MonkRome comments on The phrase "purity test" was popularized by establishment Democrats only recently, as a thought-terminating cliché to shut down criticism of the party's drift towards the Right.

The phrase "purity test" was popularized by establishment Democrats only recently, as a thought-terminating cliché to shut down criticism of the party's drift towards the Right. (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 year ago by skisnow@lemmy.ca to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9

As the party fielded more and more candidates who championed economic-right policies in order to attract corporate donations, the idea of "purity testing" was turned into a stock phrase to attack critics using labels, instead of justifying it on its own terms.

Phrases like "moral purity" now serve two functions: firstly, to dismiss criticisms from the Left wholesale without having to discuss them directly, and secondly, to blame them for the rise of fascism.

In theory it was also supposed to serve a third function of bullying the Left into voting Democrat, but that didn't work.

[–] MonkRome@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Yeah I'm pretty far left and I've used the phrase unironically when frustrated by dialog. There are people, even in this thread that I've encountered before, that act like the exact version of leftism they believe in is the only kind that is correct and every other version makes you evil. I could agree with them on 95% of policy, but if that other 5% doesn't align I am literally Satan and so are all the candidates I support. There are people on lemmy that will act like AOC, Bernie, Mamdani, and Warren are right wing simply because they understand politics involved consensus building.

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[–] eupraxia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My impression is this is primarily an issue in online spaces, without a clear goal in communication. When you meet leftists involved in a specific project, bigger-picture disagreements tend to fade away into focus and concern around a shared goal. It's a lot easier to stay focused on the things that are immediately relevant when the route to making a real impact is right in front of you.

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[–] MonkRome@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Absolutely true, I fear that some here don't understand that distinction and stay away from left leaning activism because they are so paralysed in online spaces.

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[–] eupraxia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago*

I could see it, yeah. I like Lemmy for a lot of reasons but it's still social media. Commenting here isn't activism and it doesn't represent the irl dynamics of leftist circles. Engagement via comments and votes are the only things shown here, there's no way to track the number of people that see a comment and think "you're maybe not wrong, but you're definitely splitting hairs..." and then move on. IRL, though, the dead air in the room would be deafening. (and could be a learning experience!)

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[–] makyo@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Absolutely agreed and that has been my online experience too. And as far as consensus building - a lot of people don't seem to understand what it takes to create a coalition that has actual policy power in the USA. And they also don't seem to understand that when you don't have a bloc with political power you're never going to get the respect, much less policy consessions, that you'd like to get.

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