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I get the impression this site is very left wing

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Original post by Abstract_Prism
It wasn't a purely economic argument; I touched on society. Liberals believe that everyone is an individual, and everyone is of equal value. They believe that people are naturally self-seeking and self-reliant, but that they are also altruistic. They believe that society is made up of individuals and so it is wrong to impose a collective will on societies. Liberals strongly support freedom of speech, and are not convinced there is ever a 'wrong' opinion. Liberals believe that people should be free to choose how they live their life and what they work towards, providing that it does not infringe upon the liberty of other people.

This is right wing. Left wing would be a negative view of human nature, meaning that humans need guidance to tell them what is right and how they should live their life.


Why is the latter negative?

And you are saying left wing is necessarily authoritarian (humans need guidance) and right wing libertarian (people should be free to choose)?
Original post by viddy9
Liberals have always been in favour of getting rid of unjust social hierarchies and inequalities

No, this is not correct. Liberals believe that inequality is natural, and that inequalities are a direct consequence of the different amounts of effort people are willing to work, and they see this as just. Here's a quote from William Graham, a classical liberal theorist:

'A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be. Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.'

And it's not just him, either. This is core liberal theory.

Original post by viddy9
Liberalism and its close counterpart libertarianism can be left-wing or right-wing, though.

This is absolute nonsense. Liberalism is by very definition right-wing, and libertarianism is the very pinnacle of right wing politics. There is nothing more right-wing than libertarianism, an ideology that advocates absolutely no government intervention in the markets or in people's private life, and basically no laws or boundaries. This ideology puts complete faith in people's individuality and nature.

I really don't know where you're getting your information, but it is wrong. It is simply not factually correct.

Original post by viddy9
Liberals have always been in favour of getting rid of structures of domination (the patriarchy, institutional discrimination against people of different skin colours and sexual orientations, as well as the mistreatment of non-human animals).

This is true, but this doesn't make liberalism left-wing! Where are you getting the idea that left-wing = tolerance, freedom, kindness, etc.? It doesn't. This quote I've just gotten from you explores the liberal belief in the equality of everyone; everyone of equal value. Tolerance, freedom, reason, justice, and individualism. These are the core tenants of liberalism, and this is what makes liberalism a right-wing ideology. By contrast, socialism and left-wing advocates subordinating the will of the individual to the will of society, the collective. Individualism is not as important in socialism because society comes first. Tolerance plays less of a roll because socialist believe there is a correct way of doing things which benefits everybody. Etc.
Mate it seems that:

1. You like the label liberal
2. You have very specific views

Given 1. and 2. you try to use liberal as the label for your views. Except there are many groups of people that have differing views on what opinions the label "liberal" applies to.
Original post by Abstract_Prism

TL;DR: The categorisation from the French Revolution is now outdated and should not be used. Right wing = free markets, left wing = big government.


What about market socialists or one nation conservatives? You can be right wing and support big government. Show me a right wing Republican who isn't Ron Paul and who wants to get rid of the american military complex.
Original post by Abstract_Prism
;
This is absolute nonsense. Liberalism is by very definition right-wing, and libertarianism is the very pinnacle of right wing politics. There is nothing more right-wing than libertarianism, an ideology that advocates absolutely no government intervention in the markets or in people's private life, and basically no laws or boundaries. This ideology puts complete faith in people's individuality and nature.



Libertarianism has its routes in very left wing political philosophy. See anarchism and libertarian socialism. If you are going to throw back to 100+ years to get your definition of liberal you need to do the same for libertairnsim. The libertarinism you are describing was invented in the 1970s. Similar to where the modern American meaning of liberal comes from. It doesn't necessarily have much in common with its original meaning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-libertarianism
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
What about market socialists or one nation conservatives? You can be right wing and support big government. Show me a right wing Republican who isn't Ron Paul and who wants to get rid of the american military complex.


See, problems arise when you look to American politics. Americans don't understand the meanings of these terms themselves! For years 'liberal' has been used as an insult in America; their definition of these terms has become warped and useless.

Look to the UK. Margaret Thatcher was about as liberal as you can get. She did not believe in society because society was formed by many, many individuals, and she resented government interference. Look at the Labour Party, the left-wing party that supports nationalisation and government intervention in the economy.

