I said “those two people in particular” for a reason.
There are plenty of right wing people arguing that sharing certain information (e.g. legal advice for unsanctioned immigrants) should be illegal on the basis that it is “assisting criminals”.
No, the far right are the ones dismantling federal agencies like the EPA, the FDA, USAID etc., sending the army to police states they don't like, firing the person responsible for jobs statistics because they don't like the numbers, slapping 50% tarrifs on countries because they dared to prosecute one of Trump's buddies etc. (just some of the latest examples).
The "far left" (as the far right likes to call anyone who doesn't agree with them) are those who don't like the above and are protesting against it...
Which is a "reputable news outlet" to you? CNN? CNBC? NY times? LA times? Washington times?
Which of those totally reputable 100% unbiased news source owned by Ted Turner, Mathias Döpfner, Jeff Bezos or Rupert Murdoch do you want to listen to?
Huh, I didn't realize that these culture warriors were sitting in the highest echelons of government power and, just as a random example, wielding the DOJ to enforce their views and quash dissent. Yes, both sides are clearly the same.
> They may not be in the zeitgeist anymore but they would still love to ruin your life & career for not doing a land acknowledgement before you step into every public space.
Complaining about land acknowledgements as an example of the "far left" tells me that you don't actually have a handle on what the left actually looks like, as opposed to how it's portrayed through right-wing outlets.
First, there is literally nobody who would "ruin your life" for not doing a land acknowledgement, but also, the people doing land acknowledgements in 2025 are not the "far left". They're not even the left. Most leftist organizations don't do land acknowledgements at all!
EDIT: Since you updated your comment to include another favorite whipping boy:
> they would still love to ruin your life & career for not doing a land acknowledgement and pronoun announcement before stepping into public spaces
Again, "the left" is not ruining your life for not doing a "pronoun announcement", because they don't want pronoun announcements to be required in the first place, and in fact voice serious complaints whenever they are.
Both of the things you mention as examples of the "far left" - mandatory land acknowledgements and pronoun announcements - are things which you will find in very few actual leftist spaces. Where you will find them, however, is in mainstream spaces run by centrist or small-c "conservative" people, like corporate HR meetings. You will also, incidentally, see them on far-right media, which happens to be extremely obsessed with the concept of these things representing the left, despite the fact that actual leftists rejected them years ago.
Just because you consider yourself left and never cared about those things doesn't mean there aren't leftists who do.
There's about 50 different far left interest groups who care about different pet issues to varying degrees of insanity, just as there are on the far right.
Are we? Has it? I don't see anyone's life and career being ruined. If you're saying that the "grave mistake" is that you've made a statement and now other people are disagreeing with you, then I'll say that's factually correct, but I don't really have any sympathy for the position that you've been wronged in any way.
> I've edited what comments I could to reduce a further flame war.
> As we can see from this thread, you guys are actually super easy going and don't get emotionally triggered at all.
This is the third time you've made this exact accusation in this thread (although you've edited out the previous instances).
It doesn't sound like you're trying to stop a flamewar. It sounds like you're trying to start one. But not very successfully, it seems! Because thankfully people aren't falling for what's looking more and more like very obvious bait.
*Skud incoming* ← and that is exactly what destroying a life means. Criticizing to no end while the guy wrote a perfectly scientific paper, to the point that he cannot work with his potential.
He immediately gained a platform to try to become a right-wing talking head, an exposure opportunity most people never get, and despite fumbling that has been gainfully employed ever since leaving Google.
Is that a destroyed life? It seems incredibly few people have ever been actually "canceled" in the life-destroying way the right-wing claims to be happening everywhere. Louis CK famously assaulted women and won a Grammy while supposedly being cancelled.
I worked in Silicon Valley in the 2010s, I'm not "buying" anything. I'm speaking from lived experience from sitting in actual meetings with these people.
Also, it appears I made a massive mistake trying to support a centrist "both far left and far right are bad" comment from OP, as this is now a flame war.
You assume people are buying something because "both sides" are doing it. But what about those who aren't ideologically aligned with either end and instead exist in the space between?
The US barely has any genuinely left-wing politicians (Bernie Sanders, AOC, DSA). There are no one who realistically could be called far left in any significant position of governing power.
Even these are not far left, they're just basic liberal left.
Which groups or media that are commonly labeled 'far left' that are calling for nationalizing all land. Or eliminating all inheritances. Or nationalizing all communications and transportation industries. Or nationalizing the Federal Reserve (that one's really gone horseshoe theory, and is a republican plan now).
The only thing 'far left' people want to nationalize is health care, and that's simply the fiscally responsible policy. The thing that is crushing the federal budget is the obscene level of graft occurring in that industry, and the only way out is to nationalize or otherwise burn the existing system to the ground via government policy.
