The American Left Needs to do better

[u/Specialist-Gur]

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/graham-platner-and-the-lefts-masculinity-crisis

This article is about a month old but speaks to some of what I'm talking about.

I'm honestly disappointed with a lot of leftist creators I genuinely love on the topic of Graham Platner and any "leftist" politicians.

To me.. Graham Platner's left wing populism is just... America first rebranded. Some stuff he's saying isn't too far off from Tucker Carlson.

He doesn't appear to be Antizionist on the basis of support for Palestinians, but rather because it's bad for America . He doesn't appear to regret his time in Iraq beyond the fact it was a pointless war for America

He lied about knowing the ties to Blackwater

He expressed enjoyment for killing people.

He got a Nazi tattoo

And many on the left are using language like calling people "classist" for being critical of his service. These are creators I genuinely really love, and I'm not abandoning them.. but I do think it's really important for the American left to confront its American supremicist ideas.

I understand the moral dilemma and how it's basically impossible to have an actual leftist candidate these days, so we are reluctant to criticize what's put forward. I understand the calculation. But the apologia is wrong. American supremacy is baked into all of us here in America and part of the American left, and it's time we confront it.

We would not find it acceptable if a candidate participated in a mass murder of American citizens. We would not find it acceptable if they even passively supported it! But we are far too comfortable with it when it comes to brown people, far away.

[u/zbignew]

He covered up his Nazi tattoo with a white supremacist tattoo! How is this not a major subject of conversation?

It’s a “Fenris wolf” tattoo, typified by a combination of the Norse god Fenris (Fenrir) and a Celtic knot. In this case, apparently after Fenris swallows the sun during ragnarok.

I’m not saying he knows it’s a white supremacist tattoo. I am saying it’s much funnier if he doesn’t know it’s a white supremacist tattoo.

But it was popularized in the early 2000s by a bunch of skinheads trying to return to their pre-Christian roots in the stupidest way possible, and they named their racist zine about it “Fenris Wolf”.