A brief comment on the political pathologies of timidity
So many problems of the left become clear once you grasp that they’ve effectively accepted the narratives of their enemies:
Remember that phase for a postmodern approach “but whose truth is it anyway? we must destabilize western ideas of rationality…”- that was the left foolishly accepting that the right was correct on the basis of standard rationality.
Notice the contempt for stuff like economic measures? That’s the left foolishly accepting the premise that such measures vindicate neoliberalism. The left’s non-engagement with standard economics, despite its many resources for the left, is likewise a foolish preemptive surrender to the right’s claim of ownership over economics.
What about the degrowth bullshit? That’s the left foolishly accepting the premise that growth belongs to the right.
Consider privilege politics, the idea that even ordinary working-class people win in any real sense from a racist or sexist system, that’s the left accepting the right’s narrative about the interests of working-class white men being opposed to those of the rest of the proletariat.
See the retreat into caustic immaturity and irony? That’s the left accepting that they won’t get anywhere by trying to persuade ordinary people of things.
The left shelters in little enclaves, rather than engaging in bold political and intellectual work.
Do you mean this is a vice of regular people who say they are leftists? Because there are many left theorists of economics and rationality and so forth.
I do not see the regular people on the right deeply engaging with economic theories or theories of rationality. They often believe wholesale nonsense.
But the comment below from Phillip makes me think you mean the left is dogmatic. That's true in some circles.
As for 'destabilizing Western conceptions of rationality' there are many versions of this claim. Some are stupid and some are interesting. Perhaps it is Nietzsche who pioneered the idea. The left is sometimes interested in the idea but it's not particularly leftist. Marx doesn't have any interest in this, even if he raises some pertinent questions about what we sometimes take to be universal rationality.
I don't see postmodernism as particularly leftist, though I suppose they think they are. Maybe that's the problem.
I am always annoyed by the left so I definitely want to know what you mean because you're probably right about something. But I do not see it right off the bat.
An observation I've made elsewhere: In discussions like this, the term "Right" refers to the leaders and supporters of the main rightwing party (LNP, US Republicans, UK Tories), accounting for about 40 per cent of the population, while the term "Left" refers to a minuscule fringe (Marxists, academic postmodernists and so on), accounting for perhaps 1 per cent of the population.