VIDEO: A New Book By Leftist Ben Burgis Explores Why the Left's Political Culture is So Alienating
Central to "Canceling Comedians While the World Burns" is the question of whether the western left wants to win. Watch my 50-minute discussion with the author.
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The philosophy professor and writer Ben Burgis is as much on the political left as it is possible to be. A writer at the socialist magazine Jacobin, vocal supporter of Bernie Sanders, and advocate of socialist economic policies in the name of stopping corporatism and neoliberalism and elevating the quality of life for the working class, the bona fides of Burgis’ leftism are impossible to contest.
Yet his new book takes critical aim squarely at the political faction in which he resides. Entitled Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique Of The Contemporary Left, the book explores the numerous recent developments in leftist politics in both the U.S. and the West generally — particularly new cultural dogmas — which he argues are driving away and repelling the very people leftist politics ought to be attracting and representing. The portrait Burgis paints of dominant sectors of the left is one that is often dreary, joyless, repressive and intolerant. The book signals not Burgis’ renunciation of the left but his attempts to argue how it can attract rather than repel people.
I spent roughly fifty minutes in the video below discussing with Burgis his new book and contemporary leftism. It was a wide-ranging and candid discussion that examines whether the political left really wants to win or prefers its narrative of persecution, grievance, and victimhood, whether there is more overlap than people realize between the populist or anti-establishment wings of the left and the right, whether contemporary leftism can be meaningfully reformed without jettisoning its fundamental principles, and whether these categories of "left” and "right” now obfuscate more than illuminate. Burgis is an honest and insightful thinker, which is why I found both his book and this discussion so worthwhile:
A History Lesson for the ones who need:
The creator of National-Socialism is Giovanni Gentile, who was a SOCIALIST. He believed in the supremacy of the state over the individual. All Nazis are also socialists, National "Socialism". Duh! (Also read about the Horseshoe Theory.)
It's just funny that people here are trying to differentiate Communism, Marxism, Socialism, National-Socialism, Stalinism, Maoism, Leninism etc from each other when those ideologies gave birth to each other over time.
Basically, you're taking a bucket of shit from the same shit pile and naming it differently after putting a flower on it. It still smells, and it's still the same shit.
If you want to be a good Denmark-loving Social Democrat, then read about Thorvald Stauning and what he did. And pay attention how he came to consensus with the opposition party to apply his politics.
Don't be like the moron, Bernie Sanders, who talks about Denmark day and night but admires Fidel Castro, who slaughtered gay people in mass.
You're welcome. Good day!
Glenn and his Leftist friends are delusional-level naive people because they think that they have the power to unite people like Ilhan Omar and Tucker Carlson under the same umbrella. Yeah, only when time shows 12:00.
People like Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan are proud of America. They are proud of being American. They love their Secular Constitution and the founding fathers with their imperfections. They cherish the American history for good and bad and celebrate its achievements by learning from its own mistakes. They accept that the US did some horrible shit (in the Middle East and South America), but they also acknowledge that the US did some good stuff (like saving Jews from National-Socialist Germans, saving Bosnians from Communist Serbs, saving [South] Koreans from Socialist [North] Koreans etc). They want their freedom of speech. They want their gun-rights. They like the American culture in general. If you immigrate to the US willingly, they want you to show some respect for its culture and its people. They want you to talk about the good and the bad at the same time instead of trashing everything related to the US all together.
People like Ilhan Omar are not proud of America. They are not proud of being American. They never say it, and they never show it. They despise the American culture and the American people. They don't like the Secular Constitution or the founding fathers. They don't show any respect for anything other than talking about dismantling the US completely. They always tell the Americans how much they suck. They never give credit to the US for anything good. They never show appreciation for all the shared innovations, technical developments, medical advancements around the world. In their eyes, Americans can never be good, and the US can never do good for anyone because they find a way to belittle everything related to the US.
Glenn, do you see it now? You can NEVER unite these people together under the same umbrella. One of them needs to change their way of communication instead of being a divisive and controversial pro-CRT and Sharia-loving bitch. You guess it correctly which side I'm talking about.