That is a false equivalence.
In order to understand why, we must first and most importantly, understand the distinction between political ideologies and political parties.
Left wing ideology centres on creating a more equal/equitable society by redistributing wealth. It also wants social justice and aims to address systemic inequality that affects marginalized groups and society at large. It aims to function democratically focusing on workers, community, the collective good and progressive change for the better.
Right wing ideology generally seeks to sustain traditional social structures, hierarchy and established institutions. There’s an emphasis on individual freedom, limited government intervention, conservatism and religion, prioritizing order over equality and favouring private sector solutions (Capitalism).
The Right often accepts social inequality as inevitable or desirable, while the left seeks greater societal equality.
The Right favours tradition and stability, while the Left generally supports social reform and progress.
Right wing ideology advocates for less government, while the Left often supports government intervention to solve social problems.
Those basic tenets don’t really change. There are extreme versions of both in terms of how these ways of living are implemented and enforced, but the ideology remains untouchable.
Now things get confusing and messed up as soon as people start forming political parties.
People lie, they muddy the issues, infiltrate and co-opt movements claiming to be one thing but behaving like another.
Look at the current Labour party. Historically Left leaning, formed by workers and unions, it is apparently now centre-left despite behaving at times, like an extreme Right party. It’s proscribing of Palestine Action allows more police power to arrest anyone under the counter-terrorism act, including peaceful protesters and OAP’s. The poor treatment of refugees and the continued demonization of the trans community are further proof that Labour is not upholding the Left wing ideology of social justice and equity.
When Kier Starmer became Labour leader he cracked down on the socialists present in the party with suspensions and expulsions allowing him to shift the party more to the centre. It has since slipped further Right.
Any criticism levelled at the Labour Party can be viewed as proof that the Left are just as ‘bad’ as the Right (because they’re been enacting policies similar to Reform or the Conservatives) when in fact, the party itself has become centre-Right and abandoned a lot of the core beliefs that make it a Left wing party.
Labour is not currently a Left wing party but is still portrayed as one and the Left are blamed for its mistakes.
There may be members of the party who continue to fight for the Left wing ideologies, but Starmer has ensured they are the minority.
This is very similar to the two party system in the USA. There isn’t much difference between Republicans and Democrats even though individuals exist within those parties who uphold the core beliefs. They function performatively to maintain the status quo whilst the media focuses on identity politics or generally bashing Left wing ideology.
This performance is designed to make the general public feel like nothing will or could ever change, so they disengage, lose faith in the political system or vote for an extremist. Whatever keeps them down.
So does that make the Left just as ‘Bad’ as the Right?
From the outside, yes it does and that’s the goal, but what you’ve actually got are two Right wing parties, one of which is wearing a Left wing disguise, occasionally throwing us scraps.
Who benefits from maintaining hierarchies, keeping traditions and religious ideologies alive? The Right does. Those are their core beliefs and that’s the way it’s been for all of our lives. We don’t know any other way of living.
The formation of the NHS was a socialist idea, in the 50’s the USA taxed the rich a higher percentage which helped raise the quality of life for everybody and is still viewed today as a golden age. That’s the closest the UK and USA have gotten to experiencing socialism, we have never given it a real try because it’s been vilified for so long.
The Left want real change, which may look to some like deconstructing or destroying certain traditions or institutions and that’s why there has been a constant attack on those parties and ideologies for what feels like forever!
The Left vs Right culture war is exacerbated by the media and that plays a large part in persuading the general public to perhaps vote a certain way, hate the right people or argue over semantics when the larger issues are getting lost in the noise.
There are common misconceptions about the Left and ‘what they want’ which are designed to wear you down and make you lose sympathy for their causes. The (billionaire owned) media has managed to portray the Left in general as a bunch of moaning, vegan, cry-babies who want to police language, turn everyone trans and let Muslim’s take over our country etc. My eyes don’t just roll when I hear that stuff, they spin like a slot machine.
I’m tired.
People also misunderstand (through decades of media propaganda) what communism and socialism are. They’ve been painted as unrealistic, extreme and dangerous.
The examples used are usually the Nazi’s, not socialists by the way, Stalin, Russia, Kim Jong Un and North Korea.
The last two are supposedly communist run countries and yes, those regimes might use aspects of what are considered Left wing ideologies, however neither were democracies. They were in fact authoritarian dictatorships, like having a king, a single leader in a hierarchy that must be obeyed.
That is not Left wing ideology; it is yet again, humans usurping political parties for their own gain.
Every year there’s a story about how Muslim’s or the ‘Woke Lefties’ want to ban the poppy. This is untrue.
Every year there’s a story about how you can’t say ‘Christmas’ anymore. This is untrue.
Every year there’s a new minority to hate or be scared of. Or, it’s just the same minority being continually bashed.
Try to remember the first time you heard one of those stories. I saw it in The Sun newspaper as a kid. The hate has been there my whole life!
These fake stories are perpetuated to make us feel as though our way of life, our culture and identity are under threat.
Those lies appeal to the Right wing’s desire to conserve and protect our culture and traditions.
The Left then become the enemy because they challenge the narrative, by defending immigrants/refugees, they’re enabling ‘invaders’ and eroding our culture… except, much like adding vegan options to a menu, nothing is actually being lost. Nobody is taking anything away. Something else is simply being added and British people can still choose to observe whatever (harmless) traditions they like.
