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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCan someone please give me names of some in the alt-left
and what their policies are that make them alt-left?
I'm clueless.
HAB911
(8,891 posts)Trash thread.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)those who claim alt-left to put up ... if not it PROVES this is a false accusation!
And any names given can be checked out.
Iggo
(47,552 posts)Sorry about that.
I simply meant that I was sending this thread to the trash bin by using the "Trash Thread" option.
I also realize I could've just done that without saying I was going to do that. So again, I apologize.
Snotcicles
(9,089 posts)I think it is used as an attempt to diminish a progressive opponent and their argument.
I think it is most often used by the right. And by centrist on the left when trying to appease by diluting a solid progressive position and watering it down to a mediocre compromise.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Response to Snotcicles (Reply #10)
snooper2 This message was self-deleted by its author.
emulatorloo
(44,124 posts)The "professional left" was a term referring to professional pundits who are paid to give their opinions on television, in newspapers, etc.
Some DU'ers, who seem to love hyperbole and outrage, twisted it to mean all leftists, but it wasn't.
I am on the left but I'm not a paid blogger, newspaper opinion writer, nor am I paid to go on television.
I doubt you are either. So we aren't of the professional left
The "alt-left" definition to me describes folks who have defined themselves as "progressives" who don't really believe in all the core values of progressivism. At times they even adopt reactionary positions.
They often use right wing sources like Breitbart to smear Democrats. We saw a lot of that at DU in the primary wars. Happily those days are over on DU.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)debbie lusignan
snooper2
(30,151 posts)And look at the people that use this term. Really tells you all you need to know.
Warpy
(111,257 posts)who need somebody in our own party to fight against since "Bernie Bros" is getting their posts hidden.
Everybody knows who they mean, of course.
Cha
(297,220 posts)"Chris Hedges, Jill Stein, Ralph Nader, Julian Assange, Cornel West, Jimmy Dore, Susan Sarandon", etc etc..
And, just who are these "Democratic Conservative" that you're accusing?
Cha
(297,220 posts)LIED and voted 3rd party.. and helped Fascistrump get Rigged in.
DanTex
(20,709 posts)It's not their policies that make them alt-left, it's the fact that they want to burn everything to the ground, which is why they try to help Republicans get elected despite claiming to have left-wing views.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)it's just a handful of people who don't care WHO runs (ruins) our country?
DanTex
(20,709 posts)It's the "after Hitler, our turn" kind of thinking.
HughBeaumont
(24,461 posts)Those outcomes are the likelihood of 2017 America should they opt for "hellscape".
'murica does what's right by the wealthy. Once the wealthy bought government, religion, all three major political parties and the media, that was the last step in dividing the stomped-on by castes.
Leith
(7,809 posts)It isn't a movement, a school of thought, or even a "thing." It's a made-up phrase that reichwingers use to attack anyone not in lockstep with them.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)By Aaron Blake
December 1, 2016 at 1:34 PM
On Wednesday, the conservative-leaning advocacy group One Nation released a statement on Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders Lead Alt-Left in Hijacking of Bipartisan Medical Research Bill, the subject line read.
Wait. Alt-left?
You may have heard of the alt-right especially in recent weeks as former Breitbart News head Stephen Bannon has been given a top role in shaping President-elect Donald Trump's administration and agenda. There remains plenty of disagreement about what exactly alt-right means, but it's a loaded political term carrying connotations of white nationalism and even racism. And thusly, Democrats are gleefully attaching the term to the Trump administration and the Trump-led Republican Party.
The GOP's response: I know you are but what am I. Yep, apparently they're going to start calling what they view as more extreme Democrats the alt-left.
The term isn't brand new, but it has just now gradually worked its way into the mainstream. It started with alt-right websites like World Net Daily and has graduated to the airwaves of Fox News and Sean Hannity, who has been using it for a couple of weeks now. And Trump, who has distanced himself from the alt-right term, may have played a major role in pushing it into the conservative lexicon.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/meet-the-alt-left-the-gops-response-to-its-alt-right-problem/
CajunBlazer
(5,648 posts)MineralMan
(146,308 posts)and you dismiss it because it's a short list of names? Some of those named have lots of people who think they're terrific supporting them. I suggest that there is, indeed, an alt-left movement, but I don't believe that movement supports progressive Democrats at all. Instead, they are either libertarians or anarchists of some sort.