Market socialists are left wing. You can't be a liberal if you're a socialist though. That's an oxymoron.

People these days throw around terms they don't even understand. It's incredibly frustrating.
Original post by viddy9


Liberals have always been in favour of getting rid of unjust social hierarchies and inequalities - getting rid of structures of domination (the patriarchy, institutional discrimination against people of different skin colours and sexual orientations, as well as the mistreatment of non-human animals).



They liked slavery. Slaves are private property you see. Liberal equality was often done through the prism of private property which as a socialist will tell you severely impacts actually getting to any meaningful notion of equality.
Original post by Abstract_Prism
No, this is not correct. Liberals believe that inequality is natural, and that inequalities are a direct consequence of the different amounts of effort people are willing to work, and they see this as just. Here's a quote from William Graham, a classical liberal theorist:

'A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be. Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.'

And it's not just him, either. This is core liberal theory.


This is economic liberalism, I'm referring to social inequalities and social hierarchies. The left-wing is all about dismantling social hierarchy and social inequality. Thus, I'm not saying that liberalism is completely left-wing; I'm saying that on the social side it contains elements of left-wing thinking and, on the economic side, elements of right-wing thinking.

Original post by Abstract_Prism
This is absolute nonsense. Liberalism is by very definition right-wing, and libertarianism is the very pinnacle of right wing politics. There is nothing more right-wing than libertarianism, an ideology that advocates absolutely no government intervention in the markets or in people's private life, and basically no laws or boundaries. This ideology puts complete faith in people's individuality and nature.


I think you need to read more widely. The classical libertarians - Bakunin, Kropotkin, Proudhon, Rocker, Godwin and so on - were libertarian socialists. Libertarianism is about dismantling structures of domination and hierarchy that limit individual freedom, which is why these classical libertarians were in favour of abolishing the state, capitalism as well as religion.

Original post by Mathemagicien
Ethics are based on emotions and moral intuitions; we didn't arrive at our current set of ethics through logical deduction.


All of the moral and social progress that has occurred over the past few centuries didn't occur because we suddenly developed different emotions and moral intuitions. It occurred, as Steven Pinker comprehensively argues in The Better Angels of Our Nature, and as Peter Singer argues in The Expanding Circle, because we were able to use reason to come to the realization that superficial differences between sapient and sentient beings should not affect our level of consideration for them and their interests.

Original post by Mathemagicien
And, to the alt-right, there are several reasons to prefer their own kind: survival of their genes and culture, and because perhaps they don't trust people of other races not to put their race first.


Why should people want their genes to survive, and if so why aren't these people entirely individualistic? Why should they care about the genes of people who exist within an arbitrarily defined geographical location (races are simply functions of geographic distance)? I don't see what's so special about culture either (again, the alt-right is surrendering to cultural relativism). If "my" culture doesn't equally consider the comparable interests of all sentient beings and give similar treatment when similar interests are at stake, I want to destroy my culture and replace it with something better.
Original post by SamDrake
As the title says. I have a Theory as to why, it being a website for the millennial generation and as some of you may be aware, the millennial generation has been brainwashed by the liberal/leftist agenda since they were going to primary school. Hence why the younger generation think the way they do - liberal, overly compassionate to bad entities, no boarders, citizens of the world and terrified of offending anyone who isn't white.


Don't be a numpty.
It is as it always has been. The younger tend to be more lefty, the older tend to be more righty. Younger tend to be more progressive. Older tend to be more conservative.
This has been the way of things since year 0.

"If you aren’t a liberal when you’re young, you have no heart, but if you aren’t a middle-aged conservative, you have no head."
(an oft used quote which broadly originates from mid 19th century France.)
Original post by viddy9
I think you need to read more widely. The classical libertarians - Bakunin, Kropotkin, Proudhon, Rocker, Godwin and so on - were libertarian socialists. Libertarianism is about dismantling structures of domination and hierarchy that limit individual freedom, which is why these classical libertarians were in favour of abolishing the state, capitalism as well as religion.


