Category: FAQ (Page 1 of 3)

Every now and then, someone asks me for my hot take on someone else’s social media or pop culture hot take. Or they ask me what I think about something a famous actor or influencer said.

I’d say something snarky here. But to be honest, I probably haven’t heard about whatever controversy the person asks me about. In the rare event I have heard about it, I probably don’t care.

It’s not that these things are totally unimportant. People can do damage with problematic remarks. Rather, it’s that the media figures, podcasters, bloggers (!), et al. who people get worked up about usually have far less influence than people think they do. They have an impact on the world, but not as big as people think they do.

How should we respond to them? In most cases, it’s best to quit paying attention to them. Social media figures and influencers live on the attention people give them. Try giving them less.

So, it’s not that I think pop culture is unimportant. I don’t think that. But I do think pop culture figures are less important than most believe. And their importance depends essentially on the attention we provide them.

From time to time, people note that I don’t seem very impressed by progressivism, both the ideology and its political practice.

What’s going on here?

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In my previous FAQ, I posted about my own ideology. One might ask next why I don’t use this blog as a platform for detailed ideological debate.

First, I have to admit this post is a bit of a cheat. I’ve already written a post about the sectarian left. Specifically, I wrote about why I don’t discuss it. Nevertheless, I still get this question quite a bit. And so, I’m adding it to the blog’s FAQ section.

In short, I don’t write about the sectarian left because I don’t find it all that interesting. Sometimes sectarians discuss some nice bit of theory or another. And I certainly read plenty of leftist theory.

But sectarians often bicker with one another. They discuss arcane bits of century-old theory on very literal terms without trying to update it for the 21st century. And, perhaps most importantly, they often do little in the way of actual activism or organizing. Sectarians simply haven’t done much. And the risks and headaches of entering into sectarian debate far outweigh the rewards.

At least they do for me. And it’s my blog. So I’m going to continue not discussing the sectarian left until I find a good reason to change my mind.

OK, so one weird thing about leftist blogging? People often ask some version of the old question, ‘what’s your ideology?’

With liberals, this means asking whether you’re a Democrat or [insulting term for the sectarian leftist group liberals are upset about today]. But I’m not going to spend much time on that.

I want to talk about the version leftists ask. Leftists might ask whether you’re an anarchist. Or a communist and/or Marxist-Leninist, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, or Trotskyist. Or anarcho communist. And so on.

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