Why Left-Wing Activism Still Needs to be Challenged

Saying 'the right is worse' isn't a valid excuse to shut down legitimate criticism

Photo by Christian J. on Unsplash

In recent years, I have written quite a few articles outlining my disagreements with the activist left, as it current exists in the Western political landscape. As a result, some people have accused me of having an anti-left, pro-status quo attitude. This could not be more wrong. For the record, I began to support gay marriage back in 2003, I have long been opposed to the endless wars, I'm highly frustrated by the anti-science views that are prevalent across the political spectrum, and I also want to see an end to the polarizing culture wars. I'm certainly not a fan of the current status quo. The way I see it is that the activist left, with its roots in the 'theory left', is part of this toxic status quo, and it too should be challenged.

In this conversation I recently had with my friend Katie, who strongly identifies with progressive politics, I describe clearly the actual concerns I have about the activist left. I hope it illustrates clearly where my concerns about the left are coming from.

Tara: Some people think that I have something against progressive activism in general. But I think it's really unfair. I was a supporter of gay marriage long before it was popular, for example. It's just that I don't agree with the current form of such activism, specifically in the past decade or so in the West.

Katie: Perhaps it's because of your anti-woke posture in recent years. Many people associate anti-woke with the right, and with Trump supporters.

Tara: I took a stand against what is commonly known as wokeness, primarily because of its illiberal aspects like de-platforming and cancel culture, and the oppressor vs. oppressed worldview. So-called progressive politics has gotten illiberal, and this was something I was unwilling to see, so I had to take a strong stance against it.

Katie: The problem is that, many right-wing influencers have said something like what you just said, and then gone on to become full-blown Trump supporters and right-wing culture warriors who fight against everything progressive from LGBTQ rights to pro-climate policies. What I'm saying is, the angle you are taking on 'wokeness' is basically identical to the one taken by right-wing influencers to send people down a right-wing rabbit hole.

Tara: Firstly, all this doesn't make what I said untrue. The truth can be used by bad actors to manipulate people towards bad choices, but that doesn't make it not the truth. Secondly, I have made it clear that I find the reactionary right culture warrior brand of politics very distasteful. Many other anti-woke writers and personalities have avoided criticizing them, because they don't want to lose audience. I have always disagreed with this approach. I believe one must always say what they believe, especially when the stakes are this high. Being complicit in the rise of an anti-science, anti-democracy and anti-free speech movement is something that my own conscience simply cannot accept.

Katie: That's exactly the problem right there. Because of how the right has effectively used the anti-woke moral panic to gain power and enact reactionary policies, many progressives inherently associate the two. And I honestly think it's difficult for them not to think this way, when the association is so strong out there.

Tara: Firstly, I think we all need to be more intellectual, which means resisting the urge to think in terms of stereotypes, or guilt by association. Secondly, I can't help the fact that the 'right-wing' media ecosystem is funded by people much richer than I will ever be, which effectively means it has a megaphone to drown out our voices. Finally, let me make this clear: what I am skeptical of is specifically left activism in its current form, because it is ineffective, polarizing, ideological and sometimes anti-freedom. These are major flaws with real world consequences, including the rise of the reactionary right. And I think we can all agree that the rise of the reactionary right is not good. The fact, let's face it, is that the activist left has been fundamentally rejected, and this rejection has even led some people to embrace reactionary culture war politics. It's not something that the activist left would acknowledge, because for them, it's always everyone else's fault. But it's the reality. What I want to do is to provide a critique of the left, because this critique is sorely needed.

Katie: How about the argument that people like you helping to advance the anti-woke moral panic is helping the right?

Tara: Again, I don't accept that an intellectual critique of wokeness is inevitably associated with the moral panic being whipped up and weaponized by the 'right'. You can have legitimate concerns that build up into an intellectual critique, without the kind of moral panic the 'right' is promoting. As to whether my critique is contributing to reactionary culture war posturing, to be honest, I have been sometimes worried about being taken out of context that way. This is why I have made sure to state clearly my position on the reactionary right. I think I've been fair, in regards to equally criticizing what I see as wrong and dangerous on both the left and the 'right'.

Katie: On this point, there's now a strong feeling among many progressives that equally criticizing the left and the right is simply refusing to acknowledge that the right is the bigger threat to freedom and democracy at the moment. How would you respond to that?

Tara: I think that's effectively a sophisticated way of saying the right is worse, so we shouldn't criticize the left. But that logic would lead to putting off criticism of the left indefinitely, because you could almost always argue that the 'right' is worse. The right was 'worse' in the aughts during the War on Terror and the Iraq War too, remember. If someone actually took the trouble to criticize some of the bad ideas coming out of the academic humanities back then, progressive politics might not have taken the misguided path it took in the past decade. I actually think that those who use this argument just don't want there to be legitimate, liberal or progressive criticism of the left at all, so their misguided project can continue unimpeded. But the thing is, if the activist left as it currently exists were able to shut down every other alternative, so that only the activist left and the reactionaries remained, I think it's clear that most people out there would rather choose the reactionaries, and they will therefore win, simply because the activist left is so unpalatable. Therefore, by offering an alternative, we are actually providing effective resistance to the reactionaries in the most effective way.

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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.