February 24th, 2025
I have long believed that people on the left are better educated and more open-minded than those on the right. I acknowledge that there were some smart people on the right, but that was in the 20th century. In this century, the right has been the fortress of ignorance, intolerance, and prejudice. However, I have learned that the far left is every bit as tyrannical as the right.
I have mentioned in other places the problems in leftist sites (Daily Kos, and Medium, for example). But I am sad to say that I have another example of leftist intolerance of the slightest deviation from the party line.
This time it was on one site within Mastodon. Now, Mastodon is not like other websites; it isn’t a single website. It is in fact a federation of many websites sharing a common format and software. It is reputed to have a good reputation for civilized discussion, so I was hopeful that I would be able to fit in. I chose what a appeared to be a particularly accomodating site: ClimateJustice.social, a site discussing issues related to climate change. I felt that my expertise in the field might be of some value. I joined the discussion, and my posts were all positive and supportive.
Until some nutcase posted a truly cuckoo claim: that capitalism is the root cause of climate change and we will be unable to stop climate change until we get rid of capitalism. This is manifest nonsense from a radical, but I didn’t want to get into an ugly fight, so I posted a fairly innocuous comment along the lines of “well, it’s more complicated than that.”
The fellow responded with a rude comment suggesting that I needed to “educate myself” and repeating his assertion that capitalism is the source of the problem of climate change. He added that I was “doubling down” in defending capitalism. So I decided to post a more thorough explanation, again bending over backwards to be nice, despite the fellow’s rudeness. Here is what I wrote:
I don't think you understood my comment; allow me to expand on it. Capitalism is a fundamental component of modern civilization. Modern civilization is emitting too much carbon. Therefore, capitalism is part of the problem. So is the Internet, including Mastodon. So are tricycles.
And no, I am not "doubling down on defending capitalism". I am explaining its role.
You seem to think that a viable alternative to capitalism exists. Please identify any country with an economic system that is not capitalism.
As for your request that I "educate myself". Now, now, that's not very polite, and, given my education, neither is it productive. Let's be nice.
He responded with even stronger vitriol and I decided that nothing more could be accomplished with him, so I posted this response:
I wish you well, sir, and I urge you to get control of that anger.
The next message came from the owner of the site:
Some of your posts have been found to violate one or more community guidelines and have been subsequently removed by the moderators of climatejustice.social.
Hello Desiderius Erasmus.
I deleted your posts and urge you to move to a different instance. Its not enough to suspend you, but capitalism apologia is not acceptable here.
Goodbye
I responded:
I am flabbergasted that you would take so extreme a position. I would understand if you rejected @mysteriarch's posts on the grounds that they were uncivil, and accordingly had to remove my answers as well, but I never thought that anybody would find my comments politically unacceptable. I conclude that you are an advocate of the far left with little understanding of economics or politics. I will also point out that, having read and understood all the WG1 reports, I constitute a useful resource for your forum.
My comments were unusually civil given the rudeness of @mysteriarch, and the reasoning I presented was rock solid. I have found, much to my dismay, that the far left is even less tolerant of deviation from its beliefs than the MAGA movement. America is abandoning the political middle and bifurcating into two extremes, each of which has zero tolerance for open discussion. The collapse of the American body politic is the inevitable result. I suspect that you would welcome a civil war, but I know that such a civil war would inflict immense suffering upon Americans.
It is obvious that my presence is incompatible with your political aims, so I shall depart from your server. Best wishes.