Alice Weidel is openly lesbian, lives with her Sri Lankan wife & their children. Co leads Germany’s far-right AfD(a party that opposes same-sex marriage, promotes a narrow idea of the traditional family, campaigns for mass deportations). Why is it surprising? Look around us for answers.
Being part of a marginalised group does not automatically make someone’s politics progressive. Identity tells us something about a person’s experience. It does not tell us what they choose to do with their power.
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@altlife@me.dm Last night I was at a talk by a former leader of Italy's main center-left party. He expressed sentiments that I think are related to what you say.
He talked about the fact that "the left" identifies with ideas and policies, mostly stemming from "for me to have a better life, people around me should have a better life", while the "the right" identifies with leaders and brands.
Sadly, with how politics is communicated to people, through social media, but many news outlets and journalists are also "to blame", it favors the second type: it's much easier to show a fascist shouting a slogan, than someone discussing an issue and how to tackle it.
He talked about the fact that "the left" identifies with ideas and policies, mostly stemming from "for me to have a better life, people around me should have a better life", while the "the right" identifies with leaders and brands.
Sadly, with how politics is communicated to people, through social media, but many news outlets and journalists are also "to blame", it favors the second type: it's much easier to show a fascist shouting a slogan, than someone discussing an issue and how to tackle it.
Perhaps this is why over the last few years, I’ve become increasingly cynical about politics. I used to think of politics primarily as public service. The idea that power was supposed to be exercised on behalf of people. Now I have come to realise that politics operates as a business -> identities become brands, outrage is the currency, fear becomes a campaign strategy & voters become markets to be captured. That's the reality here with our politicians, that's why no progressive work gets done.