Why Both the Far-Left and the New Right are Very Similar
Similarly authoritarian and close minded, that is.
Since the 2010s, left-wing cancel culture has been a major frustration in many contexts. Left-wing de-platforming started as a way to contain ‘hateful’ opinions, but it soon became clear that it was a way to contain any opinions that might be inconvenient for the postmodern-critical left and its revolutionary agenda. Even people with sincerely held opinions, who only wanted to make the social justice movement do better, or point out its blind spots, were de-platformed without much consideration. For example, during BLM 2020, even saying that the more violent protests were helping Trump was immediately met with cries of ‘tone policing’, and shut down promptly. At that point it was clear that de-platforming was not about ‘hateful’ speech anymore, but rather, a tool of the revolution, used to block out any and all doubters of the revolutionary agenda.
In reaction to the widespread frustration caused by left-wing cancel culture, some people turned to the right, who were pretending to care about free speech at that point. But soon after, it became clear that the right was no better on free speech. By 2022, the agenda of book bans, drag bans, and the war on supposedly ‘woke corporations’ like Disney was in full swing. In 2023, this escalated to things like the Bud Light boycott, and the Target Pride Collection boycott, with the full backing of right-wing influencers and elected politicians alike. Of course, none of that even came close to the kind of disrespect towards free speech that the Trump administration has been engaging in ever since its return to power in 2025. Just like the postmodern-critical left, the New Right has a clear sense of an agenda, as outlined by speakers in their conferences like NatCon and CPAC, as well as documents like the infamous ‘Project 2025’, and it will do anything in its power to shut down those who are in its way, in the implementation of said agenda.
Some people, especially those in the newly popular ‘decadeology’ and ‘generationology’ communities, see the 2010s and the 2020s as separate entities, the former supposedly more ‘woke’, and the latter supposedly more ‘conservative’, because of Trump winning the popular vote for the first time in 2024, the supposed ‘right turn’ of Gen Z men, and the presence of Andrew Tate and the manosphere. However, the twin phenomenon of the postmodern-critical left and the ‘New Right’ culture warriors have actually existed in parallel to each other throughout this whole period, mirroring each other as they both got more and more authoritarian, and less and less respectful of free speech, over time. (The Red Pill movie was released in 2016, and Unite the Right in Charlottesville happened in 2017. Meanwhile, the last time I was attacked for using ‘woke’ the ‘wrong’ way was in April 2026, so don’t tell me the ‘woke left’ doesn’t exist anymore.) It turns out that believing your side is morally correct or otherwise righteous 100% of the time, and seeing your mission as one of waging war on the ‘opposite’ side, inevitably leads to authoritarianism, no matter if you start out on the left or the right. When you believe that your side, and your side alone, knows the ‘truth’, and everyone else is either a useful idiot of the enemy (which is honestly how both sides feel about moderates and centrists like myself) or downright evil, there is not going to be much room for allowing for disagreement and debate.
I think the most important lesson of the past decade is that being pro-freedom and being somewhat moderate are more closely correlated than most people used to think. For example, some political tests have authoritarian-libertarian as a separate axis to the left-right axis, meaning that, at least in the world of that test, one could be far-left or far-right and still be libertarian. Meanwhile, in the real world, I have yet to meet anyone who is far-left or far-right, and yet still respects everyone’s freedom. The far-left likes to say things like ‘liberals go to the gulags too’ and are trying to rehabilitate violently illiberal revolutionaries all the time, and the far-right is never far from trying to impose their religious fundamentalism on people’s medical freedom. The truth is, when you believe in a strident way that your way is the only correct way, and more importantly, you also believe that the way society currently is fundamentally represents evil, and fundamentally needs changing, but most people don’t agree with the kind of change you want to impose, it’s very difficult to remain respectful of other people’s freedom. On the other hand, if you are a moderate, you are almost by definition open to listening to views on all sides, and consider all points of view without too much a-priori ideological judgement. This means that you are much more likely to respect others’ free speech and freedom of conscience. As I’ve said for a long time, freedom doesn’t exist in a vacuum. That the political polarization of the past 1-2 decades has led to severe erosion in free speech is simply predictable cause and effect.
I previously said that free speech depends on the existence of moderates. I not only still stand by this, I think it should be taken further: freedom itself depends on the existence of moderates in abundance, in any given society. It is moderates that have the most reason to support and respect freedom. If society becomes polarized by extremist ideologies in both directions, neither side would have much incentive to support freedom, and freedom would naturally be eroded, and eventually wither away completely. This, I’m afraid, is what is already beginning to happen in the West in the 2020s. Making the case for moderatism is part and partial of making the case for freedom, and we must urgently make this case, convincingly and forcefully, if we are to reverse our current slide into authoritarianism.
TaraElla is a singer-songwriter and author, who is the author of the Progressive Conservative Manifesto, the Moral Libertarian Manifesto and the Moral Libertarian book series. She is also the author of her autobiography The TaraElla Story.