The right has been creating its own "realities" for decades, maybe centuries. You still hear about the antiwar protesters who accosted vets returning from Vietnam at airports with shouts of "baby killers." The real reality is that the antiwar movement worked closely with vets in organizations such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War and before that at coffee houses set up close to military bases. However, the baby killer lie was repeated so many times it became the reality. It has now become an accepted "fact" and good luck trying to dispel the myth. But there are always grains of truth in their myths. I'm guessing that there were instances of random people verbally attacking vets. Likewise, having spent decades on college campuses as both a student and faculty, I can personally attest to rare occasions when people on the left spouted absurdities. We are not immune to our version of MAGA, but they are the exception not the rule.
It's so funny you mention the "baby killer" at the veterans. I was taught that in high school, and only years later, I learned it wasn't true. Same with the POW/MIA flags after Vietnam. There were no Americans left in POW camps, but a whole generation of people came to believe it. Really shows us the power of a narrative.
The grain of truth in the MIA myth lies in the covert war waged by the CIA in Laos. The CIA will only acknowledge that an agent was killed or was missing. The operations were shrouded in mystery and families were never told the truth. At the time, many agents were classified as civilians. The total death count was in the hundreds, but very few remains have been recovered. Some died in captivity as the war was never acknowledged.
Steve Inskeep from NPR did a normalizing interview with Portnoy months ago.
Inskeep sees Stoolies as a key voting demographic and wanted his advice.
There is an insidious movement in the center-right circles that pretend to be center left, to make the democrats into a sort of MAGA-LITE. A little less accepting of racism/misogyny than MAGA plus affordable healthcare. Like the classic lesser evil.
I'm not defending Portnuoy or Barstool sports, but I can see his point about how the left does alienate young men (even if he is hystericizing with his specific example). I went to a pretty left-wing college, and I've encountered people who will use the language of social justice to justify acting like petty and vindictive freaks, or who will weaponize idpol to rip on men wholesale. Now, granted, it isn't as bad as the right would make it out to be, but this sentiment exists because it is rooted in some degree of truth or some lived experiences.
Even a fair amount of left-lib discourse and culture writing for the past decade has been hyperfixated on what was problematic amongst toxic masculinity (fair), but a lot of these pieces or commentary would stop short of providing men a blueprint on how to act. Even look at the performative male meme. Last year, people were fretting over how young men were being sucked into the manosphere podcast universe and voting for Trump. But men who drink matcha and read feminist books in public are also being mocked, because bucking traditional masculinity is inherently seen as performative. So how are men supposed to act? People like Jordan Peterson don't happen in a vacuum.
Now, of course, people who use this as an excuse to throw their weight behind a fascist movement need to do some self-reflection on their own priors. But I can completely sympathize with how young men don't always feel welcome in, at least, certain segments of left space, or how specific pathologies of the left are alienating to them.
I agree with your point on how there are alienating spaces. I think where the discussion falls apart is where those few obnoxious voices are expanded to represent "the Democrats" or "the left." As a fellow progressive-college attendee, I agree that many of those spaces can become ridiculous. That said, I think that's more emblematic of college kids rather than their politics. In my experience, college kids are silly no matter what they're doing, political or otherwise. I've found that behavior tends to fall off once people enter the real world.
Thank for writing this. It was so frustrating listen to Portnoy (as always) as he explains how anti-semitism has impacted him, yet for every other person in any other religion, or for people in the LGBTQ community, etc. he not only has had 0 empathy for them but has exacerbated the problem. Let's be honest. He built a media business based on mysogynistic principles and now wants us to listen to him whine when issues hit him that are close to what he cares about, is ridiculous. He is part of why this country is in the mess we are in and of course he loves Trump. They are two peas in a pod. Your write up helped me to better understand why I was so annoyed listing to his BS.
