>The left is in a curious, self-damaging position, where lots of center-leaning moderates who are genuine progressives – are not meeting the ideological standards of those further left, which functions to their exclusion, thereby weakening the left overall.<p>I try to avoid placing myself on the political spectrum, I tend to believe politics need to take a well rounded view on things, so I guess that would place me center or something.<p>I tend to believe in a decent amount of personal freedom while believing the government exists to serve and provide social systems for the population.<p>I tend to find both the 'left' and 'right' push me away. Both are so extreme and exclusive in their views that they're blind to whatever common ground they might have with eachother if they have even the slightest difference in views.<p>It's ridiculous. Both far left and far right of the political spectrum have become caricatures of themselves. They've both lost all reason and critical thinking abilities and resort to black and white, yes or no, all in or out, fuck on or fuck off statements.<p>Human beings aren't like that, society isn't like that. Humans are a million shades of grey ans everyone likely falls somewhere not so extreme when asked candidly and given time to think on their beliefs.<p>Too much time is spent on alienating eachother, finding the smallest faults with eachother to show why they are 'them' and we are 'us' and not coming together over common ground.<p>I truly believe, the average person wants what a good majority of other people want and if people were given time to think and understand rather than react, the majority of us, whatever side you fall on, where ever you're from would likely have more in common then we all think, were we more able to look past all our differences.
The primary difference between 2020 and 1974 is that smartphones and social media greatly increase the number of people who can (and do) serve as the tabloid reporter from the article.
While cancel culture may not be new it certainly seems amplified by new conditions of media and the digital era, which seem specially able to manufacture larger polarized mobs and hermetic ideological bubbles.<p>He points a ginger finger at the left and its tendency of late toward puritanism, but I think this is too polite. (The modern right has its own tendency and gets no pass, by the way.)<p>One thing I find interesting amid the modern polarization of ideologies is how clearly the essence of "conservatism" and "liberalism" can be seen in their extreme lights. You get a much clearer picture of "where" each ideology goes when taken to its extreme.<p>Embarrassingly I grew up tacitly seeing "conservatism" as the "bad guys"; I reject that simplistic thinking these days.<p>People are people: the right and the left are cut from the same cloth, and both are subject to fundamentalist thinking. I'm speaking not just from media but how certain ideas falling from it have been trickling directly into my friend circles over the years without any kind of thoughtful skepticism or individualization.
>For no fault of her own, Katharina’s life is in shambles: her career is over, and her friends distance themselves for self-preservation. In desperation, she tries to meet with the reporter who has been hounding her. The reporter tries to extort her for sex, whereupon she shoots him. Remorseless, she turns herself in to the police for justice.<p>I think this describes Gawker more than the current howling mob. There is someone to blame at the end of the day, and there is a clear malevolence in motives.<p>Today what we have is closer to the medieval village in winter where there is nothing to do but go to the town square and watch the witches be humiliated.