Leftists Fight the Last War

As it happens, I have written about the Left’s fantasy war against fascism before. (Link here.) Thus, I am happy to see that Kevin Williamson raises the issue. Which issue might that be? It’s about the way America’s radical left has moved out of the present in order to travel back into the past and to join the French Resistance.

Of course, identifying yourself as a member of the disloyal opposition defies the most basic democratic value. And, lest we forget, the people who liberated France from the Nazi occupation were not Resistance fighters-- however brave they were-- but the armies of the Anglosphere… you know, the same Anglosphere that is routinely denounced as a bastion of poisonous white privilege.

One thing we note in this political posturing is that it is animated by mindless stupidity.

But, it’s also about the way that today’s radical left is fighting a war against what Williamson calls fantasy Nazis.

Again, fighting fantasy Nazis sends you back in time to the era where Nazis were a power in central Europe. We recall that America had one president during the Nazi scourge, and that said president spent the first eight years of his administration doing essentially nothing about the growing Nazi threat in Europe.

For Democrats, in the name of liberalism, to declare themselves to be intrepid Nazi fighters is delusional. It’s not just the wrong historical period, but it neglects the simple fact that Franklin Roosevelt, who counts as a god among liberals, allowed Nazis to run wild for eight years.

Anyway, Williamson was inspired by the fact that, in Florida, an Andrew Gillum intern named Shelby Shoup threw chocolate milk at Republicans on the campus of Florida State University. Shoup declared that Ron DeSantis was a Nazi. Happily enough, said intern was arrested and charged with battery. It needs repeating, but as long as the forces of order allow this to happen, it will continue to happen.

And naturally, tougher than tough radical leftists have now found a weapon that suits their temperament-- chocolate milk! What adult do you know who still drinks chocolate milk? Or would be caught in public holding a container of chocolate milk.

Anyway, since Shoup is herself Jewish, anyone who criticizes her is naturally, not just an anti-Semite, but a Nazi.

Of course, Shoup had her history backwards. Not that you find that surprising. Williamson reminds us of the facts:

Gillum’s Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, finished up at Harvard Law and then joined the U.S. military and helped to fight actual Jew-hating totalitarian thugs in Iraq, in case anybody cares about the facts — before dousing the Republicans with chocolate milk.

OK, we are not dealing with the best and the brightest. Apparently, these supporters of the notoriously weak-kneed Barack Obama, a man who never saw a fight that he did not want to duck, want to show that they are fearless warriors against … their fellow Americans.

If the nation were not completely polarized, to the point where white people, suffering from toxic privilege, are considered an alien invading force, we would have noted that this is all completely absurd. Theatre of the absurd, if you will. Unfortunately, people are getting hurt in all of this.

Williamson offers his analysis:

Calling yourself an “antifascist” while defining “fascism” as “the enforcement of ordinary immigration laws” or “thinking that Bernie Sanders is a grumpy Muppet who should be kept far from the levers of power” is entirely childish and deeply stupid. (These absurd characterizations also, not that anybody really cares, drown out legitimate criticisms of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.) These play-acting buffoons aren’t the moral equivalent of the French Resistance — they are mincing would-be thugs looking for something that will make them feel better about themselves. Apparently, terrorizing Tucker Carlson’s wife scratches an itch that weed and NetFlix don’t.

Why do they do it? Perhaps because they think that they must be part of a cause larger than themselves. Perhaps they think that fighting the last war, fighting the last war gives meaning to their miserable lives. You know and I know that if they were ever called upon to fight in a real war, they would be hiding under the tables... and denouncing the war as unconstitutional.

The age of easy and instantaneous connectivity, globalization, and related phenomena have created a new kind of “lonely crowd,” full of people who feel isolated, inadequate, insignificant — and resentful of being made to feel that way. There are many ways to assuage that loneliness, but many of them — family life, religion — have fallen out of fashion. Ordinary politics provides insufficient drama, as anybody who has observed the real business of government in action knows. Fantasy politics — I’m fighting the Nazis! — offers a lot more emotional oomph.

Yes, I know. They should tune in to reality. They should try to function in the real world. They should stop trying to live in the past, fighting past wars, and to contribute to society… by building something, not by tearing down what other people have built. I know. It’s a lot to ask. But, you need to start somewhere.