They're a group that really makes up a third party, rather than people who will vote for Democrats most of the time.
If you claim such a group does not exist, and simply dismiss the names of those who seem to be at the top of that group, then you have already decided that there is no alt-left. Which begs the question of why you posted your original post as a question, if you already thought you had an answer.
SticksnStones
(2,108 posts)angstlessk
(11,862 posts)and because I was curious about who the alt-left consisted of....
And I don't see a movement like the alt-right (white supremacists), which is quite noticeable and have named leaders.
A question CAN be just a question, without an ulterior motive.
WhiteTara
(29,713 posts)to the list.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)To lecture Dems- it's very common. That's why it appears many are helping the GOP and Putin. You'll never catch them wasting breath criticizing those two- but they have to go back to FDR to name a dem president they liked. When you you the math you have to wonder.
tenderfoot
(8,432 posts)they're libertarian trolls.
OilemFirchen
(7,143 posts)They are, of course, but a certain segment of the "left" believes them to be uber-progressives.
Perhaps therein lies a clue for the OP.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Anyone who's claiming equivalency had better put up or STFU!
PatSeg
(47,430 posts)Whenever they are backed against the wall, they quickly claim "both sides................blah, blah, blah". I think some of them actually believe that whatever they do, their opponents do as well, though many of them are just trying to divert attention.
The false equivalency tactic is getting really old and redundant.
The alt-left, if it DID exist, would be the likes of Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, or Bobby Seale, but they didn't come close to the ugliness of the alt-right. They had core beliefs that did not include racism, hatred, and misogyny.
"Both sides do it" or "both sides are guilty of..." - No, both sides don't and aren't.
LexVegas
(6,060 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,985 posts)Kaye_NY
(71 posts)leans very left on economic issues, and very right on social issues.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)And again, name an example.
Kaye_NY
(71 posts)In a nutshell, it's anyone who identifies as left and is a strong advocate for addressing income inequality, but shuns what they call "identity politics".
David Betras of the Mahoning County Democratic Party is such an example.
grossproffit
(5,591 posts)They demonize Israel but embrace Islam.
emulatorloo
(44,124 posts)MountCleaners
(1,148 posts)...it likens people on the left to the "alt-right", and the so-called "alt-right" (they invented the term themselves) are NAZIS. It implies that some disreputable group on the left is as hateful and doing as much damage. It's just not so. There are always some assholes on the left.
I hate this term. It's letting Nazis and Patriot far right creeps off the hook.
I know who they're referring to. They're referring to people on the left who WON'T vote for a Democrat. Fair enough to criticize, but likening them to Nazis makes me puke.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)Probably should make this an OP
How Putin Played the Far Left
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/13/how-putin-played-the-far-left.html
The Nations crop of Russia watchers have lately busied themselves by lending credence to the autonomy referendums in eastern Ukraine, thus legitimizing illegal and neo-imperialist land-grabs, or notions that the entire Ukrainian crisis was instigated by the Wests attempt
to smuggle [Ukraine] into NATO.
That these views bizarrely mesh with those of Trump and his Breitbart-friendly advisers is perhaps another oddity of an age of ideological psychosis. Stephen Cohen, The Nations lead Russia analyst (and husband of the magazines editor in chief and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel), has even been endorsed by David Duke and the wife of white-nationalist Richard Spencer, the intellectual godfather of the pro-Trump alt-right, as a rare voice of sanity when it comes to U.S.-Russian relations.
At times, the substance and style of what has been dubbed the alt-left are indistinguishable from that of its counterpart on the other end of the political spectrum. And Moscows info-warriors appear to appreciate the resemblance, as the American arm of Sputnik exhorted supporters of Bernie Sanders to vote for Trump (as did Trump himself, repeatedly).
In years of researching Kremlin influence-peddling, Ive discovered first-hand just how eerily similar far-left and far-right Putinists are to each other.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)TeacherB87
(249 posts)They include people like Sam Harris, Dave Rubin, Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, Maajid Nawaz...among many others.
What makes them "alt-left"?
1. They appreciate all people as individuals first, not as members of a group.
2. They have a firm commitment to the first amendment, including free speech.
3. They do not believe in shutting people down because they disagree.
4. Especially in the case of Harris and Rubin, they engage in many conversations across difference.
I highly encourage you to look into some of these people and decide for yourself, I for one wholeheartedly ID with them over the social justice left.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)And if social is reproductive rights and racial justice then why not say it? It's a very odd battle to choose, doesn't represent Dem values at all.
