Lately in the political climate, particularly in the US, we hear a lot about the Left and the Right which are the Democrats and the Republicans. Here in Canada, it would be NDP and Liberals on the Left and Conservatives on the Right.
An interesting part of this, is that people on the Left don't call themselves Left, they refer to themselves as Liberal or Progressive. Progressive, such a faulty description when used in politics. If we go with the actual meaning of Progressive instead of using it as a label, it would be based on Progression which is to move towards a more advanced state, but in a successive manner. Meaning, we only get step 10 when steps 1-9 precede it. Much of the ideas coming from the Left are definitely not Progressive in this way. Are these ideas are different? Sure. Progressive? Definitely not.
There's currently a huge divide between the two sides and it's widening at this very moment. Why is this? To find an answer, we need to look at the ideologies of the Left and Right.
This topic is so in-depth that it would be too much to cover here so I'll attempt to break it down simply.
First, we have to lay out what is considered The Left, Liberal and The Right.
As it currently stands, The Right are conservative types. Their thinking is based more around what is good for society based on current systems at work. They don't typically want to change systems, they want to improve on them. This primarily include areas like Free Markets, Capitalism, and Individual Rights. They also value Traditions and Religion.
The current Liberal types typically acknowledge the pros and cons of current systems. They want improvements on current systems as well as replacing the ones they feel don't work so well. However, they will be open minded to discussion and have the flexibility to change their perspectives if the argument is logical. They are pretty indifferent to Traditions and Religion.
The current Left types think the current systems are bad and should be replaced with some new version that they feel would improve society. Their views are typically grounded in personal and emotional reality. Facts and Truths are malleable because you'll hear a lot of "it's your truth" or "it's not my truth". Truths are truths, facts are facts.
Basically, the Left wants to drastically change belief systems, not just future ones, but past fundamental belief systems. The further to the Left one moves, the more emotional the belief systems become. The more to the right one moves, the stronger the resistance to change, because that resistance is based on established beliefs. However, when you reach the Far Right, then it becomes like the Far Left, which is radical.
So pretty much The Left and The Right represent the scale of logic based thinking and emotional based thinking.
We use these two thinking styles in every and any idea we come upon. However, I've observed that when emotions run high, logic runs low and vice versa. So they work directly with one another dictating the approach we use towards an idea.
The side that is making much of the noise and getting much of the attention lately, are the Left and the Radical Left. Though Donald Trump is also making noise and getting attention as well, but he's on The Right. The Radical Right would be the Neo Nazi's, but they barely make any noise, especially in the political sphere.
On the Right, the ones standing up to the Radical Left are grounded in facts and logic that have been established since, well, the beginning of civilization. Not to mention some pretty good common sense as well.
The fight currently looks like this. Radical Left and Left vs Liberal and Right. In fact, sometimes it's Radical Left against Radical Left. Just look at the Drama surrounding Alexandria Occasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, or the relationship of Lesbian Feminists with Transgenders and you'll see what I mean, maybe.
One of the big fundamental topics is actually surrounding individual freedom. The freedom of Speech in the US and the Freedom of Expression in Canada are being altered slowly because the ideologies of the Left and Radical Left are taking center stage. This is because they make the most noise and Social Media is helping their cause in a tremendous way.
The Left believes individual rights should be secondary to group rights. The Right believes individual rights are primary. Because the Left is making enough of a commotion to reshape laws and encroaching on individual rights, this creates a key element of the divide. There are many, many obvious ways in which the Left is seeking to dismantle fundamental beliefs and encroaching on personal freedom, to the point where they have become fairly radical.
They're not seeking to Progress, instead they're seeking to destroy and dismantle in an effort to rebuild society in their Utopian view.
The Right wants to see progress, but in improvements on existing fundamentals that are proven. The same fundamental ideas that has let North American society progress to this point. Also, there is no indication that progress would stop either, but the Left feels differently and thinks those fundamentals need to be replaced.
With such drastically different views and goals, it's no wonder the divide has grown so wide.
I only aimed to describe some of the differences between the two that are causes of this big divide.
No comments:
Post a Comment