Lumping People In The Same Category Politically.

Leftwing extremism is rarely associated with political violence where I live. Rightwing extremism often is. (But I would argue things like GOP politics and MAGA aren't really rightwing at all. They wouldn't even be considered a form of rightwing politics in places like Europe and Canada. There they would just be considered nuts, and people who had be bought out by greedy corporate donors.)

But in Europe, for example, it is a little different. There are far leftwing violent groups. Like the Red Brigades. The Red Brigades were a an Italian Marxist–Leninist terrorist guerilla group. And they were responsible for extreme acts of violence and kidnapping in the 1970's and 80's. But I wouldn't really consider Marxist–Leninism a form of extreme liberalism, or really liberalism at all. To me it is a form of reactionaryism and intolerance, much like far rightwing extremism in my country. And calling Marxism or communism a lesser form of liberalism is, like David Boaz says in his book "Libertarianism: A Primer". It's like calling traditional conservatism a form of fascism. They both are usually lumped on that same end of the political spectrum. But putting them together or even comparing them together is just not accurate or true.

 

Well, I’m kinda familiar with this.

Being from California I got used to having someone assume I am of a certain political persuasion in Texas. Ditto in NY when I say I spent nearly two decades in Texas. People are snowflakes when it comes to politics, and they get really confused when I say that I am a strong 2nd amendment supporter or love cars and driving just for the sake of driving, and like government to have a very light touch on our lives…only to then inform them that I smoke pot, am pro-choice, am bisexual, and am sexually anything but vanilla (okay, the last one doesn’t come up for many people).

The whole labeling thing along with the idea that, at least along political lines, you can typecast somebody based on one political position is awful. It’s a big reason I’m a third party voter, but it’s also why I decided to just be me instead of doing a big kowtow to whatever society says I should be.