The progressive left is appalled by Trump. It keeps them from seeing what got him elected. Trump said aloud what lots of voters were thinking and were afraid to say.
Progressives want to be diverse and inclusive--except to the 62 million people who voted for Trump.
I may not be sufficiently "woke."
I may not be sufficiently "woke."
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My friends in the progressive left are moving deeper into their bubble. Trump is governing more narrowly to his base, so Democrats reject him even more fervently.
Progressives' response is not to reject tribalism but to respond in kind, firming up the doctrines of their own tribe: inclusion, racial and religious diversity, empowerment of women, and internationalism. Trump appealed to the resentment of white, Christian men and married couples of what they perceived as the attack on them and their values.
They resented "political correctness." Trump mocked it. The crowds cheered.
They resented "political correctness." Trump mocked it. The crowds cheered.
I observed this when I saw Donald Trump speak back in 2015--back when Trump was considered a joke candidate. Here is what I wrote on December 4, 2015:
"Trump talks in plain, short sentences, and that he says what is on Republican voters' minds, which is that:
***immigrants are scary and they probably take some of our jobs
***Muslims cannot be trusted, not really
***white Americans aren't appreciated enough
***normal people get accused of racism or sexism for the itty bitty tiniest things that are "taken wrong" by people with a chip on their shoulder
***American leaders talk too much about partnerships and coalitions and peace process and diplomacy and we don't get the respect we would get if we just were tough."
Later in the campaign Hillary Clinton would use the word "deplorable." It crystallized their resentment over the disapproval they felt.
Progressives did not move to include the deplorables. They moved left, and re-defined immigration from something to be controlled into a litmus test for racist, xenophobic, and religiously intolerant thinking. In response they reject border walls and immigration enforcement, driving underground voters' concerns about immigration. Those concerns are utterly predictable. This is a time of high immigration levels, approaching that of the beginning of the 20th century. We have seen repeatedly that this causes friction and worry. Progressives ignored that and began defending immigration scofflaws.
This lets Trump make "crime" a proxy for immigration. This is a miserable frame for progressives: crime scofflaw vs. crime opposition and enforcement. A better frame would have been Democratic pro-immigration with orderly control vs Trump-style xenophobia and racism.
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The notion of a "woke" woman has also moved left. Front line feminism in the colleges and public interest organizations that do important work and consider themselves to be on the vanguard of positive change, define longstanding social mores as "rape culture."
I participated in a class intended to bring people up to date on current progressive thinking. We learned romantic comedy movies are rape culture. Yes, women like them, but it shows that they, too, have bought into rape culture where lovers mis-communicate, where the man pursues, the woman misunderstands or rejects, and the happy resolution comes finally when the couple communicates clearly. Consent culture is where people communicate openly and clearly and frankly about what they feel when they feel it. No shyness. No mixed feelings. No lawsuits. No sexual assault charges. Cinderella walks up to the Prince, tells him she wants him, he says he consents. Wedding bells. Short and sweet.
I participated in a class intended to bring people up to date on current progressive thinking. We learned romantic comedy movies are rape culture. Yes, women like them, but it shows that they, too, have bought into rape culture where lovers mis-communicate, where the man pursues, the woman misunderstands or rejects, and the happy resolution comes finally when the couple communicates clearly. Consent culture is where people communicate openly and clearly and frankly about what they feel when they feel it. No shyness. No mixed feelings. No lawsuits. No sexual assault charges. Cinderella walks up to the Prince, tells him she wants him, he says he consents. Wedding bells. Short and sweet.
We learned a man assuming he would pay for coffee or meals is rape culture, too, both condescending and an affirmation of male power. We learned resisting the term "rape culture" and claiming traditional courtesies or miscues between men and women are something less than an assault within rape culture, is a classic form of minimization and justification, which are themselves indications of "rape culture thinking." A professional woman who prefers a handshake to a hug, need not put out her hand to be shaken; the man should have known without the cue. It is not her job to communicate her preference. It was the man's to have understood it as an example of equality and failing to understand that the men should have known is yet another example of of male blindness, presumption, and privilege, itself a subset of rape culture.
