Political Theory

Re: A world-wide petition to stop using the "left" and "right" terms

Jack1769 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:17:07 GMT

As representative of the Left....no.

Your change/not change idea is used among Leftists. While revolutionaries would be on the left, reformists, social democrats etc would be on the right. But that idea doesn't really apply outside of Leftist ideology.

Re: A world-wide petition to stop using the "left" and "right" terms

Conza88 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:57:49 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTahZE4q90U

Libertarians are neither left, nor right. Don't use those terms, call them socialists / statists... or whatever. Attack both sides though.

FORWARDS towards Freedom, or BACKWARDS towards Tyranny.

Simple.

Re: A world-wide petition to stop using the "left" and "right" terms

Stranger — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:36:35 GMT

Left and right have meaning in a majority-take all voting system. One can only be to the left of the right. It is a purely relative measure that has no meaning outside of a voting system.

Re: A world-wide petition to stop using the "left" and "right" terms

NewLiberty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:24:31 GMT

"Left: anti-authoritarian, Right: totalitarian"

This is a common misconception. Most people who are on the "left" want bigger, more totalitarian, statist government. On the other hand, people on the "right" generally want smaller government, so they are the ones who are anti-establishment.

Re: A world-wide petition to stop using the "left" and "right" terms

Rooster — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:31:02 GMT

I always use "leftist" instead of "liberal." It's an improvement over their capture of the word, although not ideal. I don't think collectivist is going to catch on.

A world-wide petition to stop using the "left" and "right" terms

ivanfoofoo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:46:37 GMT

Left and right have no real meaning. They only identify directions. Let's consider the three definitions I identify and how we use those terms nowadays:

Left: anti-authoritarian, Right: totalitarian

Left: collectivist, Right: individualist

And the most useless definition, which is also the most used:

Left: Radical, reformist, progressive (change), Right: conservative, reactionary (not change)

This one is great, as it has no real meaning! It depends on time and place, and doesn't give any value to a discussion. Here's a good Roderick Long's quotation:

"Is it merely, as Spencer supposes, the natural human tendency of "undeveloped intellectual vision" to classify phenomena according to "external resemblances" instead of "intrinsic structures".

I think that if we keep using those terms, we will classify phenomena according to "external resemblances" instead of "intrinsic structures", and that mean that we will be exposed to demagogic attacks from everyone (media, politicians and most people), as they can fit our ideology in any of both packages.