There's a whole bunch of socialism to the right of *!=) Marx and the left of classic liberalism.
Words have meaning, trying to characterise "far left" as some sort of US caricature of Blue haired liberal types is less than useful and only serves right wing outlets.
There is very little left wing discourse in the US.
GP was saying that there are hardly far left politicians, saying that the few that exist are Sanders/AOC/DSA.
I was just pointing out that even these are not actual socialists, they're Democratic Socialists of the stripe you find in the mainstream in a lot of staunchly capitalist European nations. There are definitely zero literal far-left politicians, objectively speaking.
Socialist/social democrat are two related but distinct concepts are confusing for those not versed in political science, but their definitions have certainly not changed: democratic socialists for example don't advocate for communal ownership or central planning. The actual policies put forward by DSA candidates in the US, viewed through a political science analysis, are vanilla liberal. The only thing making them 'far left' is that actual far right monied interests have systematically dragged the Overton Window into a place where "public figure performing the Nazi salute on the capitol steps" is "controversial, in some circles" rather than "immediately career-ending."
Yes - the Overton window in the US has shifted so far right that a Nazi salute is more or less mainstream, whereas democratic socialists like Sanders/AOC are now "far left". And judges who dare block Trump's actions are, of course, "radical left lunatics" (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/federal-judge...).
This is a case where left and right can work together for totally different reasons. The left is fighting for rape porn in video games, and the right doesn’t want gun stores definanced. Both win with credit platform neutrality.
Far left not needed. The center left will gladly do it.
what far left are you talking about exactly?
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Far right is calling for the government to block access to certain things they don't like aka censorship.
Far left is critiquing those who don't virtue signal enough. That isn't censorship at all.
You have them reversed. Are the far right the ones wanting to censor Musk, Trump and everyone else they don't like?
The far right don’t seem to want to censor those two people in particular, no.
Precisely. It's the far left who wants people censored.
I said “those two people in particular” for a reason.
There are plenty of right wing people arguing that sharing certain information (e.g. legal advice for unsanctioned immigrants) should be illegal on the basis that it is “assisting criminals”.
No, the far right are the ones dismantling federal agencies like the EPA, the FDA, USAID etc., sending the army to police states they don't like, firing the person responsible for jobs statistics because they don't like the numbers, slapping 50% tarrifs on countries because they dared to prosecute one of Trump's buddies etc. (just some of the latest examples).
The "far left" (as the far right likes to call anyone who doesn't agree with them) are those who don't like the above and are protesting against it...
https://x.com/the_jefferymead/status/1944493236170403960
https://x.com/pr0ud_americans/status/1917906982624731624
Are you willing to link to a reputable news outlet instead? Or is that "anti-conservative censorship" too?
Which is a "reputable news outlet" to you? CNN? CNBC? NY times? LA times? Washington times?
Which of those totally reputable 100% unbiased news source owned by Ted Turner, Mathias Döpfner, Jeff Bezos or Rupert Murdoch do you want to listen to?
Associated Press or Reuters, bud. The civilized world typically doesn't refer to any other outlet when asking for reputable reporting.
Huh, I didn't realize that these culture warriors were sitting in the highest echelons of government power and, just as a random example, wielding the DOJ to enforce their views and quash dissent. Yes, both sides are clearly the same.
> They may not be in the zeitgeist anymore but they would still love to ruin your life & career for not doing a land acknowledgement before you step into every public space.
Complaining about land acknowledgements as an example of the "far left" tells me that you don't actually have a handle on what the left actually looks like, as opposed to how it's portrayed through right-wing outlets.
First, there is literally nobody who would "ruin your life" for not doing a land acknowledgement, but also, the people doing land acknowledgements in 2025 are not the "far left". They're not even the left. Most leftist organizations don't do land acknowledgements at all!
EDIT: Since you updated your comment to include another favorite whipping boy:
> they would still love to ruin your life & career for not doing a land acknowledgement and pronoun announcement before stepping into public spaces
Again, "the left" is not ruining your life for not doing a "pronoun announcement", because they don't want pronoun announcements to be required in the first place, and in fact voice serious complaints whenever they are.
Both of the things you mention as examples of the "far left" - mandatory land acknowledgements and pronoun announcements - are things which you will find in very few actual leftist spaces. Where you will find them, however, is in mainstream spaces run by centrist or small-c "conservative" people, like corporate HR meetings. You will also, incidentally, see them on far-right media, which happens to be extremely obsessed with the concept of these things representing the left, despite the fact that actual leftists rejected them years ago.
No true scotsman fallacy.
