PLATFORM FOR PURITY

(Photo taken by Joseph Chan)

The liberal revolution doesn't impress me as I sit here in my underwear in the sweltering heat with fleas nipping at my ankles and a migraine pounding my right eyeball. I’ll grant that the major goals are worth striving for. Equality, fairness, social well-being, etc. etc. That’s all well and good, but the execution has become lazy, clumsy. Good faith debate has devolved into ad hominems, brain-dead slogans, aimless protests, and even violence. Those wanting to bridge the ever-widening chasm between the political left and right are castigated as enablers. They have sinned against the greater good. They are now culpable for the misdeeds of one ideology because they lack the uniform acceptance of another. And while good arguments can be made that both sides are guilty of such tribalism, I personally hold liberals to a MUCH HIGHER STANDARD having identified as one my entire adult life, and so I come down harder on them.

Before jumping in, I’d like to present a quasi-philosophical weapon that can disarm most political and sociological arguments today. It’s known as “Hitchen’s Razor,” named after the late journalist, intellectual, and professional drinker, Christopher Hitchens, and it states, “That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.” Such a line of thinking, I feel, is invaluable to the average Republican, Democrat, or third-party affiliate who doesn’t have much time between work and home to parse through the political noise blaring from all angles at all times. And it is THESE people I’m most interested in talking to, these moderates who are CAPABLE of being convinced one way or the other by a well-constructed argument.

This brings me to my essential gripe with the liberal movement, or certain prominent representatives thereof. In my experience, open conversation and debate has been the hallmark of liberalism and liberalists. Historically, they have challenged political and social norms with a solid, and perhaps intuitive, unifying ethic that all persons be treated equally under the law. Out of this emerged Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights and other vital political and social movements towards inclusivity. At present, however, this does not seem to be the case. It no longer matters HOW we establish change, only that change is established. This ends-justify-the-means, simplistic thinking discounts all nuance in the name of progress. This paves the way for fascism, despotism, totalitarianism… You might say I’m being overly dramatic, but let me ask you, when you use violence to stop someone’s speech, what would you call that?

Such a radical shift in liberal thinking can be seen in the promulgation of social purity tests, mandated beliefs that pit you against brute facts that, by their very nature, hold no political affiliation. Not to mire the point in a matter of particulars, but take the following three observations that I find to be uncontroversial. 1) Women are biologically different from men 2) There is nothing inherently immoral or “toxic” in being male 3) Sports stars, movie stars, models etc. of one sex should not be paid equal to the other if they do not draw the same revenue. To say otherwise, to me, is akin to saying the Earth does not rotate, that Trump has never said anything stupid on Twitter, or that I won’t have prostate problems in my forties. That’d be pure hogwash my friends, all of it. But here’s my point. To those people who disagree with what I’ve said, do you or do you not feel your temperature rising, your breath staggering, your hands trembling across the keyboard as you google a counterargument for each of my “facts?” Now, let me ask you this. How do you square what I’ve said with the fact that I have voted Democrat consistently my entire adulthood? How do you square the fact that we may agree on 7/10 issues and disagree on 3/10? Am I the enemy? Am I the enabler? Am I culpable for all of society’s evils because I disagree with YOU?

Here’s perhaps my most contentious political belief among liberals today: I don’t think most Republicans are bad people. I just don’t. I don’t consider them immature, prejudice, or stupid without some corroborating action. I look at Democrats in just the same light… Hell, while we’re at it, I might as well say I dig cops. I think the vast majority of law enforcement are heroes and deserve our respect. I don’t like that shit people spray paint on the sidewalks, portraying them as ominous, twisted shadows swinging clubs atop the heads of the innocent masses. I also dig the LGBTQ+ community. I work at a company founded by a gay couple. My wife is bi. I got drunk at my former boss’s lesbian wedding. One of my best friends identifies as queer, while another is trans. I forgot to mention, my favorites singer is George Michael. Need I say more? I have failed the purity test. I’m a walking contradiction. I think every healthy mind is too.

I could go on and on alienating friends and readers, haha, but I shouldn’t. I must have forgotten that it’s rude to talk about religion, politics, and money with company. Forgive me. I just couldn’t hold it in any longer… these armies of strawmen, these poorly constructed conceptual buckets used to separate the human race for ill-intent…

I wonder if Democrats will have a home for a guy like me by the next election cycle? I’m not sure.

And yeah, you can call me soft, idealistic, naïve for refusing to surrender the moral high ground, for my willingness to converse in good faith with those that don’t agree with me. But that’s okay in my book… not only okay, but necessary for a healthy, diverse marketplace of ideas. Yes, Hatred (with a capital “H”) finds a platform if we face it head-on… I’ve heard so much about that goddamn metaphorical platform… but I can think of a hell of a lot of examples when “platforms” were used for derision and humiliation. So don’t give me that tired old line that platforms “normalize” this or that idea. It could also DISPROVE this or that idea, KILL this or that Hatred. That is if you’re willing to do the work, if you’ve strengthened your beliefs and personal ethic through critical thinking, research, and debate like the liberals of previous generations. Sad to say, that’s fundamentally where the gap resides between true “revolutionaries” and posers regurgitating the words of the politicians, reporters, and entertainers of their respective ideological bubble.

Liberals, I’m looking at you… We can do better.