There are new rules. Men need to pay close attention. MeToo is teaching people. HR is teaching people. Mistakes can be career ending.
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Women are energized. Bernie supporters who were never-Hillary are energized now as never-Trump. Women who were unenthusiastic in the 2016 election are now turning out to resist.
It will be a game changer. Maybe.
It will be a game changer. Maybe.
There are perils to this presumption. People do not like being called racist. Or bigoted. Or rapists. Or deplorable.
They don't like it even when it is for their own good. Especially when it is for their own good.
They don't like it even when it is for their own good. Especially when it is for their own good.
The vanguard of progressive thinking on immigration supports sanctuary cities--open rejection of immigration laws, for the good of the immigrant and for law enforcement in the immigrant community. In the mid-1990s. Bill Clinton had supported border security and talked openly and favorably about border walls, but the movement has moved. Similarly, the vanguard of progressive thinking on women's issues has moved the zone of publicly acceptable thought. "Woke" women moved the goalpost.
Having moved left, progressives empower the backlash that helped elect Trump. "Deplorable" attitudes have not disappeared. They moved underground. People learn that some things are unsafe to think, and as progressive positions move and harden, they silence yet more people. They are still there, awaiting some strong and fearless political leader who dares to say aloud what they really think.
Someone like Trump. People don't consider themselves deplorable. They consider themselves American voters.
7 comments:
I so agree with this. I try, in vain, to explain how those attitudes elected trump. I try to say that "voting your conscience" is done by Privileged people. These people must not need any of the safety net programs, have civil rights issues, or enjoy our wilderness, all of which would be supported by any decent democrat, and all of which we are losing with 3 branches of government as regressives.
In more populated areas, we must also remember that when people of color are aroused to vote, they can swing an election. The rejection of Moore in Alabama proved that fact.
Thanks, Diane.
For the information of other readers, Diane is a long time committed environmental activist, who has worked for some 40 plus years on issues of conservation. She also visits what she preserves. She gets out into it and photographs it and enjoys it.
Peter Sage
Progressives are able to extrapolate, Regressives cannot.
The future of gender is blind equality. At this point we are still moving from the subjugation of women, historically only recently recognized, to this end. Some women understand this better than most men, many of whom are mightily threatened. We keep ourselves busy with cultural artifacts, for instance jewelry or chivalry, thinking they are far more important than they are. Like the myth of race, gender equality will eventually be settled, when this knowledge becomes indisputable.
In the meantime Regressives will tie themselves into knots rationalizing a dying belief, male supremacy.
Having discarded some of the moral-absolutes many of us grew up with, many voters embraced Donald as he capitalized on (suddenly acceptable) bombastic behaviors and policy ideas. Of course, it's all unsustainable - those who diss science and the factual information it offers eventually find that out... BUT DON'T TAKE THE COUNTRY WITH YOU!
7 Generations...
Feminists (or insert your identity silo of choice) are obsessed with oppression and thus become oppressors...
I don’t agree with all of what you say — or seem to imply. I’ve always had trouble with the idea that to be inclusive, to not be judgmental, we should cater to people who judge others on race, etc. and try to keep others out, make laws against things they don’t want even though it doesn’t hurt anyone. Certainly hard to work with or include or have good discussions with people who are against science and don’t discriminate between facts and opinion. And I don’t think we should “go low” and sound like them to gain their support.
That said. I do agree about exaggerations of wrong-doing and, in effect, back-dating rules of behavior. I’m especially concerned about that as a woman.
I went through what other women went through... But I distinguish between annoyances, harassment, (minor) assault (Example: unwanted touch the perpetrator didn’t recognize as a problem and wasn’t told) and rape.
Men and women both were affected by a male-dominant culture in negative ways. Yes, women were the “victims” — but men who have learned as society raises these issues are appalled at their previous behavior. “We” didn’t know we needed to and could be verbally clear. “They” didn’t know they needed to ask, or pay more attention.
And as a hugger — I’ve posted on FB that I welcome hugs! And I try to make sure people know that, while respecting their preferences.
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