TeacherB87
(249 posts)All of the people I listed are pro choice and against bigotry of any kind including racism. Who are these alt-lefters you're referring to? Names please.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)I'm seeing some fringe people wishing there was a schism- or trying to cause a schism.
TeacherB87
(249 posts)It's a bigger thing than you think. I'm in liberal D.C. And have seen many of my friends reject the social justice left, especially after the election.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Then they totally missed thre message of the largest international protest in history- the woman's march. And if they think they can remake the Dem party to minimize social issues they are tripping for sure. It's core values of human rights and equality -you can't walk away from them and claim to be a Dem- period.
TeacherB87
(249 posts)I wouldn't necessarily go as far as you, however, and say they're a majority. Also, no one is arguing that we should walk away from those people. It's a rejection of many of their ideas, and a call to open discourse. Oh, and I don't conflate "social issues" with the "social justice left." The people I mentioned above are all pro gay rights, pro choice, pro social safety net, pro racial equality etc etc. They are all huge advocates for human rights and our constitutional freedoms. The thing is, social justice lefties are not promoting any strategies that will actually lead to the betterment of people unless they are focusing on actions and not policing peoples' words, inventing peoples' intent, and valuing groups first rather than individuals.
In your four-sentence reply, you managed to mischaracterize what I said at least three times. I'd like to say it happens infrequently, but sadly it happens quite often when trying to speak logically and rationally with defenders of the social justice left.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)If that doesn't sound like the old "you can't prove its racist (or sexist) , so let's just say it's not" crap yet again- then I don't know what it means.
Not promoting strategies? Are shitting me? Where've you been. Note this is the majority of Dems you're accusing of not actually having or promoting policies for human rights. So this is a joke, I hope.
"The thing is, social justice lefties are not promoting any strategies that will actually lead to the betterment of people unless they are focusing on actions and not policing peoples' words, inventing peoples' intent, and valuing groups first rather than individuals. "
TeacherB87
(249 posts)It's like you're talking to someone you've made up in your head. Are you even reading my posts before replying? I am a liberal because I believe in doing more than that, and I know plenty of people that feel the same way. There's no point in talking to someone who is just going to misconstrue everything you say into something they can argue against.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Last edited Fri Apr 28, 2017, 01:46 PM - Edit history (1)
"The thing is, social justice lefties are not promoting any strategies that will actually lead to the betterment of people unless they are focusing on actions and not policing peoples' words, inventing peoples' intent, and valuing groups first rather than individuals. "
Well it does sound like you think "social justice lefties" are "actually" not doing anything for the bettering people, much of the time? Hey, you brought it up- do clarify why!
You just provided additional evidence for how I already clarified that I'm not talking about the entire left. Ok...
And another change of subject to avoid responding to my actual comment...
I really don't know where you're going with that last bit...I've said nothing of the sort.
Why did I bring up what?
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Last edited Wed Apr 26, 2017, 06:12 PM - Edit history (4)
which is a left bros paradise... At least a third of the 'prominent', high-follower leftist accounts are emo...
The telltale signs --
Does the person spend more than 90% of his/her time hating on Obama, Bill/Hillary/Chelsea, and so-called "mainstream" Dems?
Does this person give Trump a pass on issues that he was up in arms about when Obama was running things?
Does he use words like "establishment", "neoliberalism", "imperialist", etc. way too often?
Does he think Putin is a cool guy, and Assad an sympathetic figure?
Does he ignore innocent victim counts from Russian airstrikes?
Does he try to connect EVERY global problem to U.S. policy somehow?
Does he try to connect EVERY national problem to the Democratic party?
With a straight face, is he able to argue why Ossoff wasn't "progressive" and why Mello is?
Does he criticize the anti-Trump crowd more often than he criticizes Trump?
Does he blame Hillary for Trump winning, while ignoring the Comey letter and Russian interference?
Did he scream for weeks about KremlinGate being a nothingburger with no evidence and now that evidence has come out (and continues to come out), has he tried to pretend that story doesn't exist?
Late last summer, was he screaming up and down about either staying home or voting third party, with his "Both candidates are the same" -bullshit? And is he still unrepentant for doing so?
