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A better model is that "left" opposes oppression and favors care, empathy and equity, while "right" opposes barbarism and favors loyalty, family and just reward
by tnones 10y ago
A better model is that "left" opposes oppression and favors care, empathy and equity, while "right" opposes barbarism and favors loyalty, family and just rewards.
Most right wingers would e.g. see the dominance of left-wing thought in academia and entertainment as its own form of elite power, an unearned and unwarranted influence not based on merit, which only pays lips service to its own ideals of rationality and impartiality.
- gozur88 10y agoI would have said at the lowest level the left tends to prioritize equality while the right prioritizes freedom to the extent the values come into conflict.
- flukus 10y agoAnd then you have the regressive left lately that seems to hate the idea of equality.
- astazangasta 10y agoOriginally (in the French Revolution) "left" vs. "right" was about "the people" vs. "the aristocracy & the church". At the time this put a neat division between "power" and "powerless". Then we had a century or two of democratic power being used to pillory the rich; the boundaries have become confused. I think the useful distinction is still the same - one should always fight against power, wherever it is strongest. Sometimes, in the modern day, this means supporting government. But most often it means opposing the conjunction of state and private power, which still, as in the early days before the French Revolution, continue to travel together.