Just because you consider yourself left and never cared about those things doesn't mean there aren't leftists who do.
There's about 50 different far left interest groups who care about different pet issues to varying degrees of insanity, just as there are on the far right.
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[flagged]
> We're kinda proving my point.
> Clearly this has been a grave mistake
Are we? Has it? I don't see anyone's life and career being ruined. If you're saying that the "grave mistake" is that you've made a statement and now other people are disagreeing with you, then I'll say that's factually correct, but I don't really have any sympathy for the position that you've been wronged in any way.
> I've edited what comments I could to reduce a further flame war.
> As we can see from this thread, you guys are actually super easy going and don't get emotionally triggered at all.
This is the third time you've made this exact accusation in this thread (although you've edited out the previous instances).
It doesn't sound like you're trying to stop a flamewar. It sounds like you're trying to start one. But not very successfully, it seems! Because thankfully people aren't falling for what's looking more and more like very obvious bait.
[dead]
who's life has been ruined? be specific
meanwhile the other side of the "both sides are the same" coin is literally building open air prison camps and selling merchandise for them
you are buying it hook line and sinker
James Damore.
*Skud incoming* ← and that is exactly what destroying a life means. Criticizing to no end while the guy wrote a perfectly scientific paper, to the point that he cannot work with his potential.
He immediately gained a platform to try to become a right-wing talking head, an exposure opportunity most people never get, and despite fumbling that has been gainfully employed ever since leaving Google.
Is that a destroyed life? It seems incredibly few people have ever been actually "canceled" in the life-destroying way the right-wing claims to be happening everywhere. Louis CK famously assaulted women and won a Grammy while supposedly being cancelled.
I worked in Silicon Valley in the 2010s, I'm not "buying" anything. I'm speaking from lived experience from sitting in actual meetings with these people.
Also, it appears I made a massive mistake trying to support a centrist "both far left and far right are bad" comment from OP, as this is now a flame war.
We're kinda proving my point.
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You assume people are buying something because "both sides" are doing it. But what about those who aren't ideologically aligned with either end and instead exist in the space between?
Just pass the law yourself I guess? (imagine a muscly arm emoji here)
The US barely has any genuinely left-wing politicians (Bernie Sanders, AOC, DSA). There are no one who realistically could be called far left in any significant position of governing power.
Even these are not far left, they're just basic liberal left.
Which groups or media that are commonly labeled 'far left' that are calling for nationalizing all land. Or eliminating all inheritances. Or nationalizing all communications and transportation industries. Or nationalizing the Federal Reserve (that one's really gone horseshoe theory, and is a republican plan now).
The only thing 'far left' people want to nationalize is health care, and that's simply the fiscally responsible policy. The thing that is crushing the federal budget is the obscene level of graft occurring in that industry, and the only way out is to nationalize or otherwise burn the existing system to the ground via government policy.
The meaning of words can change over time and across space.
The meaning of left and right in US politics encompasses more topics than the matter of who may legally own things.
Pretending that those referred to as left and right are all the same because the only true scottsman is Karl Marx is silly.
There's a whole bunch of socialism to the right of *!=) Marx and the left of classic liberalism.
Words have meaning, trying to characterise "far left" as some sort of US caricature of Blue haired liberal types is less than useful and only serves right wing outlets.
There is very little left wing discourse in the US.
GP was saying that there are hardly far left politicians, saying that the few that exist are Sanders/AOC/DSA.
I was just pointing out that even these are not actual socialists, they're Democratic Socialists of the stripe you find in the mainstream in a lot of staunchly capitalist European nations. There are definitely zero literal far-left politicians, objectively speaking.
Socialist/social democrat are two related but distinct concepts are confusing for those not versed in political science, but their definitions have certainly not changed: democratic socialists for example don't advocate for communal ownership or central planning. The actual policies put forward by DSA candidates in the US, viewed through a political science analysis, are vanilla liberal. The only thing making them 'far left' is that actual far right monied interests have systematically dragged the Overton Window into a place where "public figure performing the Nazi salute on the capitol steps" is "controversial, in some circles" rather than "immediately career-ending."
The list i provided was of left wing politicians.
There are zero far left wing politicians in the US Congress. The far left is literally anti capitalist marxists.
Yes - the Overton window in the US has shifted so far right that a Nazi salute is more or less mainstream, whereas democratic socialists like Sanders/AOC are now "far left". And judges who dare block Trump's actions are, of course, "radical left lunatics" (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/federal-judge...).
Center shit, not censorship.
This is a case where left and right can work together for totally different reasons. The left is fighting for rape porn in video games, and the right doesn’t want gun stores definanced. Both win with credit platform neutrality.