose mother was married to a man that was not his father (who were both teenagers) who all "illegally" sought asylum in Egypt while fleeing from a government that was trying to kill them. And that just scratches the surface. Furthermore, Jesus himself said "Then he [the Father] will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
You brood of vipers. You say you love Jesus and yet you hoard wealth and disenfranchise the vulnerable. I haven't even touched on many other problems but they're evident in the Bible if you pay attention at all. Let go of what you've been taught all your life and embrace the teaching of the one who is infinitely wise and drank the cup of the wrath of God so you could be free. He said to love your neighbor, so why do you hate everyone but yourself?
For the last time, hating me is not a political view.
I’m very annoyed with the fact that American news networks only really share the American death toll, 582K, as if Americans are the only ones that matter. It’s just more of our America-centric bullshit. The global death toll is over 3.31M. Let me repeat that. The global death toll is over 3.31 MILLION. 3,310,000. That’s how many people have died. Because Americans, believe it or not, are not the only people in the world.
(Part two of my message)
These are not the people I know. These are strangers who have been led astray and brainwashed by people who don’t think of anyone but themselves. My own family is almost unrecognizable to me. There are moments where I feel like I know them, when my grandmother will ask me to help her fill up her hummingbird feeder or sit down and tell me stories about her life or about my mom. Or when my papa will talk my grandma into letting me do something (yes, I’m a legal adult, but I’m still a kid to them) and then wink at me behind her back. But then they go back to being strangers, to people I sometimes feel uncomfortable just sitting down with. To conspiracy theorists, to people who, if they knew my whole belief system, might think I was evil. And it’s all because you value money over human beings. It’s all because you’re selfish. I miss the grandma who always bought me cotton candy when we went to the children’s museum, even though she knew I would get her car all sticky. Who taught me how to sew and helped me print off coloring pages and turn them into little coloring books. I miss the papa who would always carry an unreasonably big camera around his neck when we went to the zoo, who played basketball with me, and who let me ride on his lap while he mowed the lawn. I miss the people I knew. Those people are gone now, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get them back. I hope and pray that I will, but I doubt it very much. It’s a strange experience, watching someone become more distant every day, and yet still feeling them right beside you. Still getting encouraging texts and talking to them on the phone. It’s weird to sit right across from someone and recognize their face, but not the person behind it. It is extremely difficult, almost impossible, to come to terms with the fact that your family is gone when they’re standing right in front of you. It’s a kind of grief that is not easy to explain, and not recognizable to most people. But it is there. So, to everyone I addressed this letter to, to the people who have profited off of people’s radicalization, I don’t want an apology. I don’t want you to suddenly start fact checking and taking down disinformation. It is far too little and far too late. This is one of those mistakes that you simply cannot fix, no matter how hard you try. The only thing that you can do now is recognize what you have done, and let the guilt haunt you for the rest of your life, and I truly hope it does, because you stole my family from me, and I will never, ever forgive you.
To those who profit off of right wing radicalization:
This is a message for big social media companies whose algorithms boost radical content and lead people down conspiracy theory rabbit holes, for radical right wing news networks like OAN and NewsMax, for conspiracy theory promoters who know that what they’re saying isn’t true but promote it anyway because it makes them money, for Jim Watkins and whoever is behind Q, for all of the conservative congressmen and women like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz who voted not to certify the election results. And for Donald J. Trump. How dare you? How dare you prey on people who are confused and scared and searching for anything that provides them with answers in this time of uncertainty. You have knowingly radicalized people, torn them apart from their families, their friends, their communities. You have tricked these people into believing that the world is against them. People are naturally afraid of what they cannot control. They will instinctively search for answers that make them feel like this has happened for a reason. That there is something that can be done to make all of our problems go away. You know this. And instead of doing your part to ensure that people have the right information and know who to look to in this time of need, you chose to trade people’s lives and well-being for your own monetary gain. A large group of the population lived most of their lives without the internet. They are not used to being able to access such a large quantity of information. And they are certainly not used to a lot of it being untrue. These people grew up where their only sources of information were local and national news and the library. They grew up in a world where there wasn’t much monetary benefit to misinformation. Where they could, for the most part, trust that the information they were being told was true. They were never taught how to check the validity of online sources, how to know if what they’re being told is true. As a result, they are especially vulnerable to fear mongering, conspiracy theories, and ultimately, radicalization. You knew that, and you exploited them. My grandparents have always been conservative, but they were never conspiracy theorists. They always had their heads on straight. They may have disagreed with democrats and other people on the left, but they weren’t evil. There might have been differences between them and other branches of Christianity, but that didn’t mean they were Godless. They may not have liked certain government interventions, but that didn’t mean they were trying to prosecute Christians. In the past couple of years, and especially since the start of Covid, all of that has changed. My grandmother is always talking about how terrible the state of human trafficking in this country is. She’s always going on about how all of these social distancing regulations are just trying to make Christianity illegal. She said that Joe Biden is awful and not a real Christian because he’s Catholic. She thinks the CDC, a non-partisan organization, is corrupt. (Luckily she still got the vaccine.) She even told me that they’re making it legal in some places to murder babies who are already born. My grandfather, while more subtle about his beliefs around me, will still mutter things to my grandmother when smear campaign ads come on, and will nod along when my grandmother repeats bunk facts and statistics about antifa and abortion. (This is part 1. I’m posting part 2 right away.)