[Watch] How the Left Became so Intolerant

Summary

Podcast Summary: "How the Left Became so Intolerant" by Sasha Stone

Introduction and Personal Reflections In the episode titled "How the Left Became so Intolerant," host Sasha Stone delves into the transformation of the political left from a historically tolerant and open movement to what he perceives as an intolerant and rigid faction. Drawing from personal experiences and historical observations, Stone sets the stage for a critical examination of contemporary leftist ideology.

Stone begins by sharing his upbringing in Santa Cruz County, California, a region known for its liberal and countercultural ethos during the 1970s. "I'm a kid of the 1970s and I grew up in Santa Cruz County, California... But the thing about all these aging hippies was they were fun people and incredibly tolerant" ([00:00]). He contrasts the permissive and non-judgmental environment of his youth—where diverse lifestyles and open conversations were the norm—with the current left, which he describes as more rigid and less welcoming.

The Turning Point: Tipper Gore and the Music Industry Regulation Stone identifies a pivotal moment in the shift toward intolerance within the left, tracing its roots to the efforts of Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). He posits that the PMRC's alliance between Democrats and Republicans on social issues marked the beginning of the end for a tolerant left. "It is when the establishment began to unite on social issues, not just economic and foreign policy issues" ([00:00]).

Stone suggests that this collaboration led to a heightened focus on regulating cultural expressions, such as music lyrics, under the guise of protecting minors. This regulatory stance, he argues, set the stage for broader societal controls based on identity and moral conformity.

Shift to Identity Politics and Group Goodness A significant portion of the discussion centers on the rise of identity politics and the concept of "group goodness." Stone criticizes the left for redefining "goodness" based on gender, race, and sexual orientation, leading to conditional acceptance within groups. "Once you define your Group by goodness. Anyone who breaks the rules of language and behavior is now, by definition, bad" ([05:00]).

He further explains how the Internet and social media have amplified this trend through mechanisms like cancel culture, where individuals are publicly shamed and ostracized for perceived transgressions. "With the Panopticon, the Internet became, we had a way of making examples of the bad people so everyone knew the rules" ([05:00]).

Impact of the Internet and Cancel Culture Stone delves into the role of the Internet in entrenching intolerance on the left. He argues that online platforms have become arenas for enforcing ideological purity, often leading to the demonization of dissenting voices. "The Internet amplifies the craziest people, just as it does on the other side" ([07:20]).

He laments that this digital surveillance and enforcement of conformity have transformed what was once a utopian vision of inclusivity into a dystopian reality. "Suddenly, our utopia became a dystopia" ([05:00]). The episode highlights how the fear of being labeled "bad" has stifled open discourse and fostered an environment of fear and self-censorship.

Power Dynamics and Focus of the New Left Stone critiques the new left's shift in priorities, arguing that it has moved away from traditional progressive issues like climate change and gun control to focus on more contentious social issues such as transgender rights and abortion. "The old left would have been concerned about climate change or gun control. The new left is concerned about transgender kids and abortion" ([05:00]).

He attributes this realignment to a desire for power and control over cultural narratives. By targeting specific groups and enforcing ideological compliance, the new left seeks to maintain its dominance on social issues, often at the expense of broader societal concerns.

Cult-like Behavior and Division A striking segment of the episode compares the current left's behavior to that of a cult, drawing parallels with Scientology. Stone shares anecdotal accounts illustrating how the left ostracizes and demonizes those who deviate from its orthodoxy. "When I see liberals cutting off their own family members for voting for Donald Trump, it looks really familiar to me. Like I'm really seeing cult behavior" ([10:56]).

He highlights extreme actions, such as vandalism and violence against symbols of opposing views, as evidence of this cult-like mentality. "When I see people go and spray paint swastikas on Teslas and throw firebombs at Tesla dealerships, it's really, really mind boggling how much this is looking like the cult of Scientology" ([10:56]).

Cultural Reflections and Mutual Generosity Stone references a narrative by Larissa Phillips, which presents a contrasting image of individuals from opposing political backgrounds exhibiting unexpected acts of kindness and cooperation. This anecdote underscores the potential for empathy and mutual respect, despite deep-seated political differences.

"The author, Larissa Phillips, says she slowly came to reject the political prejudice so common among my tribe... it's hard to care where someone stands on politics when they race to your house to save a dying lamb" ([10:56]).

