4 ms·

As much as I agree with your main central paragraph, this Then yes, there's the SJW issue and the completely unfounded amount of obeisance to it that many de

As much as I agree with your main central paragraph, this Then yes, there's the SJW issue and the completely unfounded amount of obeisance to it that many democrats and their supporters expressed. seems misplaced. For context, I've been watching UK, US, AU, and CA news and politics for decades and my observation is that relatively few on left | liberal | progressive could honestly be described as all in, full on, brain washed followers of SJW issues, trans rights, drag shows, et al. The majority didn't seem to deeply care much past the basic human rights issues of everyone should be able to find a bathroom and most people should be allowed to express themselves. Almost without exception everything I heard about SJW issues originated from right wing, post Reagan Republican, neo Conservative, Fox | Sky Media type sources. Without taking a side, just observing the political strategy aspect, this was a strong winning tactic for the US right - hammer endlessly on essentially meaningless issues and raise the perceived threat level to sway the masses, offering a solution to breadcrumbs in the bedding type issues that now rank as empire ending catastrophic confrontations.

southernplaces7 1y ago
I'll have to partly disagree. I don't want to imply that the whole SJW issue was a driving factor, because I don't think it was. The American dems lost the narrative on many practical subjects that too many fence margin voters really cared about, and while the conservatives, MAGA types and republicans overblew aspects of the SJW side of Dem discourse, it was and is a real thing, frequently given obiesance to and in ways that often subtly or not so subtly implied that anyone who didn't immediately do likewise must be some kind of racist, sexist troglodyte. I'm sorry, but enough of exactly this was visible on the cultural side of support for democrat social politics that it can't just be ignored. It had its impact. Too many sacred cows were encased in too many groupthink bubbles of rigid "permissible" discourse and this was heavily associated specifically with the kind of social circles that democrat politicians are most popular with and pander to very often. For many voters on the margins, this caused a reactionary dislike that led to lost votes. Take for example the illegial immigration issue. This was something that many voters of all stripes (including many Afican American and even latino American voters) took very seriously for reasons they thought very valid to their contexts. Often, however, stating that you worried about it would be smeared as a part of being a racist in general, and that must have felt bloody insulting, even ridiculous to a hefty number of people who simply viewed it as a baseless character attack.
- defrost 1y ago
  FWiW I'm in Australia with a similar enough (I'm aware of the yawning chasm of differences) population with pride parades, trans people, social justice calls, etc. We've been through the political immigration hysteria, "Stop the boats" and "Babies overboard" tipped elections and spawned offshore processing policies that were the envy of Trump v1.0. That said, hyping fear of trans people following the lead of US podcast warriors pretty much fell flat on it's face here, burned out in disaster, much to the chagrin of aussie neo christians (small c) who tried to fly it up the pole. At the end of the day the actual demographic volume of those under the tails of the bimodal sex and gender distributions are too small to give Aussies pause but apparently so great they terrify the US conservative into embracing .. umm, whatever this current failing of US democracy will go by in hindsight. ( Franklin, in foresight, referred to it thus: I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. )
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    See also Franklin 'those who would trade a freedom for a very little bit of safety, deserve neither freedom nor safety.' (Granted, he was talking about a Pennsylvanian state finance matter in the quote origination, but it's still a good quip)

southernplaces7 1y ago

I'll have to partly disagree. I don't want to imply that the whole SJW issue was a driving factor, because I don't think it was. The American dems lost the narrative on many practical subjects that too many fence margin voters really cared about, and while the conservatives, MAGA types and republicans overblew aspects of the SJW side of Dem discourse, it was and is a real thing, frequently given obiesance to and in ways that often subtly or not so subtly implied that anyone who didn't immediately do likewise must be some kind of racist, sexist troglodyte. I'm sorry, but enough of exactly this was visible on the cultural side of support for democrat social politics that it can't just be ignored. It had its impact. Too many sacred cows were encased in too many groupthink bubbles of rigid "permissible" discourse and this was heavily associated specifically with the kind of social circles that democrat politicians are most popular with and pander to very often. For many voters on the margins, this caused a reactionary dislike that led to lost votes. Take for example the illegial immigration issue. This was something that many voters of all stripes (including many Afican American and even latino American voters) took very seriously for reasons they thought very valid to their contexts. Often, however, stating that you worried about it would be smeared as a part of being a racist in general, and that must have felt bloody insulting, even ridiculous to a hefty number of people who simply viewed it as a baseless character attack.

defrost 1y ago
FWiW I'm in Australia with a similar enough (I'm aware of the yawning chasm of differences) population with pride parades, trans people, social justice calls, etc. We've been through the political immigration hysteria, "Stop the boats" and "Babies overboard" tipped elections and spawned offshore processing policies that were the envy of Trump v1.0. That said, hyping fear of trans people following the lead of US podcast warriors pretty much fell flat on it's face here, burned out in disaster, much to the chagrin of aussie neo christians (small c) who tried to fly it up the pole. At the end of the day the actual demographic volume of those under the tails of the bimodal sex and gender distributions are too small to give Aussies pause but apparently so great they terrify the US conservative into embracing .. umm, whatever this current failing of US democracy will go by in hindsight. ( Franklin, in foresight, referred to it thus: I believe farther that this is likely to be well administred for a Course of Years and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. )
- ethbr1 1y ago
  See also Franklin 'those who would trade a freedom for a very little bit of safety, deserve neither freedom nor safety.' (Granted, he was talking about a Pennsylvanian state finance matter in the quote origination, but it's still a good quip)