To the left of.....

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Discussion

Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

267 months

Saturday 9th May 2009
quotequote all
The left often describe their opponents as being 'to the right of Genghis Kahn'. Leaving aside the question of Mr Kahn's actual political views, what is the equivalent to describe lefties?

"To the left of Fidel Castro" sounds a bit mild.

"To the left of Robin Hood" rather misses the point.

"To the left of the Borg collective" is only meaningful to Trekkies.

Martial Arts Man

6,625 posts

192 months

Saturday 9th May 2009
quotequote all
Just a point; I don't know why Genghis is held up as a standard bearer of the right.

If such a distinction can even be made when it comes to ancient civilisation builders.

For instance, Khan was tolerant of all races and religions. Mongolia was a meritocracy. He attempted to give equlity to women by rule of law.

robinhood21

30,831 posts

238 months

Saturday 9th May 2009
quotequote all
Dr Jekyll said:
"To the left of Robin Hood" rather misses the point.
scratchchin

Northern Munkee

5,354 posts

206 months

Saturday 9th May 2009
quotequote all
Well the obvious would be Stalin, Castro, Lenin...

But the truth is Nu Labour in comparison to Thatcher are probably in many ways more right wing!

Save for the spend,spend, spend, tax, tax, NHS, benefits and the interventionism.

Been listening to Tony Benn tapes on itunes for 91-01. Not a fan of his policies, wouldn't want him to be PM but his insight and views, and stories are very entertaining, his view of the Blair, pre leadership, turned out to be spot on.

handpaper

1,347 posts

209 months

Saturday 9th May 2009
quotequote all
Adolf Hitler.

You know, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Heavy on the primacy of the State over the individual, too.

SleeperCell

5,591 posts

248 months

Sunday 10th May 2009
quotequote all
handpaper said:
Adolf Hitler.

You know, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Heavy on the primacy of the State over the individual, too.
Except of course the nazis were the far right, so you'd look like an idiot.

If you want a nasty example of the extreme left wing dictators would probably be Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung (and Kim Il Jong) or Pol Pot as they were highly controlling communist regimes.

The lesson learned is extremists are bad because no matter what direction they purport go, they always end up in the same place.

Gold

1,998 posts

211 months

Sunday 10th May 2009
quotequote all
SleeperCell said:
handpaper said:
Adolf Hitler.

You know, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Heavy on the primacy of the State over the individual, too.
Except of course the nazis were the far right, so you'd look like an idiot.
Yet if one if pro-free market and business the left will shout "far-right".

Why is being far left more acceptable in this country than being moderately right wing? (Or why does it seem so?)

AlexKP

16,484 posts

250 months

Sunday 10th May 2009
quotequote all
Martial Arts Man said:
Just a point; I don't know why Genghis is held up as a standard bearer of the right.

If such a distinction can even be made when it comes to ancient civilisation builders.

For instance, Khan was tolerant of all races and religions. Mongolia was a meritocracy. He attempted to give equlity to women by rule of law.
Well, I think it is fair to say he slaughtered millions irrespective of their race or religion. So I guess you could say he didn't discriminate...

cymtriks

4,561 posts

251 months

Sunday 10th May 2009
quotequote all
SleeperCell said:
handpaper said:
Adolf Hitler.

You know, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Heavy on the primacy of the State over the individual, too.
Except of course the nazis were the far right, so you'd look like an idiot.

If you want a nasty example of the extreme left wing dictators would probably be Stalin, Mao, Kim Il Sung (and Kim Il Jong) or Pol Pot as they were highly controlling communist regimes.

The lesson learned is extremists are bad because no matter what direction they purport go, they always end up in the same place.
There you have the left/right problem. When dealing with the extremes it is very difficult to actually define a leader or their rule as right or left.

Take Hitler and Stalin. Both were responsible for mass murder. Both furthered massive state above the individual ideology. Communism (the "nice" left wing option!) actually killed more people than facism (the "nasty" right option) did though anyone with left wing alleigences hates to be reminded of it.

Basically you have evil people who do much the same things, they just do it under a different banner.

Traditionally the public and media have labelled individuals right or left with a very heavey bias towards their ideas on immigration or minorities. You could agree with Old Labour about everything but still be labeled as "right wing" if you also favoured a radical reduction in immigration.