This story serves as a counterpoint to Stone's broader critique, suggesting that there are still elements of tolerance and generosity that transcend political affiliations.

Nostalgia for the Old Left and Loss of Openness Expressing nostalgia for the former left, Stone laments the loss of open and honest dialogue. "I miss the old left. I miss people being able to talk honestly and at ease" ([11:47]). He contrasts the free-spirited, non-conformist attitude of the past with today's right-leaning perception, where the old left's liberalism might be mistakenly labeled as MAGA-like behavior.

Stone references George Orwell's "1984" to emphasize the importance of mental freedom and the dangers of ideological conformity. "Winston Smith will give up everything, but if you take his freedom of thought, you might as well put a bullet in his brain" ([11:47]).

Cultural Examples and Media Representation The episode includes references to cultural media that illustrate the perceived shift in leftist behavior. Stone mentions the movie "Hair," highlighting how characters embody the free-spirited nature of the old left, which stands in stark contrast to how similar behaviors might be misinterpreted today.

"I sometimes watch this scene from the movie Hair and marvel at what the old left used to be like... But anyone watching it today might conclude that he was MAGA" ([12:39]).

Conclusion: The Need for True Diversity and Open Dialogue In wrapping up the episode, Stone emphasizes the importance of embracing true diversity and fostering an environment where open dialogue is possible without fear of retribution. He warns against the dangers of ideological purity and the suppression of dissenting opinions, advocating for a return to the more inclusive and tolerant ethos of the past.

"How can anything survive that? This TikTok user puts it well, who... It's worse now than it's ever been" ([08:35]).

Stone concludes with a call to listeners to remain true to themselves and to strive for genuine understanding across political divides. "Remember to thine own self be true" ([13:57]).

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Sacha Stone [00:00]: "I'm a kid of the 1970s and I grew up in Santa Cruz County, California... But the thing about all these aging hippies was they were fun people and incredibly tolerant."
• Sacha Stone [04:19]: "Everything we did always had to reflect our goodness. What we bought, how we spoke, what we wore... Over time, the goodness was transposed into identity."
• Sacha Stone [05:00]: "Once you define your Group by goodness. Anyone who breaks the rules of language and behavior is now, by definition, bad."
• Unknown Speaker [07:20]: "Why are we getting Trump supporters a platform? ...They are literally posting videos to them."
• Sacha Stone [10:56]: "When I see liberals cutting off their own family members for voting for Donald Trump, it looks really familiar to me. Like I'm really seeing cult behavior."
• Larissa Phillips [10:56]: "It's hard to care where someone stands on politics when they race to your house to save a dying lamb... there are fine people on both sides."
• Sacha Stone [12:39]: "I sometimes watch this scene from the movie Hair and marvel at what the old left used to be like. But anyone watching it today might conclude that he was MAGA."

Final Thoughts Sasha Stone's "How the Left Became so Intolerant" offers a provocative critique of the modern left, tracing its evolution from a tolerant counterculture to an intolerant, identity-driven movement. Through personal anecdotes, historical analysis, and cultural references, Stone challenges listeners to reflect on the changes within leftist ideology and the broader implications for political discourse and societal cohesion.

Transcript

[Sacha Stone]