Is he a hardline binary thinker? Is he one of those "Either the Dem candidate matches my personal politics 100% or I'm staying home!!" -absolutists? Does he have a purity test that no one person will ever meet?
Is he one of the people this week railing on Obama for daring to accept money for a speech? Did he rail on Chelsea and the Clinton Foundation last fall, but is silent about Ivanka doing the same and worse?
Is this person an self-styled unqualified expert on managing campaigns and winning races from a "Monday Morning Quarterback" perspective? Does he act like it's only the 'other people' who have skin in the game and never him? Does he seem like the type who has never done real volunteer legwork for a campaign in his entire life??
Did he support Brexit and Calexit? Is he indirectly supporting Le Pen in French elections? And do you have the sneaking suspicion that this is the first time he's EVER paid fucking attention to the French election despite pretending that he's some well-read worldly pundit??
Is every other sentence from him "BERNIE WOULD HAVE WON!!! BERNIE IS THE MOST POPULAR POLITICIAN IN THE COUNTRY!!" And is he still trying to reverse the outcome of the 2016 primary??
Did he not seem all that sad after Trump won? Even worse, did he grow some smug, smirky, shiteating celebratory "I told you so!" demeanor with fellow Dems, and continues to wave it in our faces today??
Does he not really seem to give a rat's ass about local/state/congressional races? Is he hellbent on building his "revolution" from the top-down? Is he one of those once-every-four-years voters??
Does he tweet/post angry? Is he a little too glib and snarky for his own good?
Did he ever say "But Bernie doesn't even need the black vote to win the primary, we'll win easily without them!"
Does he think Julian Assange is Jesus?
Does he think The Intercept and The Young Turks are the best sources for news?
Is he perfectly willing to post an anti-Dem piece from Breitbart, Infowars, Drudge, Daily Caller, etc. in an argument just to prove his point??
Does he still believe that bullshit lie about the so-called white working class voting for Trump out of "economic" concerns? And is he hellbent on throwing all the party principles out the window in an effort to win that crowd?
Has he ever said the left needs it's own "Tea Party?"
Does he seem hellbent on directly or indirectly "teaching the party a lesson"? Is he a believer in some glorious mythical lefty utopia of perfection that will rise from the ashes of the Democratic Party? If only, you know, someone or some cataclysmic event had the ability to actually burn down the Democratic Party?
Has he ever concern trolled the criticism or attention to Trump scandals, because it's going to make him a "sympathetic figure" if we're too harsh on him? Has he ever said we should stop paying so much attention to Trump scandals and focus on legislation instead?
Seriously, how many more you need? Because I can go on for the rest of the week...
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)if you want to add something about word policing or "inventing intent". SMH.
emulatorloo
(44,124 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Chevy
(1,063 posts)mcar
(42,331 posts)angstlessk
(11,862 posts)on my own, but like many say...not alt-left, which gives cover to the alt-right (white supremacists)(or NAZI)
kcr
(15,317 posts)This should be its own post.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Several of the writers for Jacobin, and their satellite buddies.
It's a particular branch, not the entire left. It's the people who espouse the ideology that the center of the Democratic Party has to be eradicated, and Trump voters are actually potential progressive voters.
emulatorloo
(44,124 posts)emulatorloo
(44,124 posts)genuine leftists didn't vote for Trump
alarimer
(16,245 posts)For today anyway. It might be someone else tomorrow.
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)BannonsLiver
(16,387 posts)Might be a good place to start.
LonePirate
(13,420 posts)nycbos
(6,034 posts)Also the far left candidate in France who refuses to back Macron over a Nazi.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)but I'd include Jill Stein, Glenn Greenwald, Julian Assange, Cenk - pretty much anyone who trashes the "west" for a living or are purists in the worst sense of that word.
womanofthehills
(8,706 posts)PoliticalPie
(37 posts)Cha
(297,220 posts)west.. asshole pushers for voting 3rd party.
PoliticalPie
(37 posts)Cha
(297,220 posts)PoliticalPie
(37 posts)Cha
(297,220 posts)Response to Cha (Reply #89)
Name removed Message auto-removed
clementine613
(561 posts)Make sure to watch the video that Lopez-Pierre made.
fleabiscuit
(4,542 posts)TNLib
(1,819 posts)But from the list of names, that have been posted, I'd say it means, Putin's employees.
David__77
(23,396 posts)I'm not aware of such a movement consciously existing called "alt left."