An ideology that advocates dismantling the state and hierarchy doesn't sound very 'left-wing' to me at all, considering that left-wingers support big government and economic intervention.

If libertarians support abolishing the state, how can there be any other economic systems other than capitalism? Every other economic system requires government regulation.
What threads have YOU ( OP ) been reading? This site is full of the young conservatives! I have read so many anti feminism, anti Islam, pro Brexit, anti foreigner, anti gay rights threads on this website! It's actually offensive a lot of the time. This website is not left like I expected in fact it's hard to find leftists. Half of the threads in news and current affairs are against the left. :frown: It's very tough for a feminist SNP supporter, there's just no point in commenting mostly which is probably what others like me do to be fair.
You know that experiment of mice killing themselves for pleasure rather than eating? Humans are no different. Thinking a world with no state works, is funnily enough just as much fairy tale believing as the right usually accuses "left hippies" to believe in.
Original post by Mathemagicien
The considerations themselves are illogical. What does it matter to the human race if animals die painfully or peacefully, as long as we can eat them? If you don't care about the survival of your genes, what do you care about? Happiness? Freedom? Where's the logic behind that? Where's the logic behind humans wasting their own resources, in order to "consider the interests" of lesser beings?


There's no justification for considering the interests of some beings, but not others. You can plead moral nihilism, but that's illogical, and at best gets you to a situation where you should not care about anyone's interests (not your own, not your "race's", not anyone's).

Sorry for boring people with this argument, but I've yet to see a refutation of it.

Your interests - for instance, the interest in not suffering - matter to you; at the very least, it's impossible not to try to pursue the satisfaction of your interests: if that is so, and given that there's no justification for putting your own interests above the interests of others, you ought to maximize the desire-satisfaction of every sentient being - to do otherwise would be to privilege your interests, for which there is no justification (unless you can give one).

A rational being would ask: What is the real nature of the situation of myself among numerous others? Is it really rational for me to care more about what happens to me than to other people? Consider that each other person's wants are just as real to them - indeed, "just as real," period - as yours are to you. That you experience what happens to you differently than what happens to them is just a subjective illusion. Furthermore, your reference to yourself as "I" and to others as he or she is a grammatical illusion of relative application. There is not a difference in kind between an "I" versus a "he" or "she" like there is between circles and squares. A being who seeks objectivity must believe that the feelings of others as real and valid as her own, and that "There is no inherent specialness about 'my' feelings or desires."


Would this abstract appreciation equate to a moral code? Yes, it must. A being who asks "what do I have reasons to do?" above all else would consider acting in accordance with its realization of the equivalence of selves to be the highest good, since it is phony to base conduct on a false premise.

What do I care about? At the very least, as a result of this rational deliberation, I'd care about equally considering the interests of others and maximizing the desire-satisfaction of every sentient being. In the past couple of months, however, I've come to the conclusion (in line with the most important moral philosopher of the 20th and 21st Centuries, Derek Parfit) that there are irreducibly normative truths.

As he argues in his three-volume work, On What Matters, just as there are logical and mathematical truths, there are moral truths. In my view, the intrinsic nature of pleasure gives us strong normative reasons to want to seek that pleasure, and the intrinsic nature of pain and agony gives us strong normative reasons to want to avoid these experiences. Given that these experiences occur in all sentient beings, it follows that I have reasons to maximize the happiness, and minimize the suffering, of every sentient being.

Original post by Mathemagicien
Some people care about the survival of their genes, because they think their genes are superior. Others, because they think its their duty, to keep their genes in circulation, to help natural/artificial selection take its course.


Why are they superior?

Helping natural selection take its course is a classic example of a fallacious appeal to nature. There's no reason to care about what's natural - what's natural doesn't equate to what is right.

Original post by Abstract_Prism
An ideology that advocates dismantling the state and hierarchy doesn't sound very 'left-wing' to me at all, considering that left-wingers support big government and economic intervention.


That's just a circular argument. You've already decided that left-wing = big government and economic intervention (when that's simply not the definition), therefore of course it doesn't sound very left-wing to you. I'm just replying to you on factual and historical grounds, but you seem like the kind of person who is obsessed with labels. Don't focus on labels, focus on policies: if someone says something you agree with, but identifies as "left-wing", should you say "aha! See, you're really right-wing"? No, just acknowledge the common ground and talk about ways to implement that policy.

