Why does the left wing have so many personality cults?

[zarus tathra]

Fair enough. Equal standards for different people. Equal treatment for equal behavior. Too bad lots of egalitarians don't see things this way.

[Shiranu]

Its really not. Buy a random book from Amazon and I guarantee you it will be >90% fluff. Buy a book on politics and it'll be more like 99%.

So my books about the cultural effects of the various invasions and integration of different cultures in Iran, 500+ page history of China,  how Venice became a cultural and economic powerhouse, the rise and fall of the Mongol empire, the history and beliefs of the Shinto religion, the Dali Lama's speeches, anthropology books on the cultures of Africa, Central Asia and the Pacific Islands, my copy of the Shahnameh (Iranian poetry/history), pretty much any philosophy book and a whole other slew are just "fluff"?

Yeah, gonna call bullshit on that. Edit: Unless you want the book to read like a third grader wrote it; "This guy did this. That guy did this. The effect of this was this, this, this (with no expansion of what deeper impact those might have had)."

No thanks.

[zarus tathra]

the cultural effects of the various invasions and integration of different cultures in Iran

Probably.

500+ page history of China

China's a big, old country, so probably not.

how Venice became a cultural and economic powerhouse

This could most likely be summarized in terms of a short discussion of its location and its mechanisms of expansion and trade.

pretty much any philosophy book

Well, yeah, probably.

Keep in mind that I don't take that suggestion TOO literally. That said, the Pythagorean love of brevity and precision is something that should be relearned by modern man. I am also aware that texts that follow this formula are difficult to read for anyone who isn't a quasi-Pythagorean like myself, so I wouldn't go burn the bookstore just yet. :D

[Thumpalumpacus]

Leftist are thinkers and conformity to a social norm isn't a trait of a thinker. BTW you left out some really great leftist like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison....,etc!

Leftists aren't immune to conformist thinking.  

Also, Lincoln, TR, Locke, Madison or Jefferson cannot be accurately described as leftist.  That they were thinkers is unquestionable. But defining any of those guys in terms of modern politics is historical revisionsm.  FDR and Paine, sure.  Smart sonsabitches too.  But both left and right have had their share on shit-for-brains.

"Rah rah, my team right or wrong!" is conformist thinking, no matter which side is practicing it.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Why does the left wing have so many personality cults?

Probably the same reason as the right wing.

[SGOS]

...and considers Marx... to be opportunistic assholes...

Eh?

Not sure I agree with that, since he only theorised about it and didn't base a country on (if we want to consider Leninism and Stalinism even remotely) communism.

You're right.  I was just copying the list given without taking them individually.  But that mistake aside, the description of the successful strategy used by the right to pass the left off as wacko by making false associations is still correct.

[Atheon]

I would hardly describe Stalin, Mao, Kim etc. as "leftists". They may have claimed to be so, but they were totalitarian dictators, and this is the very antithesis of liberalism.

[stromboli]

It doesn't follow, despite the examples given, that personality cults are necessarily left wing. Mormonism was built on a personality cult from the beginning, and it certainly isn't viewed as liberal. There was never any equality in it, it is a very hierarchical and very patriarch-based organization. And Marx/Lenin did not in the end shape Communism as much as Stalin did. Socialism in the simplest form is almost non-governmental, being a sharing of all things. Communism was very centralized and very hierarchical because of Stalin. There may have been lip service paid to equality, but I wouldn't characterize it as liberal in action.

[Atheon]

Yeah, the communists' idea of equality was "equal poverty and misery for all but a few privileged elites". This is not the stance of liberalism or egalitarianism.

As for clearly right-wing personality cults, probably the prime example is the one built around Hitler.

[barbarian]

Hmmmm :-k  Let's see..

Here we go, Sean Hannity, nope scratch him not very good example, he fall short of call Obama the actual N word each show. I do have faith that some day he will slip on that.

I got it! Glenn Beck, nope scratch him too he's got the big Mormon propaganda crap duster and cry baby.

How about Pat Robertson, no can't really use him either he's proved himself to shit all over just about every one but the rich white guy, unless you send him money.

I know Rush Limbaugh he is a druggy which means he has to be from the left wing crazy pot of nut jobs.

I am not sure why the left wing has so many personality cults.  [-X

[mykcob4]

Its really not. Buy a random book from Amazon and I guarantee you it will be >90% fluff. Buy a book on politics and it'll be more like 99%.

That is ridiculous. That's like saying Rodin's "Thinker" is just too big, or Michelangelo's "David" is just a bunch of marble beyond 2 square feet of it. Stephen Hawking's 'The Grand Design' is far more than 25 pages and I put it to you that there is hardly if any "fluff".

[mykcob4]

Leftist are thinkers and conformity to a social norm isn't a trait of a thinker. BTW you left out some really great leftist like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison....,etc!

Leftists aren't immune to conformist thinking.  

Also, Lincoln, TR, Locke, Madison or Jefferson cannot be accurately described as leftist.  That they were thinkers is unquestionable. But defining any of those guys in terms of modern politics is historical revisionsm.  FDR and Paine, sure.  Smart sonsabitches too.  But both left and right have had their share on shit-for-brains.

"Rah rah, my team right or wrong!" is conformist thinking, no matter which side is practicing it.

Don't start. Everyone I posted is definitely leftist then and now. I like how the right tries to hijack famous lefties and claim that they would be righties nowadays. It's a big lie, always has been and lie, always will be a lie. It's not history revisionism or anything of the kind. And the rah rah shit argument is old and inaccurate.

[SGOS]

Leftist are thinkers and conformity to a social norm isn't a trait of a thinker. BTW you left out some really great leftist like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, John Locke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison....,etc!

Leftists aren't immune to conformist thinking.  

Also, Lincoln, TR, Locke, Madison or Jefferson cannot be accurately described as leftist.  That they were thinkers is unquestionable. But defining any of those guys in terms of modern politics is historical revisionsm.  FDR and Paine, sure.  Smart sonsabitches too.  But both left and right have had their share on shit-for-brains.

"Rah rah, my team right or wrong!" is conformist thinking, no matter which side is practicing it.

Don't start. Everyone I posted is definitely leftist then and now. I like how the right tries to hijack famous lefties and claim that they would be righties nowadays. It's a big lie, always has been and lie, always will be a lie. It's not history revisionism or anything of the kind. And the rah rah shit argument is old and inaccurate.

I think there tends to be a lot of confusion about "left".  The word is not synonymous with Democrat.  Even terms like left and right are kind of meaningless.  Perhaps we should be talking about progressive vs stationary.  Or if that offends the "stationary", you could even say "reactionary vs stationary."

[Thumpalumpacus]

Don't start. Everyone I posted is definitely leftist then and now.

In his day, Lincoln was certainly not a "leftist", nor TR.

I like how the right tries to hijack famous lefties and claim that they would be righties nowadays. It's a big lie, always has been and lie, always will be a lie. It's not history revisionism or anything of the kind.

You keep telling yourself that.

And the rah rah shit argument is old and inaccurate.

Sorry, but your Team Left! cheerleading, to the point that you would think that leftists are immune to conformism, is stupid.

For the record, I'm a centrist.  Of course, you'll call me a fascist for that admission.

[Solitary]

Are Conspiracy followers and deniers personality cults?  :shock:  :-k  :-$  :P    Solitary