The left abandoned the working class, replaced it with hedonistic lifestyle hegemony
Do not proselytise sex in the school or the workplace. We don’t allow it for Christianity. Why on earth would we allow it for anal?
I have a little bit of election fatigue, plus I’m not entirely sure what to make of the midterms, so I’m not going to go there this week. I suppose one could argue that the US centre is holding, perhaps a reassuring sign in an otherwise frighteningly divided time. On the other hand, I am one of the many people who saw COVID mandates as tyrannical and dystopian, and they killed the small business I ran with my husband. So I was disappointed to see the COVID governors get voted back in. They all deserved to lose their jobs, just as they caused so many regular people to lose theirs. When I think of the candidates who refused to debate or who could barely string a sentence together and yet seemed to have won anyway, my heart tells me that the 2022 mid-terms were actually an exercise in demoralisation for the masses. So the hypnotic stasis endures.
Something needs to break through this fever dream that public discourse seems currently trapped in, and sadly, the mid-terms weren’t it. As someone formerly of the liberal- left, I chose to direct my ire for our current predicament in that direction. There are a few reasons for that, but perhaps the most significant one is because the liberal-left is the dominant hegemonic paradigm of our time. And it’s failing miserably, by every measure.
Among its many flaws, one of the most alarming, and most redolent of Stalin and Mao, is its tendency to eat its own. With the left, even if you are an enthusiastic member of the in-group, chances are your position is highly precarious.
Case in point: Clementine Morrigan, a far-left Canadian writer with a large social media following who was cancelled for failing to be orthodox enough for her rabid subculture. Not unlike the Massachusetts moms mad at Bari Weiss, Morrigan’s allies-turned-enemies could not tolerate even the slightest deviation from the party line. I recently listened to a very interesting interview between Morrigan and fellow left-wing apostate and cancellation victim Katie Herzog, which just proved further how destructive — personally and politically — the liberal-left hegemony has become.
I strongly recommend a listen.
There is a lot in the interview that is worthy of your time. In particular, Clementine’s very interesting observations about how addiction recovery and twelve step programmes helped her step away from the cult-like aspects of her far-left social circle. It has always seemed obvious to me that the projection-heavy, judgmental, hysterical, mind-reading, grievance-nurturing, social justice left behaviour is in direct opposition to all principles of good mental health.
Clementine also acknowledges the hegemonic nature of left wing culture — which is important and something that we all need to do, far more often than is currently happening. In part because it’s crucial to verbalise reality, to speak the truth openly. But also because speaking this specific reality is an antidote to a particularly toxic lie: that the liberal-left is somehow a part of the resistance, and a friend to the powerless. No. The liberal-left, as it is right now, is a power player of the highest order. It is the dominant cultural and political force of a very sick society.
It was especially interesting to me about the Morrigan-Herzog discussion was that, even though they had been cast out of the tribe, they remained culturally left, especially on issues of sexual morality. Herzog is a lesbian, and Clementine a self-described bisexual, “polyamorous, eco-socialist dyke.” The difference between these two women and the movement that has repudiated them is that they are willing to accept conservatives and even talk to them, even while they live life very differently. That gives me hope. It’s what I want society to offer.
A funny thing happened when the left became hegemonic. First, it totally abandoned the political representation of the working class and replaced all class analysis with identity politics. And it replaced the power and clout it got from a strong working class voter base with total cultural and lifestyle domination.
This has been disastrous in two ways. First, it left the working class without political representation for the last two decades at least. And no matter how much it triggers people to hear this, the only movement right now representing what’s left of the working class is Steve Bannon’s MAGA and its various affiliates across the west. #sorrynotsorry
Secondly, the rise of the liberal-left culture that came along with the Boomer youth quake normalised the counterculture left wing lifestyle. What was far outside the mainstream even in the 1990’s — like, say, openly discussing oral sex — is now literally being taught to children in schools.
A facile, libertine analysis of this reality would say that is this great, it’s all cool, man — don’t be a square. And I’m not a sexual prohibitionist. But listening to two bright, good-faith women of the left talk at length about their culture made me realise: that culture is a niche, luxury lifestyle that simply does not work in the mainstream. Any consenting adult has the right to live a polyamorous lifestyle along with likeminded consenting adults. But to attempt to re-engineer society as the totalitarian elements of the activist left are trying to do, to make everyone polyamorous, or queer, or non-binary, simply does not work. It does damage, to young people, to families, to society. An adult should be allowed to indulge in fetishes and kink and whatever else in their private life, but don’t bring it to kindergarten, don’t bring it to libraries, don’t bring it to middle schools. Don’t bring it to brunch, for the love of god! Is nothing sacred??
Dominant culture should remain normie, that is what is best for people’s psyches and for culture as a whole. And I say this as someone who has never lived a normie life. If you reach maturity, become experienced, and decide you are a freak, more power to you. But do not try to proselytise that in the school or the workplace. We don’t allow it for Christianity. Why on earth would we allow it for anal sex?
It’s past time to realise how far down this highly sexualised road we already are. Recently I heard an ad for global accounting firm Deloitte on a podcast. The ad was tailored for my local area, Northern Ireland, as part of a recruitment campaign here. It featured a young woman employee of the company boasting that she has been “pansexual” since the age of 13. I’m the mother of a thirteen year old. Not a single child that age should be exposed to such an advanced — another word would be nonsensical — sexual concept. Anyone who says otherwise is either deeply predatory or dangerously naive.
Listening to Morrigan and Herzog, I was comforted to know that there are still open-minded people on the left. And I feel comfortable with extremely non-traditional lifestyles in the hands of someone like Morrigan, who seems smart, willing to learn from experience, and mature. But those lifestyles are not safe when being pushed by a fusion of corporate and state power. Down that road lies horror.
Bravo, Jenny. We must all speak out against this dangerous madness as much as possible.
To say that the American electoral process resembles a Banana Republic is to insult third-world elections. Pretend democracies around the world at least make an effort to force everyone to vote and wrap up their sham elections within a day. They then declare the pre-determined winner within hours so as not to make their citizens skeptical about their ability to run elections, since the people already know the system is rigged.
Not so in post-COVID America. Sometime around 2020, American elections transformed into a never ending process where the plebes get to vote (inside the comfort of home) around two months before "election day". This process often begins weeks before the voters can watch the candidates debate (a process that happens even in Iran) so that one political party has the opportunity to run candidates with significant mental impairments (dementia, strokes, the inability to speak).
Once election day is over, the outcome at the national level is not declared for at least five days, but usually longer. The best part of all this, in regions of the country where the race is particularly tight, after a week-long count and recount of ballots that never stop arriving, said party running mentally defective candidates is miraculously declared the winner of the previously mentioned tight races by the mainstream corporate media.
By all means Jenny, please feel free to have election fatigue like the rest of us!