Just Because We Call You An Authoritarian... Does Not Mean You're Not Left...

[WillyT]

[Cali_Democrat]

1. Can we just stop with the name calling?

It's so juvenile.

[JackRiddler]

7. How about we stop using language?

I find it offensive, how some people insist on havng a word for everything.

[Egalitarian Thug]

12. And definitions, what purpose do definitions even serve, I mean?

I know what I meant and if you don't get it, that's just your own problem.

[Cali_Democrat]

18. It's so hard to take this place seriously

in fact, I no longer do.

[midnight]

27. Too funny..... but some might take you up on that offer...

[Marr]

31. Authoritarian is a word. It actually means something.

Unlike "emoprog" or "firebagger" or whatever the current insult is that's hurled leftward.

[Cali_Democrat]

32. Pardon my ignorance

I've heard the term firebagger, but what's emoprog?

[Marr]

33. You've never seen "emoprog" used around here?

I assume it's a fusion of the words "emo" (short for emotional) and "progressive".

[CakeGrrl]

36. +1000

You've gotta love the repackaging: "Don't worry; the names we call some of you aren't SO bad, so quit getting annoyed when we call you names. When you walk like a duck..."

Bizarro world.

[BOG PERSON]

2. there is no left in this country

[PETRUS]

25. Well that explains all the going around in circles.

[BOG PERSON]

35. lol

i guess so

[one_voice]

3. Why is it so damn...

important to label anyone anything?

[JackRiddler]

8. Like I said. Abolish language, already.

[one_voice]

16. Right, cuz that's exactly what I said...

not labeling someone is the same thing as abolishing language.

Sit over there in the corner and be overly dramatic all by yourself.

[Andy823]

14. It makes them feel

Superior to the "others" who don't think like they do. A lot of high control religions use the same tactics.

[pnwmom]

4. Oh, I get it. So all the people some DUers are calling "authoritarian"

are actually communists. Interesting.

[grasswire]

9. some people translate that as "totalitarians" nt

[JackRiddler]

10. Yes, it's interesting...

How the rationalizations for the creation of a total surveillance state seem to echo Soviet rhetoric, isn't it now?

[Andy823]

17. Amazing isn't it

The same people who complain all day long about people calling them libertarians and Paulbots, seem to have no problem calling others names. Shows just how mature they are, or should I say are not!

[zappaman]

5. I miss UNREC.

You better believe it!

[BeyondGeography]

6. High School never ends for some people

[Andy823]

11. I thought it was grade school! nt

[JackRiddler]

13. I'd dispute the placement of pretty much...

every label on that chart.

Nevertheless, it makes an important point about how stupid the usual binaries are, and how they are employed to hinder rather than advance thought.

Especially the kind of with-us or against-us thinking that enables the rise of a total surveillance state simply because the current chief executive of the machine happens to be a "D."

[NuclearDem]

15. Eh, I've got issues with that chart.

Sure, Stalin and Mao would have been in the economic left/authoritarian quadrant, but labeling communism as a whole as an authoritarian ideology is using just one subset of communist ideology, the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist variety, to cover the whole concept.

[WillyT]

22. LOL !!! - This Chart Is Represetative Of An Online Test That Has Been Taken On DU MANY TIMES...

over the years... The latest: http://election.democraticunderground.com/10023324676

Not too many objected then... only now.

Why?

[NuclearDem]

24. Yeah, I know.

I personally don't mind being identified as a communist, but I prefer implementation through democratic and peaceful means, not violent revolution.

That's why the compass iffs me a bit. I'm personally in the left/libertarian quadrant, pretty far in it actually.

[Bolo Boffin]

19. We may just be communists!`

[OnyxCollie]

20. I was called a libertarian earlier today

because I opposed the Clinton-led State Dept putting pressure on the Haitian gov't to keep wages at 31 cents an hour for the benefit of Hanes and Levi Strauss, while the Clinton Foundation boasted the wonderful things it was doing for the Haitians.

I would like to see the Haitians have collective bargaining rights and be able to form unions. Where do Ron/Rand Paul stand on that?

[struggle4progress]

21. That delightful rhetorical formula has so many possible exciting variations I can't list them all!

Just because we don't call you an idiot ... doesn't mean &c&c is just one example!

The thing about rhetorical formulas is that they convey no real information: they're just word games, and they're usually not even very interesting as word games

IMO one really good use of a website like DU is to share info with folk, so they can go out better prepared to help educate other people they encounter. Name-calling probably isn't an activity with great educational potential

[Arctic Dave]

23. I don't see "douchenozzles" on the chart.

Is there a further authoritarian section?

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. thanks Artic Dave....I needed that chuckle!

Nominate for Duzy!

[JoeyT]

28. Authoritarian isn't an insult anyway.

The primary insult variant of it is "boot licker".

I feel absolutely no need to defend my use of authoritarian. The same people that have been using "hair on fire brigade" "professional left" "hater" "Paulite" "pony" etc which actually ARE all insults having a sad because they're being accurately labeled doesn't concern me in the least.

[JackRiddler]

29. Pretty much. Except I try to avoid...

"authoritarian." Since that is an inner attribute. They are defenders of authoritarian policy, though their motivations may be various.

[JoeyT]

30. True enough.

I think if a Bush were president there would be very little defense of the NSA here, and we'd be damn near united in our outrage at the spouse of a journalist being detained using an anti-terrorism law.

[JackRiddler]

34. Obviously, though...

I can tell you there was a horrible phase in 2003 when about a third of this board at the time lined up to support the planned war of aggression on Iraq. But for the most part these were conservative democrats, no one was claiming that the opponents of the war (the majority here, as today with those who oppose the NSA-led surveillance state) were actually right-wing libertarians paid by the right to sabotage Democrats, etc. etc.