Hi, this is Free Thinking through the Fourth Turning. My name is Sacha Stone how the Left Became so Intolerant an answer to a letter a reader wrote to me asking for my thoughts. I read your article last night and listened to the audio today while doing some chores and as usual it provoked a whole variety of thoughts. The one I wanted to convey to you with this letter is the change I've seen on the left, which still baffles me. Just so you know, I'm a kid of the 1970s and I grew up in Santa Cruz County, California. Even back then it was probably the most liberal county in the entire US of A. I grew up among hippies and Hell's angels in the 70s. There were a lot of 60s residue, as we called it in my hometown, Boulder Creek, up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and down in Santa Cruz itself. But the thing about all these aging hippies was they were fun people and incredibly tolerant. Most were really cool to hang with and would talk about anything with anyone. It was a really non judgmental environment which had its downsides in tolerating drug use and some really bad behavior. Skip Pence of Moby Grape and Jefferson Airplane used to live on my road and would try to molest little girls until he was finally arrested. There was a local biker who used to cook his own LSD and would walk around offering acid laced sugar cubes and Wonder Bread Bag to anyone who wanted the whole thing really was to tolerate, don't harsh anyone's buzz and live and let live. The left today seems more like the Republicans back then. Uptight, never friendly, always frowning, always walking around with an air of implicit disapproval of everyone else. There's no sense of taking it easy. Remember Mr. Natural, easy does it and keep on trucking. They're no fun and they're people you just don't want to be around. Obviously you're right about a lot of what happened, so I won't go into it in detail, but listening to your podcast today, I remembered an event that in retrospect, may have been when the change started. Do you remember Tipper Gore, Al Gore's wife before he became vice president, and her crusade to ban minors from purchasing music with explicit lyrics? Her Parents Music Resource center formed an alliance between Democrats and Republicans on social issues and was the beginning of the end for the tolerant left. It was when the establishment began to unite on social issues, not just economic and foreign policy issues. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but you look at that group and later triangulation of Bill Clinton toward the right on so many issues, and it seemed like it began way before we realize it. Anyway, I'd like to know what you think if you have time. End quote. The intolerance I see on the left now is unlike anything I've ever lived through. The Republicans when I was growing up weren't like what the left is today. It is difficult for those of us who come from the left to understand. We couldn't be moral puritans in the 1990s because Bill Clinton was getting blowjobs in the Oval Office and the conservatives were impeaching him over it. We were the side that could not defend character and insisted upon pivoting to the issues that flipped with Trump. True, Tipper Gore was trying to purge obscenity from song lyrics. She was more like a centrist or a moderate, though I'm not sure that's quite how we arrived where we are now. It is rooted in defining ourselves for the first time as the good people doing good things side, which we never were before. In the past, goodness was tied to Christianity, which was tied to traditionalism and was something we on the left always pushed back against. Well, not anymore. We were a lost generation full of hopelessness and despair. The mental health revolution meant we had to fix ourselves, then we had to fix our country. We were already headed toward goodness before Obama won in 2008, but his influence brought us all together in common purpose as good progressives.

[Barack Obama]

All across America, something is stirring. What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's about you.

[Sacha Stone]

Everything we did always had to reflect our goodness. What we bought, how we spoke, what we wore, whom we dated, where our kids went to school, what our kids ate, whether our kids were well behaved and happy. Over time, the goodness was transposed into identity.

[Barack Obama]

18 long months you have stood up one by one and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington.

[Sacha Stone]

Change comes to Washington as we began ranking people by gender and skin color, because that had to fix our past as well as our present and our future. Then it became if you were not white or lgbtqia, you were good as long as you were also ideologically compliant. If you were white or hetero, you were only good on a conditional basis. Once you define your Group by goodness. Anyone who breaks the rules of language and behavior is now, by definition, bad. With the Panopticon, the Internet became, we had a way of making examples of the bad people so everyone knew the rules. Suddenly, our utopia became a dystopia. When Trump won, all of that cancel culture was just a way to show people what would happen to them if they didn't follow the rules and were somehow deemed bad. Once you are designated bad, you are disposable. Unfortunately, with Obama's rise coinciding with society migrating online, most of America's cultural and political power was caught up in the same ideological puritanism. Or else they were too afraid to confront it. And look at the mess we're in now with ESG and dei, all in the name of goodness. Why do they feel so justified to demonize and dehumanize a whole group of people just because they voted for Trump? It's for two reasons. The first, it's all they know. I would like for you to die of measles, of polio, of all the horrible diseases that living in this country, in this bubble of privilege and ignorance and morbid stupidity, you have the luxury of not having to worry about it because it doesn't really affect you. Their lives for almost 10 years have been defined by the mass delusion that they are living in an occupied country. How to even begin to break out of that. They won't do what I did, get to know that world. So they'll be caught in this feedback loop of fear and hysteria. The second reason is power. They do not want to lose on key issues that matter to them. The old left would have been concerned about climate change or gun control. The new left is concerned about transgender kids and abortion.

[Unknown]

Why are we getting Trump supporters a platform? Why are we allowing people that voted for Donald J. Trump? Why are we allowing them on this app? Do you realize what they are doing and what they are capable of? They are literally, literally posting videos to them.

