The more I am separated from the internet by my deluge of work for the summer (isn’t working 80+ hours a week a great feature of the capitalistic system?), the more it becomes evidently clear to me that leftist in-fighting is a serious problem. My stream of articles on this might seem a bit redundant. Yes, we know that in order to have an effective political movement we need to ADD people to our camp, not divide the camp that already exists. However, with channels like the Vanguard (right about 99.9% of policy issues), with two individuals who remind me almost exactly of myself, Kyle Kulinski (right on 99% of policy), Vaush (right about 80% of policy issues imo), who I think is hyperbolic, Jimmy Dore, a bombastic dude (right about almost every policy issue imo), the Young Turks, a center-left (neo-left - agree on about 70% of policy imo) come at each others necks recently, I think it is our duty to try not to be drawn in to this in-fighting as US leftists.
My argument is going to be pretty simple: we need to bring together people that we do not like into a movement for medicare for all, the green new deal, a living wage, worker democracy, legalizing, taxing and regulating all drugs, uni education paid for by taxes, basic regulation on our financial criminals, ending illegal occupations and US imperialism, and preventing the oligarchy (like Kochs and Jeffery Bezos) from owning everything while the rest of us fight over scraps. Leftists, imho, need to preach a message that is widely popular to the wide swath of the American populous, and promote candidates together with eagerness and a fervor.
Thus, what is my solution? Are we to not talk about our differences as leftists? Absolutely not. The world is a complicated place. There are a billion solutions to a million problems. HOWEVER, we should focus our online content on destroying the neoliberal “left” (actual conservatives in most countries), and the right (a morally repugnant force in our polity. We should not focus our content on those that we need to build the movement. So, how could I illuminate this principle? Well, Mrs. Nina Turner.
Nina is someone that we all, as leftists, need to have on all of our platforms. We need to constantly do stories on a once in a generation candidate. If she disappoints us, we will call her out for it, absolutely. BUT, we need to be all guns blazing for Nina. We need people like Jimmy and Kyle to get together behind the scenes and orchestrate how they can best help her campaign. We cannot have these two giant media figures on the left bickering. I don't really like Jimmy, seems like a bit of a loud douche, but he is right on almost every policy position (all those I mentioned above). He needs to be included in the movement. We need solidarity between us. We need Jimmy to call Kyle on the phone and talk through their differences instead of subtweeting him. We need Kyle to not make a video addressing the situation, instead of calling Jimmy. BTW, if you do not know the drama I am talking about: THANK GOSH.
Now, I am overworked as a mfer and do not have the time to grab all the tweets / youtube video infighting that is going on, but we need to call it out when it happens as leftists. Also, we need to celebrate two leftists burying the hatchet. Honestly, I think we need to have a Nina Turner test. If she is a candidate that you would fight for, we need to talk through our disagreements over the phone, not over the internet media ecosystem. (Krystal and Kyle having Vaush on is a perfect example of this - Vaush said some nasty things to Krystal but she pretended not to have heard them THAT IS HOW TO BUILD A MOVEMENT).
This is a moment in history. We know that movements need to have cohesion. Unlike what the Vanguard said on a recent video: WE NEED TO BE FRIENDS. Call behind the scenes. Coordinate behind the scenes. These leftist media figures need to realize that they are the probably the most powerful individuals we have on the left.
While many of these leftist media figures might like to think: “I do not have that much power”. YOU DO. I listen to you guys each day at 9:30pm when I get off work. I want to change the country with you guys (and the world -- as the US is the world’s hegemonic power). Please, please can we build a strong movement?
Jackson Hinkle, you remind me of myself - plz don’t fall into the hate Vaush sphere (it is so unproductive to the movement). The Vanguard, you remind me of myself. We are the young Americans that realize the fucked up nature of our country. I understand that you have your rationalizations for covering leftist in-fighting (and there is an audience for it). But, we need to find a way to grow our media platforms without alienating our movement from each other.
Fucking call each other and try to be friends. Let’s Be Friends (LBF).
Alright, back to work.