Dennis Prager is really good at analyzing the left.....and why they are destructive......
What, then, is leftism?
Leftism is the attempt to destroy the past -- every value and every institution, the good as well as what it regards as the bad.
That is why leftists, by definition, hate conservatism. Conservatism seeks to conserve the best from the past. The Left seeks to destroy the past, including the best.
The first of the modern left-wing revolutions, the French Revolution, quite consciously sought to destroy every major institution and value of French society -- not just the monarchy but God, religion, the legal system, traditional notions of good and evil, the calendar, the old way of telling time, the old weights and measures, and even the names of the days of the week. In other words, the past. Just like the Left in contemporary America, the leftists of the French Revolution toppled statues -- in their case, the statues of every king of France.
The next major left-wing revolution, the Russian, did the same. As the Soviet dissident joke went, "In the Soviet Union the future is known; it's the past which is always changing."
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"What is leftism?" is not at all the same as "What is liberalism?" Leftism and liberalism share almost no values. Indeed, perhaps the greatest tragedy of America today is that liberals do not vote their values. Leftists vote their values, and conservatives vote their values. But liberals vote for left-wing values, almost none of which they hold.
To cite but two examples: Liberals do not believe in racial segregation, whereas the left does: all-black dorms, all-black graduation exercises, different standards for blacks, etc. And liberals do not believe that males who say they are females should be allowed to compete in women's sports; only leftists do.
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In a very real sense, today's leftism began in the 1960s with the infamous clarion call, "Never trust anyone over 30." That phrase meant nothing less than "value nothing from the past." Precisely what all leftism has been about -- from France under its revolutionaries to Russia under the Bolsheviks to China under Mao to America under the Left.
That is why, as I have said almost every day on my radio show for years, "The Left destroys everything it touches."
Whatever its noble-sounding rhetoric, the Left stands for nothing and therefore builds nothing (other than state power). Aside from state power, it only destroys.
Leftism in music, art, sculpture, and architecture destroyed everything beautiful and noble that had been created over all the preceding centuries.
It is destroying the universities, the high schools, and the elementary schools.
It is destroying science. More and more medical schools, for example, no longer speak of "pregnant women" but of "birthing persons." The American Medical Association has come out in opposition to listing the sex of newborns on their birth certificates; children, the AMA holds, will eventually decide whether they are male or female, neither or both.
townhall.com
Let's examine this right-wing gobbledygook polemic...
1. "Leftism is the attempt to destroy the past."
This assertion is fundamentally misguided. Marxism is rooted in a historical materialist framework. This means that it views history as an evolving series of socio-economic systems, each building on the one before it. Rather than "destroying" the past, Marxism seeks to understand it to better inform present and future actions. Learning from the past and progressing into the future, while creating better conditions for everyone in the present, isn't "destroying the past".
2. "Leftists, by definition, hate conservatism."
Marxists do not "hate" conservatism per se. They critique conservatism for its stagnant adherence to existing social structures and its resistance to progressive change. Marxism advocates for a society where the means of production are democratically controlled by the working class, which often comes in conflict with conservative ideals that prioritize the value of private property, the pursuit of profits, and unelected authority and hierarchies over the value of human life.
3. The interpretation of the French and Russian Revolutions.
To attribute the complexities of the French and Russian revolutions solely to "destroying the past" is reductionist at best. Both these revolutions had vast economic, social, and political reasons. For instance, the Russian Revolution was spurred by oppressive Tsarist rule, economic hardships, and WWI-related pressures.
4. "Liberals do not believe in racial segregation, whereas the left does."
This statement is misleading. Progressive leftists and Marxists advocate for the dismantling of racial hierarchies. The examples provided, such as all-black dorms, are often misrepresented. These spaces arise out of a desire for safe environments amidst broader systemic racism. Moreover, if people choose to live amongst members of their own ethnicity/race, provided they're not forced to do it or violate anyone else's rights in doing it, that's not a crime or immoral act.
5. "Liberals do not believe that males who say they are females should be allowed to compete in women's sports; only leftists do."
Not all modern Marxists agree on this issue. Many are like me, who believe men who think they're women, shouldn't be permitted to compete with actual women. The Marxist socialists of my community see transgenderism as a mental illness called "Gender Dysphoria". Men aren't women, and women aren't men. There are rare cases where people are intersexed, but that's not the same as a man deciding in his 20s or 60s, that he's a woman. The latter is a mental illness. Marxists are scientific materialists, and in general, we don't agree, with all of this trans-nonsense. You're confusing American liberalism with actual Marxists.
6. "Today's leftism began in the 1960s with the infamous clarion call, 'Never trust anyone over 30.'"
This is an oversimplification. Leftist movements have roots that go far beyond the 1960s. Marxism, for example, originated in the 19th century. The phrase from the 60s was more about generational disconnect during a period of intense social change than a foundational leftist tenet.
7. "The Left destroys everything it touches."
History shows us various instances where left-driven movements have resulted in significant societal advancements: the eight-hour workday, universal healthcare in numerous countries, and policies to reduce income inequality. These achievements are a testament to the constructive potential of left-wing activism.
8. "Leftism in music, art, sculpture, and architecture destroyed everything beautiful and noble that had been created over all the preceding centuries."
Artistic evolution is constant, and every era sees critiques of "modern" forms. The avant-garde movements that emerged in the late 19th and 20th centuries (like cubism, surrealism, or modernism) contributed immensely to the global art canon. It's also worth noting that many of these movements were critiques of oppressive systems, aligning them with leftist values.
9. "It is destroying the universities, the high schools, and the elementary schools."
Leftist ideas in education often focus on making education accessible, democratic, and inclusive. The criticism often conflated with "destruction" usually revolves around curricular changes that aim to present a more comprehensive and less Eurocentric view of history and society.
10. "It is destroying science."
As mentioned earlier, not all Marxists are in favor of all of this gender confusion. Most communists that I know are against all of this LGBTQA+ crap. It's all funded by capitalists, not communists.
In conclusion, the original polemic employs broad generalizations and misunderstandings of leftism and its historical and contemporary roles in society. A Marxist perspective, rooted in historical materialism and a call for a classless society, offers a robust counter to such silly critiques.