[Sacha Stone]

These are life or death issues. What you hear in their outrage and their anger is entitlement. They fixed themselves, their children, their country, their past, their present, their future, and now here you are to destroy all of it. They believe they are in power, so back off, get out and go away. The Internet amplifies the craziest people, just as it does on the other side. They're only shown the worst of maga, and the more they see of it, the more hysterical they become. But you have to wonder, why aren't the people on the MAGA side hysterical? So I'm back in la.

[Unknown]

I'm going to head to the pool. In red, white and blue.

[Sacha Stone]

Even while Biden was in power, they were the same easy, laid back, keep on trucking types we all remember from the old left. Americans are built to be free. We don't do well when we're ordered into compliance and conformity. To many in this country, Trump's rise was like finally lancing a painful boil. It had to be done, and it felt so good. He tapped into that wild spirit of Americans who believe they have a right to say whatever the hell they damn well please. I have been waiting for the mass hysteria to end for almost 10 years, but look at them. It's worse now than it's ever been. This is why they have killed art and destroyed movies, comedy and journalism, because they are locked inside a bubble, a doomsday bunker. How can anything survive that? This TikTok user puts it well, who.

[Unknown]

Out there remembers Scientology? I know Scientology has probably all fallen apart by now, but I remember when it was falling apart, when it started falling apart. And I remember when people started leaving. And I remember that even if your own family left that cult, they had to disown you. They had to call you a suppressive person and they had to disown you. They had to treat you like you were deplorable. And I'm really reminded of that right now. I'm reminded of Scientology. As I watch the Democratic Party shame and blame and call people names who leave that party, I'm reminded of Scientology, the cult. When I see liberals cutting off their own family members for voting for Donald Trump, it looks really familiar to me. Like I'm really seeing cult behavior. When I see people go and spray paint swastikas on Teslas and throw firebombs at Tesla dealerships, it's really, really mind boggling how much this is looking like the cult of Scientology.

[Larissa Phillips]

And it tells of how a married couple who are exactly the portrait of a liberal white couple living in Park Slope, Brooklyn that you would expect wind up moving upstate and then are surrounded by Trumpers and they're petrified. But then when they get stuck in the snow, the Trump guy down the street doesn't hesitate to help dig the liberals out. The author, Larissa Phillips, says she slowly came to reject the political prejudice so common among my tribe, and that it's hard to care where someone stands on politics when they race to your house to save a dying lamb, when their wife helps search for your runaway dogs, and that she personally has been stunned by the depth of my neighbor's generosity. It's almost like there are fine people on both sides like you.

[Sacha Stone]

I miss the old left. I miss people being able to talk honestly and at ease. I hate that they are afraid of every word that comes out of their mouths, lest they be seen as bad. I know that being free in my mind was more important to me than just about anything else. The end of 1984 always resonated for that reason. Winston Smith will give up everything, but if you take his freedom of thought, you might as well put a bullet in his brain.

[Unknown]

Claude here is in love. And the girl he's in love with is sitting right here in this room. He just. He just wants to sit here and he just wants to look at her for about five minutes. I mean, because he wants to just look at her and just maybe like have his picture in his head when he's off there fighting in the jungles. So is that so much to ask?

[Sacha Stone]

I mean, I sometimes watch this scene from the movie Hair and marvel at what the old left used to be like. Treat Williams plays an unemployed hippie, a counterculture draft dodging leftist. But anyone watching it today might conclude that he was maga. They're not the uptight, violent, screeching side. They're the side that dances on tables.

[Unknown]

Mother I got life's sister I got freedom, brother and I got good times, man I got crazy ways, daughter I got million dollar charm, cousin I got headaches and toothaches and bad times too like you I got my hair, I got my head, I got my braids I got my ears I got my eyes, I got my nose, I got my mouth, I got my teeth I got my tongue, I got my chin, I my neck I got my tits, I got my heart, I got my.

[Sacha Stone]

Soul I got my back Hope that answers it. Thank you for listening to my podcast sashastone substack.com and remember to thine own self be true.

[Unknown]

Good times, man I got crazy ways But I got million dollar charm caus I got headaches and toothbrush and fine time oh my God. Got my hands, got my hands, got my brains got my ears got my eyes Got my nose, my mouth I got my teeth, I got my tongue Got my chin, got my neck got my chest, got my heart got my soul, my back I got my eyes, I got my arms, I got my hands, I got my fingers Got my legs, I got my feet, I got my toes I got my liver, Got my blood got my gut, got my muscle I got life.