Society/Culture The left do not represent the poor anymore

[Mningasimisonda]

I have this genius idea where we divide approaches to all issues in the world into two categories and then know these categories are super meaningful.

I also have another idea where we create a philosophy that "will solve everything" if followed to the letter and we start a party to make the philosophy a reality.

I'm pretty sure all my horoscopes are 100% right too.

 

[Number37]

Having a government that simply plays Robin Hood by taxing the rich more and giving more back to the poor does no good for the poor.

The rich are the ones who pay the poor and the rich are the ones that sell commodities to the poor. The rich will just simply pay the poor less money and will charge more for commodities.

The economy needs too as much as possible be left to the free market without government interference.

Your dad is a genius businessman, keeping you busy writing nonsense on Bigfooty whilst running the business.

 

[BEaston]

I kinda agree with the OP.

Whilst i believe we have a way to go with gender issues and racism, I think we need to revisit the "white male privilege " label.

In the US and Australia there is a significant chunk of white, intergenerational poverty, and white men from this demographic do not benefit from "white male privilege ". So it is offensive and invalidating, to their life experience, to insist that they are part of a privileged class of people, they are not.

In Australia they are dismissed as bogans. I wpuld confidently argue that a lesbian that was privately educated at Caulfield grammar experiences more privilege than a white guy from Broadmedows that comes from a lineage of an uneducated povety stricken family. Yet middle (and upper to middle class) social justice warriors insist that white males are privileged because they are white. We cannot expect the disadvantaged white guy to accept this rating. In no way is he benfitting from his "white privilege". The reality is he is dismissed as a bogan and his opportunities are scarce.

Point being i think it is time to call out this distinction and accept that we also have a "class privilege " which is agnostic when it comes to gender and race.

Surely most of society acknowledges this already? It's obvious to see when simply walking around any city.

Also, they are not mutually exclusive. A poor white male likely disadvantaged due to class but a woman equally disadvantaged due to class has additional disadvantages due to gender. I would say class disadvantage would only exacerbate gender/racial ones. Yes to that individual, it is probably hard to see how he could be gender privileged but that does not mean it's not there on a macro level (which is what privilege speaks to).

The differences in the level of coverage of these issues media/politics is a whole other issue. My own opinion, is that while we're making progress on the gender/racial/orientation side of things, class disadvantage is only getting worse and needs more time and effort put into it by society.

 

[nicky]

"White trash" is a different beast. I dont think gender makes much of a difference. Perhaps women have the added difficulty of raising children.

 

[Bombermania]

The terms "left" and "right" even though we all use those terms, is often misused, the left is simply an historical reference to which side of the Estate General chamber members of the 3rd estate sat, they were not necessarily poor, in fact most were far from being poor, some where even members of the second estate but felt more inline with the interests of the third estate.

To answer the OP, our political parties support whatever they think will get them elected and most Australians are not poor so the poor are not at the top of the list.

 

[Bombermania]

One thing which is repeatable ignored in the Australian context whenever people say business and its rich backers, just who is the rich backers?, basically everyone is because we can all buy shares or other investments directly or via super, people seem to not realise that their superfund is actually buying assets such as shares on your behalf.

The 1% label is an American term which has little to no bases in the Australian context and as such really should not be used in the Australian sense, sure we have a money set but Australia is very difference both economically and socially than the U.S is.

 

[Todman]

Having a government that simply plays Robin Hood by taxing the rich more and giving more back to the poor does no good for the poor.
The rich are the ones who pay the poor and the rich are the ones that sell commodities to the poor. The rich will just simply pay the poor less money and will charge more for commodities.
The economy needs too as much as possible be left to the free market without government interference.

If the poor have more money then we can charge them more because we know that they have money. The poor are no better off.
Lets give the poor more, them charge them more because we know they have money. Repeat.

 

[Todman]

The new left often ignore class entirely.

It's the new left that get the media attention. Tabloid media loves it.

The new left is incredibly racist and bigoted. The new left divides society into different groups and them trades off against each other while screaming that it's the conservatives fault.

 

[Bombermania]

The new left is incredibly racist and bigoted. The new left divides society into different groups and them trades off against each other while screaming that it's the conservatives fault.

Not sure that is new left remembering that it was the left that pushed for the WAP policy and it was the left which fought Whitlam to the brink of him nearly losing the ALP leadership for wanting to remove support for the WAP from the ALP policy platform.

 

[Todman]

Not sure that is new left remembering that it was the left that pushed for the WAP policy and it was the left which fought Whitlam to the brink of him nearly losing the ALP leadership for wanting to remove support for the WAP from the ALP policy platform.

White Australia Policy was dismantled by Harold Holt.

 

[Bombermania]

White Australia Policy was dismantled by Harold Holt.

Yes but it was Whitlam who removed it from the ALP policy platform and the left fought him tooth and nail over it to the point of it nearly costing him the leadership.

 

[Todman]

Yes but it was Whitlam who removed it from the ALP policy platform and the left fought him tooth and nail over it to the point of it nearly costing him the leadership.

It was the same Whitlam that didn't want Austalia to accept Vietnamese boat people

“I’m not having hundreds of ****ing Vietnamese Balts coming into this country with their religious and political hatreds against us.”

 

[Eastern Rangers]

The left do represent the poor.

You are confusing the liberal centre, with "the left".

Indeed.

New Left rises in the late 1950's, influenced primarily by continental schools of post-Marxist thought. The ideological drive from both radical and to some reading as deeply conservative (in the tradition of Burke and Hagel) albeit leftist critiques of post war American "liberalism" with all it's internal contradictions and hypocrisies.

Cultural Left post 1968. The principle activist period of women's liberation and gay liberation movements, this is where the form of left wing politics that viewed society as a prison of norms became entrenched opinion, even for centrists like the Clinton's. Also a period of domination of well organized conservative movements within the political sphere. In the end conservatives win out on economic issues and cede cultural influence to the liberal norms of neutrality and non judgement.

Radical Cultural Liberalism. Begins with shift that began at least in America after 1984 but really got going with the collapse of the soviet union. Affectations of counter cultural credentials, fetishisation of the market, technology and disruption all come in this moment of political clarity. With the peak of liberal rules based politics comes an excessive culture of dignity and individuation, rise of cultural capital and commercialisation of identity and acceptance of the cultivated individuals over the socially constituted individuals thought of in traditional liberalism.

Next stage is the acceptance of the failures and hypocrisy of liberalism with it's neutrality accepting run away inequality. At the moment it's mostly destructive and divisive driving tribalism on all sides.

 

[Baby Duck]

They never represented the poor. Never, not at any stage has that been true.

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Bombermania]

It was the same Whitlam that didn't want Austalia to accept Vietnamese boat people

“I’m not having hundreds of ******* Vietnamese Balts coming into this country with their religious and political hatreds against us.”

Yes that Whitlam

 

[Pie eyed]

It really makes me chortle that the Right worry that the left don't represent the poor...
Ahahahaha!

Obviously they worry the Left may steal their flock. the entitled wealthy.

No way they give a flying **** about the poor.

 

[Pie eyed]

Yes that Whitlam

No matter how you cut it Whitlam was 10000% better than Abbott and ****ing Dutton. Dirty campaigners.