Being against discriminating people based on gender or orientation is being against hierarchies that put women or LGBT at the bottom; being against exploitation or favoring unions is about improving the situation of people who are below in a currently existing hierarchy. If you want absolute gender and LGBT equality but wholeheartedly support the right of Boeing’s shareholders to gain lots of money and not to get taxed too much, you have some leftist ideas and some right-wing ideas. If you want to establish absolute socialism but think gay people especifically shouldn’t kiss in public, you have some leftist ideas and some right-wing ideas, because you’re putting gay people at the bottom of hierarchy.
In the US, worker rights and social participation in the economy often gets left out of “what it is the left” because of the Cold War persecution against anticapitalist ideals and the predominance of the Democratic Party’s old guard at establishing discourse, which creates a skewed vision.
Left is about how you feel regarding hierarchies.
Being against discriminating people based on gender or orientation is being against hierarchies that put women or LGBT at the bottom; being against exploitation or favoring unions is about improving the situation of people who are below in a currently existing hierarchy. If you want absolute gender and LGBT equality but wholeheartedly support the right of Boeing’s shareholders to gain lots of money and not to get taxed too much, you have some leftist ideas and some right-wing ideas. If you want to establish absolute socialism but think gay people especifically shouldn’t kiss in public, you have some leftist ideas and some right-wing ideas, because you’re putting gay people at the bottom of hierarchy.
In the US, worker rights and social participation in the economy often gets left out of “what it is the left” because of the Cold War persecution against anticapitalist ideals and the predominance of the Democratic Party’s old guard at establishing discourse, which creates a skewed vision.