Hi, it's the "liberals are nerds" anon. I actually really like your response, because it leads to a different point: a lot of new, younger self-ascribed liberals are much more accepting of the type of materialist ideas that are more associated with classical leftism, while still under the established "liberal" banner. If RW capitalists can steal Libertarianism, we can take liberalism from them.
Honestly, I fear what the vilification of liberalism by both the right wing and the left results in.
The root word for liberalism is liberty. Whether we mean to or not, by impugning “liberalism” we are slowly increasing the likelihood that people look at the those that espouse liberty as the enemy.
Use me as an example, I get plenty of hate over my username. It is something that is normalized for me, open my asks, get hate about liberals. But as anyone that has followed me for any period of time knows, I am not neo-liberal. But due to the small fact that liberal is in my user name, in pours the hate. The interesting part is most are using leftist vernacular, at least seeming as though this hate is not coming from the right-wing (trust me I get plenty of hate from the alt-reich, but they don’t seem to be the group going after the use of liberal in my username.)
So what happens when people want to learn about liberalism and people around respond with groans and tales of a failed ideology?
Do you think as many people begin to learn about the wonders of liberalism? It seems to me that the study of liberty will be lessened, purely due to leftist “agreeing” with the right-wing that liberalism is the problem. We have fallen into a trap, the trap of right-wing framing. By using their frame, “liberals suck,” we have begun using their language to try and attack the corporatists and neo-liberals in our party. In turn, we have confirmed what the right wing has been saying for decades.
They now have proof, coming straight from the left wing, that liberalism is the issue.
If that is the case, and most of America believes liberalism is an issue, how likely is it that future generations will learn what liberalism is. How many ideologies will be rolled into the slur “liberal” much like “communist” before it?
I guess what I am advocating for is for us to be accurate in our language and to not adopt the opposition's framing. By doing so we are only playing into their hands, helping the right-wing to sully the good name of liberalism.
So I am asking my fellow leftists, please call it what it is, Neo-Liberalism is a failed ideology, Neo-Liberals are the problem, Neo-Liberals suck. Leave the unrelated Liberals out of it.
