Correcting Misconceptions
There’s a lot of misunderstanding about us political and social lefties out there, especially among righties. Today a guy I won’t name posted a meme that totally misrepresents the left in America. I don’t usually write about memes, but this one, I think, warrants my attention, if for no other reason that to correct the errors for those who are willing to learn, or at least willing to hear out the views of those they think they oppose.
Onward, then!
This meme states that leftism teaches white people to hate their race. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Race is a man-created construct, not a fact of biology. It’s designed to keep people separated based on nothing more than the color of our skins. I love being human, which is my species and yours, although there are times when I wonder if some people actually are human. Those times usually come when I see, hear or read people expressing disdain for others based on some superficial judgments and proclamations such as “race”.
It says that leftism teaches boys to hate their sex. Actually, no, it doesn’t. It teaches boys (and girls) to accept themselves as they are, and to not give in to the old societal pressure to conform to gender roles that have proven to be destructive. Sex isn’t the same as gender, so from that perspective, it’s a false statement on its face.
It says leftism teaches women to hate their femininity. Nope. Leftism accepts that people are and always will be different, and those differences should be celebrated, mush as the old school ideal of America being a melting pot, full of people who are different in many ways but stronger as a nation, not in spite of those differences but because of them. Women can be women without being some man’s idea of being feminine, and men can be male without being acting out concept of brute masculinity. Just be yourself, without the baggage.
It says that leftism teaches Americans to hate their country. Again, no it doesn’t. American leftists generally love our country, but see where it needs to change, to become better. We strive in whatever ways we are able to make it so. That is love of country, not the chest-thumping, flag-waving, anthem-mangling (supposed singing) that’s supposed to pass for patriotism.
And finally, the meme says that leftism teaches westerners to hate their history. Again, that’s not true either. Leftists strive to learn from history, so as not to repeat it. Compare that to the rightists who are celebrating the Confederacy, even though they lost their war against their own country. Even worse is the apparent joining of Confederacy worshipers with neoNazis, as happened in Virginia a few years ago, whom Donald Trump claimed were “very fine people.”
Whoever believes the nonsense in that meme seriously needs to go back to school, take the history classes and the critical thinking courses, then reconsider what they believe once they’ve gained that new information they’ve been so clearly lacking.
© May 12, 2021 by Donald C. Rice Jr.
