The person went on to say: “imagine this group of mutants showing up, knocking on the door of the average American family. They say ‘we want to tell you how we are going to completely change American society’.The door would slam in their faces almost immediately.”

Okay, so I clickbaited you a bit. The person who said that definitely meant it in a reactionary way. Disregard him. Disregard the fact that it’s the DSA as well, because we all know that they’re not great. I am aware that ‘mutant’ is heavily loaded in eugenics rhetoric, the person I’m quoting is a Haz fan, so he definitely has some sort of masculinity complex.

I say disregard, but do feel free to dunk on that notion regardless. Just know that that’s not what I’m truly here to discuss.

At the same time though, I think they accidentally raise an interesting question of current left wing optics, and how the public receives them. It’s hard to disagree with the fact that America’s reactionary nature means that certain characteristics of race, gender, and sexuality, definitely do mean that a Leftist is less likely to be well received.

But what exactly can be done about that? The reason for the problem here western reactionary sentiment, not the existence of queer or racially diverse folk. Furthermore, it’s inevitable that those waking up to capitalist white male hegemony are those most affected by it (those who are not part of that ‘it’). This is even more so the case with the decline of the industrial sector in the West, where ‘real workers’ once existed - of course a Barista is just as valid of a worker as a miner, but they are not perceived to be.

I don’t know. I’m having a hard time unwrapping it, and I’m discovering some of my own brainworms and reactionary sentiments as I do so. I’d like to hear someone else’s thoughts, because my thoughts are inevitably tied to my identity as a traditionally masculine male.

Also, on the state of the western left, I do actually think a huge part of the movement being portrayed as crybabies is the fact that leftism has been co-opted by rich liberal arts kids. On close inspection most of these people haven’t actually delved into Marxism at all. Of course another reason for the left’s portrayal as such is sort of ontological - the media. They smear us as crybabies, but what allowed them to do that in the first place was that the movement has been co opted by weird hysterical liberal crybabies (the Trump screamer, famously).

If I do have some reactionary brainworms, I can only ask that you attempt to pull them out my ears with tweezers, rather than full on open skull surgery.