I think something that has been lost about progressive politics and leftism and general (in US-centric circles at least) is that as much as people on the left disagree about absolutely everything, in general (with plenty of exceptions) politically left movements and cultural spaces tend to be far better at identifying common values and truths that are universal and holding individuals and communities to those values and truths.
Whereas on the right the endless stumping about valuing freedom of speech turns out to mostly be a mirage when it comes to innocent, vulnerable people being physically murdered on camera, on the left institutions and individuals are much more often held to a standard of values and called out if they fail to reach it.
When most people enter a space where left voices haven’t been systematically silenced, they often react negatively and feel rebuked. I know some of my first encounters when I was younger with actually left spaces initially made me bristle with how willing they were to say no to things that weren’t healthy, to challenge oppressive structures even if they were so normalized they were invisible to me… it can be an uncomfortable process but ultimately leftist spaces actually try to do it and it is good that they do it.
I entirely agree with people having ways to decide when politics comes up on their feed and when it doesn’t, but the idea that we are all just being a bit too negative and obsessed with the news and we should cheer up is honestly insulting in 2026 given, you know gestures at everything.
karashta@piefed.social 3 days ago
The red flag is at least, “they have so much privilege in our society they can ignore politics”, if not what you stated