The right has been creating its own "realities" for decades, maybe centuries. You still hear about the antiwar protesters who accosted vets returning from Vietnam at airports with shouts of "baby killers." The real reality is that the antiwar movement worked closely with vets in organizations such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War and before that at coffee houses set up close to military bases. However, the baby killer lie was repeated so many times it became the reality. It has now become an accepted "fact" and good luck trying to dispel the myth. But there are always grains of truth in their myths. I'm guessing that there were instances of random people verbally attacking vets. Likewise, having spent decades on college campuses as both a student and faculty, I can personally attest to rare occasions when people on the left spouted absurdities. We are not immune to our version of MAGA, but they are the exception not the rule.
It's so funny you mention the "baby killer" at the veterans. I was taught that in high school, and only years later, I learned it wasn't true. Same with the POW/MIA flags after Vietnam. There were no Americans left in POW camps, but a whole generation of people came to believe it. Really shows us the power of a narrative.
The grain of truth in the MIA myth lies in the covert war waged by the CIA in Laos. The CIA will only acknowledge that an agent was killed or was missing. The operations were shrouded in mystery and families were never told the truth. At the time, many agents were classified as civilians. The total death count was in the hundreds, but very few remains have been recovered. Some died in captivity as the war was never acknowledged.
Being an asshole and not apologizing for it. Thats modern conservatism.
Steve Inskeep from NPR did a normalizing interview with Portnoy months ago.
Inskeep sees Stoolies as a key voting demographic and wanted his advice.
There is an insidious movement in the center-right circles that pretend to be center left, to make the democrats into a sort of MAGA-LITE. A little less accepting of racism/misogyny than MAGA plus affordable healthcare. Like the classic lesser evil.
I'm not defending Portnuoy or Barstool sports, but I can see his point about how the left does alienate young men (even if he is hystericizing with his specific example). I went to a pretty left-wing college, and I've encountered people who will use the language of social justice to justify acting like petty and vindictive freaks, or who will weaponize idpol to rip on men wholesale. Now, granted, it isn't as bad as the right would make it out to be, but this sentiment exists because it is rooted in some degree of truth or some lived experiences.
Even a fair amount of left-lib discourse and culture writing for the past decade has been hyperfixated on what was problematic amongst toxic masculinity (fair), but a lot of these pieces or commentary would stop short of providing men a blueprint on how to act. Even look at the performative male meme. Last year, people were fretting over how young men were being sucked into the manosphere podcast universe and voting for Trump. But men who drink matcha and read feminist books in public are also being mocked, because bucking traditional masculinity is inherently seen as performative. So how are men supposed to act? People like Jordan Peterson don't happen in a vacuum.
Now, of course, people who use this as an excuse to throw their weight behind a fascist movement need to do some self-reflection on their own priors. But I can completely sympathize with how young men don't always feel welcome in, at least, certain segments of left space, or how specific pathologies of the left are alienating to them.
I agree with your point on how there are alienating spaces. I think where the discussion falls apart is where those few obnoxious voices are expanded to represent "the Democrats" or "the left." As a fellow progressive-college attendee, I agree that many of those spaces can become ridiculous. That said, I think that's more emblematic of college kids rather than their politics. In my experience, college kids are silly no matter what they're doing, political or otherwise. I've found that behavior tends to fall off once people enter the real world.
Thank for writing this. It was so frustrating listen to Portnoy (as always) as he explains how anti-semitism has impacted him, yet for every other person in any other religion, or for people in the LGBTQ community, etc. he not only has had 0 empathy for them but has exacerbated the problem. Let's be honest. He built a media business based on mysogynistic principles and now wants us to listen to him whine when issues hit him that are close to what he cares about, is ridiculous. He is part of why this country is in the mess we are in and of course he loves Trump. They are two peas in a pod. Your write up helped me to better understand why I was so annoyed listing to his BS.
The minute the AI bubble bursts and Trump loses his rizz, Portnoy will pretend he never supported him in the first place.
Ah but the Internet is forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hois8NpBiw0
Honestly, how many generations of inbreeding went into making that weird-ass face of his?
Portnoy's an ignorant idiot who got the perfect gig. Unfortunately for him, he's also Jewish.
He went down to Mississippi, got called a kike, and then sounded off exactly as a woke liberal would. Even had the kid arrested for "hate speech."
https://youtu.be/gTS1yhcaWkc
Portnoy's just fine with all the hateful language in the world so long as it is not directed at HIM.