James Lindsay: How I Left the Leftwing Cult

Lindsay is a liberal and former Democrat.

He now posts analyses of Critical Race Theory -- which he terms "Cynical Race Theory," because it's all about making unprincipled claims in order to extract concessions from other people.

He's based now, though not based enough to actually declare himself a conservative -- still just a critic of the left, maintaining delusional hope that liberalism doesn't have to always wind up in the gulags and guillotines.

He responded to someone posting about California and New York Democrats being unable, somehow, to connect their voting patterns to the failure, chaos, and misery seen in those states.

Clint Russell @LibertyLockPod

You would think that the degradation of Democrat strongholds like California, New York and Chicago would lead democrat voters to reflect on the policies they support. Or the company they keep.

They won't.

But you would think they might.

James Lindsay, anti-Communist
@ConceptualJames

Speaking from experience, first-, second-, and further-hand, as well as observation, the phenomenon of the Democratic voter is strongly explained by thinking they know way more about things than they do and being emotionally but not intellectually engaged in politics.

Ding ding ding. Democrat confidence in their knowledge base and intellectual firepower is extremely high.

Their actual knowledge and brains, however, are shit. Pure shit.

It's very much a case of knowing so little you believe you can know it all if you just memorize one short, trite, absurd sentence.

James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames

I was a Democratic voter (never a Democrat, never Woke). Reflecting on why and what changed, it's because

1) I didn't understand the relevant topics at all but thought I did better than most because I'm smart

Yup. Democrats are seized by the idea that they know everything because they're "smart." When it's pointed out they don't know everything, and in fact know very little, they get extremely angry and begin calling you racist.

They're right because they're smart and when you ask what evidence they have that they're smart, they'll say they're smart because they believe so many things which are right.

They're right because they're smart, and they're smart because they're right. Q.E.D.

2) I was surrounded by other such people who also voted Democrat

3) Fear-based propaganda

4) Anti-Republican propaganda that renders conservative positions "dirty" or low-status, like bad, dumb, and crazy

5) Complete inability to understand or recognize Marxism

6) Low interest in understanding politics, economics, etc., combined with a high interest in wanting to win arguments about politics, economics, etc.

As these things changed, so did my voting, but I also had to give myself permission to make that change and feel like others supported them (low confidence, beta behavior). It's definitely a feeling of violating some profound taboo even to entertain a deeper thought, much less cast a vote or voice support.

Leftism is a cult. If you leave it, you can absolutely feel it, both in how you're treated and how you feel. Upon reflection, it's undeniable, likely a universal experience among those who walk away.

James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames

In the Leftist cult, one of the key activities for low-involvement members ("the base") is to blindly support and stupidly argue for Leftist policy and social engineering moves, mostly using obscure, complicated pseudo-arguments nobody actually understands (because they're Marxist power plays and manipulations, not arguments). Because you think you're smart but not really interested, you Google a lot of quick answers and depends on finding the "trump card" talking points, which the media will supply, so you can win arguments and get back to your shallow life. It's not a lot deeper than that. Real understanding isn't even interesting so long as you can sound smart and win arguments.

Important point: Leftists are conditioned, and indeed condition themselves, to stop any line of thinking or questioning which might cause their foundational dogmas to be undermined.

Whenever they find themselves beginning to have Wrongthoughts, they castigate themselves for "racist thinking" or whatever and stop the inquiry.

This self-enforced system of "taboos" keeps most leftists from ever thinking their way out of the cult:

You also shouldn't think too much about any line of thought that might break you out, so the taboo factor is extremely high. These roadblocks to understanding are enforced by moral extortion and thought-terminating cliches, also supplied by the media. "That's transphobaracist," e.g., or "trans rights are human rights." Your Leftist social circle (circus?) intuits and suffers these same taboos and has the same cliches, so you live keenly aware people won't like you (for "good" reason) if you hold deviant opinions. Plus, those aren't "smart." The NYT and the Atlantic (so, the Leftist propaganda) are "smart."

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 06:10 PM

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