Demystifying the Dirtbag Left
“Aside from ignoring the harmful cultural impact of that kind of language, that argument also ignores the reality that – like issues of race and gender – addressing the needs of the disability community requires more than just a nominal commitment of ‘doing good things’, it requires actual engagement with a community with specific policy preferences and priorities, who need to be represented and included in the discourse and leadership of social movements to ensure their needs are met.”
“The entire show, and its cohort of followers, is built on a new formation of the American left that eschews the political correctness that made liberals an easy target for the right, and is built on a type of humor that could bring someone who might drift to the alt-right, instead, to a class-based left agenda. And if we’re to take a cynical showbiz perspective, the Chapo crew knows, like Howard Stern and Don Imus before them, that shock-jock and alpha-male antics bring home the bacon.”
”The problem goes beyond a mere hurtfulness, it’s a failure for the show’s hosts or its fans to come to terms with this reactionary messaging undermines the show’s stated goal of spreading a gospel for a more socially democratic order.”
“But it seems that the Chapo hosts are less interested in building an alternative than continuing a shtick that ensure its cash flow. The punching up is funny, but the punching down is harmful to a larger political project.”