Original post by Abstract_Prism
If libertarians support abolishing the state, how can there be any other economic systems other than capitalism? Every other economic system requires government regulation.


Libertarian socialism is an economic system: everybody freely associating with each other and working together for the common good, with no monetary reward or currency involved. If people don't like it, they can leave the commune. Read the authors I mentioned.

Original post by ChaoticButterfly
They liked slavery. Slaves are private property you see. Liberal equality was often done through the prism of private property which as a socialist will tell you severely impacts actually getting to any meaningful notion of equality.


I'm not too familiar with the pro- and anti-slavery movements, but I do know that classical liberals like Bentham and Mill were strongly opposed to slavery (although maybe this stemmed from their overall utilitarian philosophy as opposed to their liberalism, so you might be right).
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Mathemagicien


People of the same race share more of genes with each other, than people of other races.

Some people care about the survival of their genes, because they think their genes are superior. Others, because they think its their duty, to keep their genes in circulation, to help natural/artificial selection take its course.

If you don't care about the survival of your genes, what do you care about? Happiness? Freedom? Where's the logic behind that? Where's the logic behind humans wasting their own resources, in order to "consider the interests" of lesser beings?


The human race is ultimately going to go extinct at some point. Happiness and freedom are just as logical as anything else. If I have a kid it is going to have my genes regardless of whether I kock up a white or Asian woman. I may even have a genetically stronger child with an asian woman... what with high variation being good for genetic health. In breeding is bad.
Reply 154
Original post by inhuman
How are the two things the same? Not running your life = not taking taxes?
And a government that does neither, is not a government...


The government has a legitimate role to play in society. But it doesn't involve 40% income tax rates and an enormous benefits infrastructure. The government is there to provide an army, a police force and a judiciary. It can do other stuff too, but the majority of government directives (sugar tax, cigarette restrictions, banning certain products from advertising) are attempts at making life choices on people's behalf by controlling what they can do with their money. I don't see that as a legitimate use of government power.
Original post by viddy9
Don't focus on labels, focus on policies: if someone says something you agree with, but identifies as "left-wing", should you say "aha! See, you're really right-wing"? No, just acknowledge the common ground and talk about ways to implement that policy.


Considering this entire thread is about what is classified as left-wing, the right thing to do is indeed to say 'Aha!'

And even if it wasn't, saying 'Aha!' would still be the right thing to do. Saying 'Forget about the labels! Focus on this instead' is just a slimy way to get out of a losing argument.
Original post by jape
banning certain products from advertising) are attempts at making life choices on people's behalf by controlling what they can do with their money. I don't see that as a legitimate use of government power.


How so?
Original post by Abstract_Prism
Considering this entire thread is about what is classified as left-wing, the right thing to do is indeed to say 'Aha!'

And even if it wasn't, saying 'Aha!' would still be the right thing to do. Saying 'Forget about the labels! Focus on this instead' is just a slimy way to get out of a losing argument.


I'm just saying that you're the kind of person who would say "Aha!' regardless of the context.

You've not replied to my points about the definition of left-wing, your circular argument and alternatives to capitalism in a stateless society. If you want to focus on the arguments, let's do so.
Original post by viddy9
I'm just saying that you're the kind of person who would say "Aha!' regardless of the context.

You've not replied to my points about the definition of left-wing, your circular argument and alternatives to capitalism in a stateless society. If you want to focus on the arguments, let's do so.


One day I will be banned, and then I can know freedom from this place.
Reply 159
Original post by dingleberry jam
How so?


I smoke cigarettes. It's a bad life choice, and it knocks a week or so off my life per pack. But I do it anyway because I enjoy it. I accept, begrudgingly, the eye-watering taxes on tobacco products because I'm paying for my own healthcare in the event that my smoking causes health issues. That's fair enough - but the rest of cigarette regulation (banning minty filters, banning ten packs, banning branded packaging, banning advertising) is supposed to compel people into making certain life choices. It's reached a point where I almost smoke out of spite for the government.

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