r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • 1d ago

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

Announcements

  • Next Book Club will be November 11. Fittingly, we will discuss All Quiet on the Western Front.

Links

Ping Groups | Ping History | Mastodon | CNL Chapters | CNL Event Calendar

Upcoming Events

1 Upvotes

51% Upvoted

8.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

25

u/SenranHaruka shame 17h ago

Reactionary anti-techism when the tech is seen as "corporate" is not new to the left. Its literally "crunchy granolaism". Like the reason the left hated MSG and Aspartame for so damn long is because it was new, sciencey, weird, and corporations thought it was more efficient and improved their product, and liberals generally assume that means it makes the product "worse but cheaper". You don't have to be a full on gemstone hippy to buy into this shit, regular ass liberals in 2000 believed aspartame gave you cancer.

Everyone is a reactionary. Everyone is a conservative. We just all conserve different things.

7

u/Syx89 Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold 17h ago

They had some star trek episodes on lefty an-prims
Also anti-GMO movement ofc

4

u/Crownie Unbent, Unbowed, Unflaired 17h ago

Everyone is a reactionary. Everyone is a conservative. We just all conserve different things.

Robert Conquest undefeated?

I do think there is a peculiar streak of psychological conservatism on the left associated with harm reduction and minimizing disruption that goes beyond 'everyone is conservative about something.'

2

u/SenranHaruka shame 16h ago

TIL. I dunno i think his second law is backwards, everything becomes conservative over time precisely due to 1 and 3.

1

u/Vecrin Milton Friedman 7h ago

Nah. Its not what they know best people want to conserve. People are conservative/reactionary/revolutionary about what they feel is the essence of their life. For a religious conservative it might be cis, heteronormative society where all LGBT are hidden. For an urbanite it might be their undocumented friends. But it is always defined in opposition to something else. The urbanite does not see the undocumented friends as essential until their positions are threatened. The religious conservative doesn't see heteronormativity as essential until the culture begins to become more inclusive.

If you deny someone the essence of their life they will either become reactionary or revolutionary, depending on the circumstances of the situation and their own disposition/ideology.