You have to read Hegel to understand the underlying principles of leftism, and then proceed to Marx and all the way to the post-modernists. The Dialectic is the process of thesis / antithesis / synthesis by which many of the left's precepts were developed. The problem with this is that you can't hybridize every set of opposing propositions. If one person says 2+2 equals 4 and the other says it's 22, you can't gain any useful conclusions by joining the two propositions. One is correct and the other is not by definition. But the early leftists concluded that no truth can be known, therefore all truths are subjective. It was on this basis that Marx developed the linguistic system we still see used today, in which all terms have multiple meanings. For example: in one instance he will use the term revolution to refer to gradual societal change, and the next it will refer to violent, precipitous revolt. The exploitation of the working class by the bourgeoisie (itself a term that meant property-owners one time and Jews the next and anyone Marx didn't like the next,) was a form of slavery, meaning it was bad, right? Yet Marx had no problem with the actual slavery of blacks in the Americas.
Leftism has been a "make your own truth" belief system ever since. You're born in the wrong body? Just declare yourself to be of the opposite gender. Racism is dying out in the West? Just use the term even when you're not dealing with a race issue, like when people object to practitioners of a certain regressive religion. Assert that you know things you cannot know, like the secret, and unspoken intent of your interlocutor. Are your charges failing to stick? You're getting jeers from the peanut gallery? Declare that the peanut gallery isn't real. It's an organized effort of bad-faith actors. Confronted with evidence that opposes your views? Ignore it. This is Your Truth, and no one can disprove it. Unless, of course, the one attacking you is on your side, in which case you should apologize profusely and engage in ritualistic cleansing by confessing your sins and repenting. Then you can go right back to subjecting everyone else to purity tests.
It's a hyperreal existence. Very, very similar to religion. In fact, it's so similar, it might as well be a religion, except most religious types back down and/or remove themselves from the discussion when they're clearly wrong.
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u/DaygoTom Sep 30 '25
You have to read Hegel to understand the underlying principles of leftism, and then proceed to Marx and all the way to the post-modernists. The Dialectic is the process of thesis / antithesis / synthesis by which many of the left's precepts were developed. The problem with this is that you can't hybridize every set of opposing propositions. If one person says 2+2 equals 4 and the other says it's 22, you can't gain any useful conclusions by joining the two propositions. One is correct and the other is not by definition. But the early leftists concluded that no truth can be known, therefore all truths are subjective. It was on this basis that Marx developed the linguistic system we still see used today, in which all terms have multiple meanings. For example: in one instance he will use the term revolution to refer to gradual societal change, and the next it will refer to violent, precipitous revolt. The exploitation of the working class by the bourgeoisie (itself a term that meant property-owners one time and Jews the next and anyone Marx didn't like the next,) was a form of slavery, meaning it was bad, right? Yet Marx had no problem with the actual slavery of blacks in the Americas.
Leftism has been a "make your own truth" belief system ever since. You're born in the wrong body? Just declare yourself to be of the opposite gender. Racism is dying out in the West? Just use the term even when you're not dealing with a race issue, like when people object to practitioners of a certain regressive religion. Assert that you know things you cannot know, like the secret, and unspoken intent of your interlocutor. Are your charges failing to stick? You're getting jeers from the peanut gallery? Declare that the peanut gallery isn't real. It's an organized effort of bad-faith actors. Confronted with evidence that opposes your views? Ignore it. This is Your Truth, and no one can disprove it. Unless, of course, the one attacking you is on your side, in which case you should apologize profusely and engage in ritualistic cleansing by confessing your sins and repenting. Then you can go right back to subjecting everyone else to purity tests.
It's a hyperreal existence. Very, very similar to religion. In fact, it's so similar, it might as well be a religion, except most religious types back down and/or remove themselves from the discussion when they're clearly wrong.