Thread by @SteB777

Once again @grok is spread disinformation and smears, by falsely labelling people who are moderately left wing, as far left. I am just going to give a brief history lesson, to this artificial unintelligence. Of how the left actually is, not how the extreme right, typifies it.
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https://twitter.com/grok/status/1984464477203620052

Firstly, I am not ideological, and I regard all ideology of any direction of ideology, as misconstrued i.e. this is not defensiveness on my part.

The left represents a very broad spectrum of political viewpoints.
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What are properly typified as far left, and I say this in a very neutral way, are revolutionary Marxists, communists etc. They don't believe in Western democracy, and believe that the system needs to be overthrown by revolution. Most are quite open and honest about this.
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They can be accurately labelled as far left, because on the left right ideological spectrum, they are at the far end. Typically they self-identify as such.

However, the extreme right, perpetuates a lie to create fear, that everyone on the left, is a secret communist.
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No, those are on the far left, self-identify as such, and usually look down on the moderate left with disdain.

It's a complex subject, but the dividing line is perhaps best drawn at democratic socialism. This where they believe in maintaining democracy.
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Democratic socialists, generally believe in gaining power, through democracy, and maintaining the democratic system, and only criticising political rivals, not suppressing them.
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However, the spectrum of democratic socialism is very wide, with those on one end of the spectrum wishing to see most large industry nationalized, but not the total abolition of all private property, like the far left.
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Then we move through the spectrum, to partial levels of nationalization and partial socialist policy. Then we reach the end of this spectrum, where they don't identify as socialist, but as progressives. This is itself a whole spectrum, to centrists.
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I know I will annoy those on the left, with my very simplistic classification system. However, it is necessary for the purpose of communication, and clarity. To make the point I am going to make.
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The extreme right, who are typified by the lies and propaganda they use, as I say, like to make out that anyone on the left, is a secret Marxist, and they accuse of them of this all the time, calling them Marxists and communists.
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But as I say, actual Marxists and communists, proudly wear the label, and are usually very disdainful of the moderate left. Likewise, it is quite rare to find someone on the moderate left, who is a secret communist.
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What has allowed the extreme right to peddle these lies, is that both prior to WW2 and after, in the Cold War, the Soviet Union, used agents to penetrate, and sometimes fund left wing movements. But this national espionage.
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Whilst in Soviet Russian, the Bolsheviks got in to power, with Marxist/communist beliefs, it is very questionable how much they actually adhered to this, especially from Stalin onwards. It was more like a cult of personalities, and not very Marxist.
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In most state communist countries, the leadership lead lives of luxury, and extravagant consumption, quite contrary to their supposed ideological beliefs. Corrupted by power. This is my main criticism of ideology, it is just a vehicle for power.
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So whilst it is true, that the Soviet Union engaged in the usual espionage countries engaged in, trying to put double agents in socialist organizations, their influence was grossly overexaggerated, and this was just hostile state espionage that all countries engage in.
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After Trotsky was sent into exile (in the 1920s), there was no serious attempt by the Soviet Union to implement global communism, only to promote national global influence, as other major powers do.
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But it did allow those on the unhinged right, to promote the propaganda lie, that we were on the verge, of being taken over by the Soviet Reds under the beds. That anyone on the left, was a potential Soviet agent.
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The right has changed a lot. Old style Conservatives, are very few and far between now, who themselves strongly believed in democracy. There is growing extremism, where they are literally declaring war, on anyone not of their ilk.
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It is actually the right, who have massively shifted to the right. Remember, in WW2 and just after, most Western Conservatives, were strongly anti-fascists. There is an attempt by the modern right, to re-invent history, falsely claiming that Hitler was left wing.
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For clarity, I am not of any conventional political dimension. I see us facing a major sustainability crisis because of the climate and ecological crisis. That radical change is going to happen whether we like it or not.
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“There are now no non-radical futures. The choice is between immediate and profound social change or waiting a little longer for chaotic and violent social change. In 2023 the window for this choice is rapidly closing.” @KevinClimate

21/bellacaledonia.org.uk/2023/04/18/no-…

In other words, the necessity of system change, so we are living within the Earth's Planetary Boundaries, is about survival, not some idealized ideological view of how society should be. It is science based, not ideological.

22/stockholmresilience.org/research/plane…

Lots of features of how society must be, to be sustainable, egalitarian, cooperative, with no extremes of wealth, may seem vaguely similar to progressive or socialist outlooks, but the motivation is very different.
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One of the primary features of the modern extreme right, is outright lying. So they like to smear climate activists etc, as left wing, and motivated by ideology, because they are strangers to the truth, and live in a morass of lies and denial.
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