The New Left

popfop:

The New Left is absolutely responsible for setting the stage for contemporary identitarian progressives. As such the whole "where did this come from?" act is completely disingenuous. The New Left replaced native workers with students and oppressed groups as the core of revolutionary change. Similarly, non-objective theories of oppression like Freudian Marxism were already popular. I should also point out that while the Left has always had a professional class which leads, the gap between the oppressed peoples and the leadership has grown considerably so they make up for this uncomfortable truth by adopting their own victimology. When the veteran Boomer leftist speaks of "the reasonable hierarchy of moral priorities" he means objective measures of disenfranchisement, such as income levels and educational opportunities. The contemporary progressive has no time for such things and is perfectly content to see oppression as simply, "I went outside and somebody looked at me funny" or, "I do things that make me feel bad about myself but I don't want to take responsibility." When we consider that the contemporary progressive is likely a jobless college student living off their parents finances it's easy to see why this mode has won out. Despite the irrationality of the political language, there is an objective self-interest at play. This is because in the Anglo-American context, the Left has always been better at politics than the Right. The language may change but the promotion of the professional leadership class is always the objective. From labor unions (the Old Left) to libertine upper middle class students (the New Left) to middle class young people with personality disorders and a medicine cabinet full of SSRIs since middle school (contemporary progressives).