A real reason to knock the left...
well, I know that the left have been slammed recently for being Racist, but no solid cites came up, and it does not really ring with Leftist ideology anyway.
However, i think that, generally speaking, the left are a bit weak in one area that we really should sharpen up on.
I want to speak out against the one sided stance that some on the Left seems to take on international politics.
Doesn't matter if the subject happens to be the Middle East, or Somalia, or some other place with a military dictatorship involved - a big contingent on The Left always seems to line up behind the side that is anti-American.
Now, why should a guy like me find this so objectionable, I hear you ask. as a Leftist Liberal, and a Limey, aren't I anti American almost by default?
Well, no. take the time when we 9 us and UK troops 0 went to liberate Kuwait - there was a big hooha in the british press about how wrong it would be to intervene in this internal affair - Bull! iit was a naked act of agression on the part of an Iraqi dictator. John pilger made the point that we would not have gone in and freed Kuwait if they had only exported orange juice and not oil - but even so- Saddam was asking for a good kicking , and he got one.
The Falklands: I know that thatcher caused that war with her own short sighted and stupid cutbacks - but we were still right to go in and free the islands from the military junta.
And when it comes to the Middle East- hey, don't get me started. I know about the situation with the suppression of the Palestinians. but so long as Hamas takes the line that the State of Israel doesn't have the right to exist, and the Israelis will not allow the Palestians to have their own viable State, there will always be conflicts in the region.
It is just plain stupid for left wingers to go on giving uncritical support to Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist factions. Any time a child gets killed by a US or UK bomb or bullet, it is an unintentional killing. A tragic event that 'they' took steps to try to prevent.
But any time a US, UK or Israeli civilian gets killed by a terrorists weapon THAT DEATH WAS INTENDED. It wasn't an unfortunate, accidental occurance, it was the whole point of the exercise. It's time that many on the liberal left woke up to that reality.
This is not a new phenomenon, however. 'Animal Farm', by George Orwell, was banned in Britain for a long time - it was critical of Stalin's Russia at a time when he was our wartime ally. Well, our enemy's enemy is not neccessarily our freind.
It is niave of unilateralists to declare that ' The Russian people mean us no harm' and demand that we give up our nuclear weapons. The russian people during the cold war were not a thrreat - the russian leaders, however, were quite willing to drive their tanks into Prague, and needed to be held at bay.
I know that thatcher was great pals of pinochet while she ran britain - probably still is. but we on the left ought to be better than her. We ought to be the ones holding the High Moral Ground - and so often , left wing politics descends into Pythonesque farce.
When Mayday rioters trach a branch of Macdonalds on Oxford Street, do they really think the poor in developing countries give a damn? when the go on to break the windows in John Lewis's - well what the hell is all that about? don't these White Overall wearing bozo's know what a workers co-op is?
Or is it because , like the Shining Path who murder Church workers, they are doing it because they see them and attack something that is a credible alternative to the bloody revolution that they say is the only alternative to Capitalist society?
My dad worked down a coal mine- I have seen mockups of how a coal mine works, and been taken through one by a real coal miner. He explained to me, one time, how 'pit props' were used to keep the roof up , and stop cave ins happening while men are working below ground. And you know what- they never take a pit prop out until they put something in alongside it first. even if a prop isin bad shape , the old one goes in irst - they never leave the roof unsupported.
And yet some on the Left - especially the Revolutionary Left - want to just knock the old order apart, without having anything to replace it with.
These American 'Tea Party' types are not lefties, of course, but they "wanna git rid of Obama", and I don't think they really have their act together, or even know what they are on about.
You want to get rid of something? Well show me what you will put in place of it. wether you are left or right wig, expain your position and set out your alternatives clearly, please.
Maybe there are alternatives to how we do things at present, but these things needed to be tried and tested, not just shoved in and wedged down with vain hopes.
