I'll preface this by saying a huge chunk of what I'm about to write is not my own thoughts or ideas. Most of it was taken from listening to Dogma Debate, a secular radio podcast hosted by David Smalley. I've also gotten some information from reading blogs and interacting with people in the comments section of those articles. Some of this is my own observation, but mostly my intent here is to summarize countless hours of radio shows and pages of blogs into my own words so you don't have to do the work yourself.
All that said, I'm flashing back to the 2004 election, one that saw the incumbent George W. Bush run against John Kerry. I was in college at the time, and I remember describing myself as "an extreme democrat," or "very liberal." Social media wasn't what it is nowadays, back then, so if the country was as divided then as it is now, it certainly wasn't obvious to me. I felt pretty strongly, at that time, that hardly anybody could be any further left wing than me.
That has definitely changed. First of all, I'm more informed now than I was then, so I'm now cognizant of many groups/people further left than I am. You might say that I have moved further towards the center, but I'm not totally sure whether I have or haven't. Some people think the political left has shifted, and I think that is truly the root cause for my confusion.
The old slogan for Dogma Debate was "A show so liberal, he makes MSNBC look like the Christian right," but Smalley no longer uses that slogan. I, for one, never thought Smalley was that liberal to begin with (mostly because of his views on guns--he owns a gun and supports concealed carry). Smalley claims that he hasn't shifted at all, but the political spectrum which defines "left," "middle," and "right" has moved--perhaps dramatically.
I first learned about "Horseshoe Theory of Politics" a couple of months ago on Smalley's show and I've been fascinated by it ever since. I consider myself a rational leftist. I'm going to try to avoid using the words "liberal," "conservative," "democrat," and "republican," as much as I can here, because one of the points I'm trying to make by writing this is that I barely know what those words mean anymore! The political spectrum has shifted so dramatically that what I thought I knew about left/right dynamics, I'm now not so sure. Horseshoe Theory helps to explain why, I think.
Back in 2004 I envisioned the spectrum as a linear line, and described myself as being as far to the left as it could go. But, as you can see from the above graphic, I don't think the spectrum is linear, and I'm absolutely not as far left as you can find.
Ben Affleck, at least in the above video, would be a prime example. A regressive leftist is so politically correct that they think calling out bigots is bigotry. Affleck called Sam Harris and Bill Maher racist for being anti-Islamic. Harris and Maher, correctly noted that it's not racist to criticize bad ideas (the best quote in the whole video is when Harris said "Islam is the motherlode of bad ideas"). As Richard Dawkins has noted, Islam is obviously not a race because one can convert to or from it, so it's not racist to criticize Islam. On a recent episode of Dogma Debate, Smalley's guest, Gad Saad, a secular Jew living in Canada, played audio of a Muslim describing Jews as sub-human pigs. Saad's (now ex)-friend criticized Saad for bringing this evidence of bigotry to the forefront. So, the regressive leftist wasn't mad at the Muslim for his bigotry; instead, she was mad at Saad for talking about the Muslim's bigotry.
Regressive leftists (some people on the right may call them "social justice warriors" or SJWs--although I still find myself clinging to the affirmation that anybody who fights for social justice is a "good guy" and not a regressive extremist), have hijacked slogans that started out as movements fighting for equality and turned them into movements for superiority. That is why I put "neo feminists" on the 19-20 scale. The same could be said for some factions of Black Lives Matter (BLM). Feminism and Black Lives Matter are excellent campaigns for goodness. The notion that all females are equal to males and that all blacks are equal to whites are very valid and excellent ideas, but some people have taken the ideas too far and instead of fighting for equality they now fight for superiority. When Aron Ra says that in a long ago video he claimed to be a feminist and for four years got comments from his followers calling him a "terrorist," I believe the followers confused Ra for one of those hijackers instead of one of the traditional feminists. I support feminism and BLM up to the point where they say we are all equals and I would decry those who say females or blacks are superior and/or deserve preferential treatment.
On a side note, the right has hijacked the word "patriot." I don't think anybody could be an American "patriot" if they fly the Confederate flag, fight for or claim superiority over other nations/people/or groups of people, or demand or claim privilege (such as Christians having more rights than non-Christians simply for having chosen the correct god). I'll openly call out those self-proclaimed "patriots" as traitors, anti-American, racists, and maybe worse. They are mostly 17-20 on the Horseshoe spectrum.
The regressive left is really bad for the "moderate" and "Far left wing." Being that they are in actuality very close to the right wing, I consider myself as much opposed to their ideas as I do Cruz's or Trump's.
I want to know: What are your thoughts on Horseshoe Politics and, using the numbering scheme I invented, where would you place yourself?
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All that said, I'm flashing back to the 2004 election, one that saw the incumbent George W. Bush run against John Kerry. I was in college at the time, and I remember describing myself as "an extreme democrat," or "very liberal." Social media wasn't what it is nowadays, back then, so if the country was as divided then as it is now, it certainly wasn't obvious to me. I felt pretty strongly, at that time, that hardly anybody could be any further left wing than me.
That has definitely changed. First of all, I'm more informed now than I was then, so I'm now cognizant of many groups/people further left than I am. You might say that I have moved further towards the center, but I'm not totally sure whether I have or haven't. Some people think the political left has shifted, and I think that is truly the root cause for my confusion.
