If you go far enough you wouldn’t be able tell a far leftist from a far right winger. Because they are the same person.
There has been genocides in the past from both sides. One indicator that a faction is going unhinged is that they become authoritarian. They start seeing in black and white and loose their humanity. This can be observed in both left and right. The massacres from the left are brought up all the time, so I’ll bring one up by the right to make it balanced. Don’t forget that the US dropped 2 nuclear bombs on civilians.
JungleJim@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Seriously? Unlike all the warm supportive right wing dehumanization. That person is sick. They’d be sick on either side of the aisle. Making this a left/right thing is small of you. I don’t know you so I didn’t expect better, but in a general sense I hoped people were better than what you’ve demonstrated here.
Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world 1 year ago
No. It is horseshoe theory.
Left or right, the extremists are generally extremely prone to manipulation
JungleJim@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
If it was horseshoe theory they meant to discuss there would have been no need for them to say “This is classic far left”. They would have said “This is classic extremism”.
I’m not sure how valid horseshoe theory is in the first place.
Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world 1 year ago
In terms of the written definition (and I am not even sure where that would come from considering it is a spectrum affected by a shifting overton window…), sure. But considering how much of online discourse is impacted by tankie influencers… meh
Its similar to (US) republicans where they have more or less become synonymous with the qanon crowd. That is not to say that they are all part of the qop, but they sure let them do the speaking for them.
Personally? I try to make it a point to use pejoratives like “tankies”. In part because I know people are stupid and will view even that as me saying “all leftists” (which is funny since, while I tend to identify more as a “liberal”, I am very much on that spectrum). But language evolves and a lot of the figureheads for (at least American, although I have seen some dumbfuck Europeans) Leftist movements tend to be blatant tankies and they don’t get the pushback because “they are increasing awareness”
djquadratic@kbin.social 1 year ago
👍
JungleJim@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
This started as an edit to my comment but became more a comment of it’s own:
Edit: I think you may be edited your comment? The bit you added sounds like a reasonable assessment, that anyone more extreme in their beliefs is more prone to manipulation, likely due to the fact their desire for change may override “common sense” as we might call it.
djquadratic@kbin.social 1 year ago
yeah I was talking about leftist extremists. not sure how the term "far leftist" was interpreted as all leftist