When something genuinely important makes headlines, like ending a genocide, the general public have been subjected to so many sensational stories about ‘what the Left want’ that simply aren’t true, or aren’t a real issue, that the response to it is one of distain, disbelief or apathy because they’re been worn down.
‘What are they moaning about now? The gays want a rainbow poppy? (not true btw) I don’t care’
We exist in a predominantly Right wing, capitalist society that reinforces gender norms, heterosexuality, traditional institutions like marriage, religion and the monarchy. Those things are presented to us as right and ‘normal’.
Changing that feels impossible, so how do we do it?
Sometimes the Left can be just as ‘bad’ as the Right. But I’m not talking ideologically.
Social media is a battleground and memes are the ammo, but is anyone actually winning or learning? It feels like everyone is arguing, mocking, scoring points or creating content to ‘beat’ or ‘own’ the other.
Does this actually do anything? I’ve been educated when reading memes, for sure! Cambridge Analytica managed to swing an election via Facebook, so I have to conclude that these battles are worth fighting.
It’s here that both Left and Right employ the same tactics, they can be mean, funny, cruel, satirical, tell outright lies, whatever goes.
These tactics may be subject to legitimate criticism, but in the context of the bigger struggle for equality/equity it feels trivial.
Annoyingly, the Left are held to a higher standard. If the same tactics are used as the Right, then the Left are accused of stooping or not being tolerant. But how else do you fight a war?
You need to same weapons or better, than your enemy.
It’s the paradox of tolerance.
These online battles foster an ‘us and them’ mentality and people can act out behind a keyboard, so how do we diffuse this and bring people together?
It requires calm rational discussion in good faith and people have to be willing to listen to each other and try to understand another point of view.
Unfortunately, it seems those are skills a lot of people lack when engaging in online arguments.
More education, critical thinking skills and impartial online fact checkers would all help. But I don’t know how much difference it would make. The rise in anti-vaxxers and flat Earther’s is mind boggling, no thanks to social media.
Forget about the tactics being used.
What are the fights about?
What’s the end goal?
Who stands to gain from this?
Those are questions I think we should all ask when presented with a story or piece of rage bait, rather than simply reacting or accepting.
Controversially, I think that sometimes the ends do justify the means.
Two people lie, one of them tells a lie that benefits them directly and hurts somebody else. Whereas the other person who lies gets no benefit, but a group of other people, let’s say an oppressed minority, do.
Yes they both lied, they used the same tactic, so they’re just as ‘bad’ as each other, but one was harmful and selfish, while the other was altruistic and benevolent.
So are they equally ‘bad’ for both having lied?
I say no.
The Right have things their way already. We exist in a hetero-normative, monogamous, patriarchal, capitalist, Christian society that favours whiteness and either hides or ignores the sick, disabled, elderly or mentally ill.
But when the Left try to change things, fight back, when the Left get angry or even provoke/troll obvious Right Wing accounts or personalities, they get accused of being ‘divisive’.
As though self defence or even just dishing it back from the position of an oppressed minority is ‘just as bad’ as the bigots spewing slurs and calling for violence and human rights violations online.
Again, the behaviour and the tactics might be the same, but the power balance is not.
The ‘divide’ has always been there, social media appears to have exaggerated it and turned politics into warfare.
In the words of Aragorn:
‘Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not’
I can tell you right now, that the Shire is what the Left want. Star Trek utopia is what the Left want. For everyone to have human rights is what the Left want. I could go on.
Frustratingly, if you were to chat to people in the street about life and the things they want, most would probably have similar goals.
To not struggle financially, worry about food, bills, shelter. To have more security, have some excess income for holidays, to actually be able to enjoy life and live in peace right?
That is very achievable, but if you use words like ‘Left wing’ or ‘socialism’ people often don’t like it and assume those are ‘bad’ things.
Conclusion
Ideologically, the Left and Right ends of the political spectrum are very different, it’s only when you get to the extreme ends that they may seem indistinguishable. Even then, there are differences.
The Left is permissive, progressive and seeks equity. The Right is restrictive, seeks to maintain the status quo and expects/doesn’t care about inequality. Well, it seemingly only cares about inequality when there’s a perception that white people aren’t being favoured.
In politics, the parties that represent these ideals can be slippery. Power hungry, selfish politicians will pander to whoever gives them enough money to sell out their principles or there are others who will happily play along with the establishment for the benefit of their career.
This combined with influence from the billionaire media empires, makes politics appear farcical and that they’re all as ‘bad’ as each other.
Social media and identity politics have the masses arguing and employing online, ideological warfare against each other via memes, reels, essays, whatever. Leading to the idea that because two sets of people are fighting using the same methods/weapons, must mean they’re just as ‘bad’ as each other.
Those are the false equivalents.
In actuality, we exist in a Right wing society and the Left are under siege trying to exist, save our current human rights and push forward, creating a more equitable society, while the Right are trying their best to stop that happening and preserve all the current societal norms.
Actually the Right, Reform in particular, want to roll things back even further in terms of human rights, workers rights and labour laws.
The Right working and middle class, are experiencing oppression too, but have been lied to about the cause.
So I don’t see Left vs Right as an equal fight at all. They’re not as ‘bad’ as each other, there is a clear power imbalance as well as a moral and ethical difference. If others can’t see that, then I’m not sure how to help or explain it any further.
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