The old slogan for Dogma Debate was "A show so liberal, he makes MSNBC look like the Christian right," but Smalley no longer uses that slogan. I, for one, never thought Smalley was that liberal to begin with (mostly because of his views on guns--he owns a gun and supports concealed carry). Smalley claims that he hasn't shifted at all, but the political spectrum which defines "left," "middle," and "right" has moved--perhaps dramatically.
I first learned about "Horseshoe Theory of Politics" a couple of months ago on Smalley's show and I've been fascinated by it ever since. I consider myself a rational leftist. I'm going to try to avoid using the words "liberal," "conservative," "democrat," and "republican," as much as I can here, because one of the points I'm trying to make by writing this is that I barely know what those words mean anymore! The political spectrum has shifted so dramatically that what I thought I knew about left/right dynamics, I'm now not so sure. Horseshoe Theory helps to explain why, I think.
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| There are many versions of this graphic, but here is mine |
The most important thing I think I've learned about this theory, is that the further left or right you go, you actually move closer to your extreme opposite. In a linear spectrum, the furthest left point is a vast distance away from the furthest right point. But in Horseshoe theory, the two extremes are actually pretty close to each other.
For simplification purposes, I've added red numerals to the inside of the horseshoe. I've labeled "the middle" as a 10 rating on a scale of 0-20. The far left wing is a 5 while the far right wing is a 15. The left-most extremism is a 0 and the right-most extremism is a 20. Antifa (anti-fascists) and the fascists, are actually not that far apart, even though, on paper, they should appear to be polar opposites.
Smalley describes Bernie Sanders as "far left wing," and for the sake of this blog, I'll agree with him. If Sanders is a 5, then Bill Maher and Hillary Clinton might be a 7. Antifa is probably a 0 or a 1. Elizabeth Warren might be a 8, and many secular liberals (like Freedom From Religion Foundation or American Atheists) might be 1-3.
Where do I place myself on this Horseshoe graphic? I think I'm about a 5 or 6. So, I'm still "far left," just like I thought I was back in 2004; however, I absolutely no longer feel like it would be impossible to go further left than me.
I picture the KKK, fascists, and Nazis as a 20. Westboro Baptist is an 18-19. Donald Trump is probably a 17, Ted Cruz a 16, Ben Carson might be a 14, and your ordinary everyday Catholic could be an 11-13.
The so-called "Alt-right," in my opinion, would be your 17, 18, 19, and 20 on the Horseshoe. The "regressive left" (another term I first heard on Dogma Debate), would be your 0, 1, 2, and 3.
I want to describe what I think the "regressive left" is to my left-leaning friends, because I feel like those who are not familiar with the term may not have any idea what I mean by it. They may even become defensive without knowing what they are defending.
Ben Affleck, at least in the above video, would be a prime example. A regressive leftist is so politically correct that they think calling out bigots is bigotry. Affleck called Sam Harris and Bill Maher racist for being anti-Islamic. Harris and Maher, correctly noted that it's not racist to criticize bad ideas (the best quote in the whole video is when Harris said "Islam is the motherlode of bad ideas"). As Richard Dawkins has noted, Islam is obviously not a race because one can convert to or from it, so it's not racist to criticize Islam. On a recent episode of Dogma Debate, Smalley's guest, Gad Saad, a secular Jew living in Canada, played audio of a Muslim describing Jews as sub-human pigs. Saad's (now ex)-friend criticized Saad for bringing this evidence of bigotry to the forefront. So, the regressive leftist wasn't mad at the Muslim for his bigotry; instead, she was mad at Saad for talking about the Muslim's bigotry.
Regressive leftists (some people on the right may call them "social justice warriors" or SJWs--although I still find myself clinging to the affirmation that anybody who fights for social justice is a "good guy" and not a regressive extremist), have hijacked slogans that started out as movements fighting for equality and turned them into movements for superiority. That is why I put "neo feminists" on the 19-20 scale. The same could be said for some factions of Black Lives Matter (BLM). Feminism and Black Lives Matter are excellent campaigns for goodness. The notion that all females are equal to males and that all blacks are equal to whites are very valid and excellent ideas, but some people have taken the ideas too far and instead of fighting for equality they now fight for superiority. When Aron Ra says that in a long ago video he claimed to be a feminist and for four years got comments from his followers calling him a "terrorist," I believe the followers confused Ra for one of those hijackers instead of one of the traditional feminists. I support feminism and BLM up to the point where they say we are all equals and I would decry those who say females or blacks are superior and/or deserve preferential treatment.
On a side note, the right has hijacked the word "patriot." I don't think anybody could be an American "patriot" if they fly the Confederate flag, fight for or claim superiority over other nations/people/or groups of people, or demand or claim privilege (such as Christians having more rights than non-Christians simply for having chosen the correct god). I'll openly call out those self-proclaimed "patriots" as traitors, anti-American, racists, and maybe worse. They are mostly 17-20 on the Horseshoe spectrum.
The regressive left is really bad for the "moderate" and "Far left wing." Being that they are in actuality very close to the right wing, I consider myself as much opposed to their ideas as I do Cruz's or Trump's.
I want to know: What are your thoughts on Horseshoe Politics and, using the numbering scheme I invented, where would you place yourself?
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