Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The Revolution Will Not Be Won By Twitter Jerks

Despite claiming the mantle of "populism," weird segments of the Twitter "left" - let's call them the Feisty Rose Brigade - contain an inherently distrustful and judgmental take on "the popular,"  whether it's the largest protest in US history or pop culture. That is, at least if Clinton supporters like, support, or reference these things.

See, for instance, the fantastical narrative one Enlightened Soul concocted about me over the weekend. Because I support Hillary Clinton, I apparently don't read (ever) and know nothing about politics. This is said not by someone on the right, but a purported person of the left.
Now, I'm sure grounds exist on which I may be fairly criticized, but "har har she doesn't read books" simply isn't one of them. I have about 10 years of book reviews on this blog alone and have averaged reading about 50-75 books per year for approximately the past 20 years, reading habits which likely put me in the 99th percentile for the US.

But, even if what this joker said about me were true, it shows that the Feisty Rose Brigade has zero interest in meeting the masses where they are in their political journey, a trait that dooms their cause into irrelevant elitism. Yes, reading and learning are, in general, social goods. However, this person is so steeped in the notion that they and their insular cabal of three friends are The Only True Leftists In Society that it's as though the Clinton left has been completely defined out of the group "real America," "the left," or "the masses."  

Imagine thinking that only the Feisty Rose Brigade reads books, and no one else in the US does. Imagine being one of the circle-jerky leftist men who so eagerly laps up such narratives about Clinton-supporting women, desperately "liking" such Twitter rants. (See also, the role that Cool Girls play in facilitating leftist misogyny).

You see, the real purpose of these Twitter "leftists" seems to mostly be to posture to one another on social media how much more enlightened they are than the ignorant proles they are purportedly in favor of liberating. If they can do so while maintaining white male supremacy, all the better.

Their commentary often reveals more about themselves, than their targets of harassment.

As a related example, more than one Internet "leftist" has (erroneously) claimed that I write about the, what they deem vacuous, Harry Potter series, because they see at a glance that I write about pop culture. That I write or care about pop culture, and don't also Feel The Bern or have a rose icon in my Twitter bio, proves to them that I am an unserious, frivolous person with zero knowledge about Serious Political Topics. I am, like, such a consumer! Hogwarts is so establishment, man!

Now, I've never actually written about Harry Potter (or read all the books- shame!), because at my age that series is simply not my touchstone for pop culture. In all likelihood, it is their touchstone for young adult pop culture because they themselves are young adults, young adults I might add who grew up with pathological Internet harassment culture that has largely been normalized. Alternatively, Harry Potter is a touchstone that a non-US agent might have as a profile of "US woman who writes about pop culture," if they wanted to shit-stir for ratfucking purposes.

My point here is this: if you see that someone's main form of "revolutionary leftist activism" is to be a jerk to "libs" and "feminists" and "Dems" on Twitter, I recommend blocking early and often. Boundaries are good, my friends.

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