Political Infighting & Friend's Lost

 

One cannot deny that, when the Trump regime came into power in 2016, the country, if not the entire planet, came into “political attack mode”. During the last years of the Obama regime, there were a few political pundits writing and voicing their two cents, yet when Trump came to power, millions came out of the political woodwork, and everyone had a “valid” view about politics and the state of the world.

Back in the day I was active on Facebook, and after the 2016 election, the absolute vitriol online was palpable. An old friend from California turned on me when I pointed -out my understanding about the football players 'taking a knee' during the anthem. He said I was “unpatriotic” and never really was an American. He was right on that point, having been born in Montreal, but spent 30 years in Denver and 10 years in LA. I thought the players taking a knee were protesting racism and particularly police violence against the African American community. But he said this was all about disrespect of the flag and America as a country. He un-friended me without engaging in any meaningful discussion about the issue; instead, he called me names and empty accusations. We haven't talked since.

Only Last week, I commented to a friend in France about the US's disinformation campaign and regime change efforts in Cuba. My friend's partner is a Cuban expatriate living in Paris. Evidently, he had a terrible time during the revolution and escaped to another country ending in France. I don't know the details, but in an email, I mentioned Cuba to my friend (probably without enough empathy), and she attacked, calling me “narrow-minded” and an “idiot.” This person currently wants nothing more to do with me, even though we've been friends for over 5 years.

I guess this is my general point: when someone disagrees with your politics, even in the slightest way, they're triggered and resort to name-calling and character assassination rather than discuss their differing points of view. Name-calling is a repetitive arguing strategy, from Nazi, misogynist, racist, Russian asset or an Assad sympathizer. These are not arguments. They're ad hominem tactics, distracting from the issues under discussion. This, of course, is stupid and infantile, but more importantly, at least since the Trump era, this type of behavior has spread throughout the world like a pandemic.

This behavior can be seen online daily.

My political views are distinctly antiwar with strong socialist leanings. Aside from antiwar, moving to the Left was a long process of education and observing other countries. When I migrated to Australia, those in power were Labour, the left-wing of Australian politics. We now have been run by the Conservative party, decidedly right-wing, for well over 20 years. I will not go into details, but the country is certainly not better off with 2 decades of neoliberalism. That said, I'm willing to discuss policy with anyone on either side of the political spectrum without resorting to ad hominem arguments.

Because of my interest in geopolitics and American politics specifically, I read and watch so-called left-wing pundits. What I've seen over the last 6 months, at least, is constant infighting between these left-wing commentators. Intelligent people who once agreed on many policies are now attacking each other on silly political strategy and foreign policy points. (Standing from afar, halfway around the planet, I can almost believe this split in the Left is by design.)

Indeed many so-called progressives have revealed themselves to be nothing more than voices for the establishment. I guess they have their reasons, but this does nothing for progressive issues like ending wars, a $15 minimum wage, and medicare for all.

From my personal point of view, US politics is going farther Right, and this is worrisome for a variety of reasons.

Politics is war, and the strategy of 'divide and conquer' is a successful tactic against the enemy.

This is what I see on the Left in the United States...and this bloody well has to stop.

To lose a friendship over a disagreement on a specific policy or point of view about the world is ridiculous and just plain dumb.

I hope those who really care about the world join and finally get their shit together. Otherwise, the worst is yet to come.