The left needs to be more pragmatic, more critical of it's leadership and more even handed in it's approach to international and internal affairs and conflicts if we are not to avoid disaster.
However, i think that, generally speaking, the left are a bit weak in one area that we really should sharpen up on.
I want to speak out against the one sided stance that some on the Left seems to take on international politics.
Doesn't matter if the subject happens to be the Middle East, or Somalia, or some other place with a military dictatorship involved - a big contingent on The Left always seems to line up behind the side that is anti-American.
Now, why should a guy like me find this so objectionable, I hear you ask. as a Leftist Liberal, and a Limey, aren't I anti American almost by default?
Well, no. take the time when we 9 us and UK troops 0 went to liberate Kuwait - there was a big hooha in the british press about how wrong it would be to intervene in this internal affair - Bull! iit was a naked act of agression on the part of an Iraqi dictator. John pilger made the point that we would not have gone in and freed Kuwait if they had only exported orange juice and not oil - but even so- Saddam was asking for a good kicking , and he got one.
The Falklands: I know that thatcher caused that war with her own short sighted and stupid cutbacks - but we were still right to go in and free the islands from the military junta.
And when it comes to the Middle East- hey, don't get me started. I know about the situation with the suppression of the Palestinians. but so long as Hamas takes the line that the State of Israel doesn't have the right to exist, and the Israelis will not allow the Palestians to have their own viable State, there will always be conflicts in the region.
It is just plain stupid for left wingers to go on giving uncritical support to Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist factions. Any time a child gets killed by a US or UK bomb or bullet, it is an unintentional killing. A tragic event that 'they' took steps to try to prevent.
But any time a US, UK or Israeli civilian gets killed by a terrorists weapon THAT DEATH WAS INTENDED. It wasn't an unfortunate, accidental occurance, it was the whole point of the exercise. It's time that many on the liberal left woke up to that reality.
This is not a new phenomenon, however. 'Animal Farm', by George Orwell, was banned in Britain for a long time - it was critical of Stalin's Russia at a time when he was our wartime ally. Well, our enemy's enemy is not neccessarily our freind.
It is niave of unilateralists to declare that ' The Russian people mean us no harm' and demand that we give up our nuclear weapons. The russian people during the cold war were not a thrreat - the russian leaders, however, were quite willing to drive their tanks into Prague, and needed to be held at bay.
I know that thatcher was great pals of pinochet while she ran britain - probably still is. but we on the left ought to be better than her. We ought to be the ones holding the High Moral Ground - and so often , left wing politics descends into Pythonesque farce.
When Mayday rioters trach a branch of Macdonalds on Oxford Street, do they really think the poor in developing countries give a damn? when the go on to break the windows in John Lewis's - well what the hell is all that about? don't these White Overall wearing bozo's know what a workers co-op is?
Or is it because , like the Shining Path who murder Church workers, they are doing it because they see them and attack something that is a credible alternative to the bloody revolution that they say is the only alternative to Capitalist society?
My dad worked down a coal mine- I have seen mockups of how a coal mine works, and been taken through one by a real coal miner. He explained to me, one time, how 'pit props' were used to keep the roof up , and stop cave ins happening while men are working below ground. And you know what- they never take a pit prop out until they put something in alongside it first. even if a prop isin bad shape , the old one goes in irst - they never leave the roof unsupported.
And yet some on the Left - especially the Revolutionary Left - want to just knock the old order apart, without having anything to replace it with.
These American 'Tea Party' types are not lefties, of course, but they "wanna git rid of Obama", and I don't think they really have their act together, or even know what they are on about.
You want to get rid of something? Well show me what you will put in place of it. wether you are left or right wig, expain your position and set out your alternatives clearly, please.
Maybe there are alternatives to how we do things at present, but these things needed to be tried and tested, not just shoved in and wedged down with vain hopes.
The left needs to be more pragmatic, more critical of it's leadership and more even handed in it's approach to international and internal affairs and conflicts if we are not to avoid disaster.