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WP64 wrote:This is a really good insight. But the question that should always be asked, at least amongst 'progressives' themselves, is what we are actually doing to shift the "common sense" in the country? When people talk about cultural hegemony, this is exactly what they mean. Unfortunately, the political culture of progressive movements have become increasingly insular. I'll defend liberal arts and the humanities until my dying breath but the way in which critical theory discourse has been instrumentalized amongst certain activist circles is incredibly pernicious. As someone who obviously supports the political aims of the abolitionist movement (and has also had my own political assumptions and world view challenged by their critical insight), I was always painfully aware of the self-imposed limitations of these 'progressive' slogans.chrondog wrote:All "common sense" and no actual sense.
Not really adding a whole ton to the conversation here but I actually understand the sentiment of JBW's post.
Thanks! That's a line I use a lot. I think it's important to recognize that reactionaries are very convinced of their own righteousness, their views are self-evident to them, and the framing that they are "acting against their own interest" is always wrong. I think we need to be more flexible in what we define as "their interest".
The conservative movement exists in this country because, by and large, people come to similar conclusions about social issues. Since most people aren't particularly intellectual and just "go with what's right", I refer to that POV as "common sense" even though the views they come up with are often anti-science, anti-authority, anti-social, etc. The constructed wisdom of our country is inherently conservative.
I think your question is good as well. And agree with your analysis that progressivism has been gatekept.
Another line I used to use a lot is "it takes a college degree to talk about race now and that's privilege." Liberal academics created a modern language of race theory that was put out in the wider culture through social media. Then media personalities and Twitter heads made it cool to dunk on people for not knowing the lingo and speaking about race in the proper terms. Your average person is never going to think about race in a college-level academic setting and they shouldn't have to. They have to fucking go to work.
It shouldn't be that way. Socialism and anti-racism should be promoted with proletarian language. Democrats are simply afraid that the "common sense" of the country is against them and they need to hide their true intentions.
"We screwed Black Americans in this country for decades and we need to atone for that, just like you would with anyone you've wronged. Young Black Americans deserve housing assistance because we made it illegal for their grandparents to get government assistance and own a home."
"Wealth transfer is what this country is about. We as the government regulate the markets, we support Wall Street, we run the Federal Reserve, we borrow money, we insure currency, we build roads, and information superhighways. We built that so Goldman Sachs could make billions of dollars. And we think that every American deserves a basic standard of living out of this deal. That is a society where we take care of each other and no company is worth more than a human being."
The fairness of progressivism should be explained in the most basic terms.
