Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mardifoufs 1573 days ago
From what I understood from his speeches, I think he's saying that some leftist ideology is inherently subversive.

I guess it makes sense and it doesn't have to be pejorative: conservatives are usually more attached to traditional structures while historically leftist groups push for a transformative change. Subversion is a good way to transform a structure.

A good example would be the 1619 projet that, whether you agreed with its message or not, explicitly aimed at undermining the current mainstream narrative on the history of the USA. I can't think of any right wing equivalent

2 comments

There is no right wing equivalent because of the structurally different ways in which the right and left position their narratives. The appeal to the right wing in the US is via Christian nationalism and distrust of authority (from scientists to lamestream media to the US gov't). The right wing in the US buttresses its legitimacy by claiming that Christian nationalism is the historically correct point of view and is the "traditional structure". This is in fact false, but the whole point is that the right wing (as you point out) couches its message in terms of "this is the truth and the way it's always been" while the left wing appeals for transformative change. A wholesale move to Christian nationalism would be in fact a transformative change for the US, but you gotta be cognizant of how you sell it, right? The new right-wing distrust for the US military and US intelligence and support for Russia is pretty transformative. It's just good sales.
Since when is "distrust of authority" a right wing thing? This has been traditionally been a leftist doctrine (with various ideologies such as anarchism focusing on that, along with revolutionary groups that fight against said authorities).
I know! Isn't it amazing?! Yet now it's a hallmark of right-wing thought in the US! My Republican relatives are absolutely sure that everyone in government, medicine, science, and education is lying to them or trying to manipulate them.
There was literally a response to the 1619 project by Trump: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1776_Commission