For some time now I've grown rather annoyed about the double standards leftist politicians are held to. Talk all you want about a ''left wing bias'' but frequently its the left who gets slandered and the right which gets forgiven.
The mental health of the two presidential candidates is of course the most recent example. Biden's mental faculties are hyper focused on while Trump's obvious mental decline never got such attention. But it goes beyond that.
Just look at how representatives and challengers of the status quo are described in the press. According to the press there are only two sort of leftists. People who want to change the status quo like Corbyn and to a lesser extend Sanders get deemed as extremely dangerous radicals but if you're a left leaning politician who doesn't want to change the status quo then the press describes you as ''boring''. Meanwhile the right can actually run the most dangerous radicals imaginable while having legions of shills trying to gaslight us that they honestly don't mean it so bad. Meanwhile the more normal right wing politicians don't get instantly deemed to be ''boring'' the moment they want to keep the status quo. Instead they get to be the ''adults in the room''.
Personal traits that don't hinder the right are also used to malign politician on the left. Often the left is blamed for a lack of cheer. In response to setbacks they are deemed ''sour'', their bearings around voters sometimes called ''icy''. But a politician like Geert Wilders who has never been caught having a good mood never gets blamed for his lack of cheer. Often left leaning politicians are also class shamed in ways their far more posh right wing counterparts don't. When a right wing politician is classy or posh we're supposed to find it charming or that it reflects professionalism. But when these traits exist in a left wing person the narrative becomes ''Pff! Look at this ELITE looking down at us from his ivory tower!''
Different standards for professionalism also apply. You can be on the left and be deemed unfit for office if you eat a sandwitch, but if you're on the right and you're Boris Johnson or Trump your lack of professionalism and class becomes ''folksy'' or ''funny''
And on and on it goes.
Some examples of this in action
-The running theme of the press with Biden, with Sholtz and with Keir Stammer can be summed up as ''Yeah they're not literally insane like their opponents but aren't these old guys BORING!''
-Cameron, Sunak, Pechtold and the like are evidently upper class posh right and to some extend base their personas of it. And while this is noticed and sometimes prompt dislike it hardly ever gets used as a reason to discount them. But with left leaning persons like Sanders or Timmermans you have people scoff about their imagined richness and use it to discount everything they say and do.
-Corbyn was raked over the coals about how dangerous he was for the economy even when his opponents were leading Britain out of the EU. Meanwhile there was also some slander of antisemitism that conveniently never get so far when the far right makes such claims. (ironically Corbyn would later prove all his detractors correct by his antics around Russia)
-Clinton was of course maligned for not taking her defeat with much grace even if the people who take the most offence of that excuse Trump whenever he loudly whines about how the deck is ''stacked against him''. Or how Trump tried doing a literal coup after he lost. In Europe there's also a rich tradition of the left being deemed sore losers when its the demagogic right that keeps insisting their opponents do not represent the people whenever they're not in power.
The mental health of the two presidential candidates is of course the most recent example. Biden's mental faculties are hyper focused on while Trump's obvious mental decline never got such attention. But it goes beyond that.
Just look at how representatives and challengers of the status quo are described in the press. According to the press there are only two sort of leftists. People who want to change the status quo like Corbyn and to a lesser extend Sanders get deemed as extremely dangerous radicals but if you're a left leaning politician who doesn't want to change the status quo then the press describes you as ''boring''. Meanwhile the right can actually run the most dangerous radicals imaginable while having legions of shills trying to gaslight us that they honestly don't mean it so bad. Meanwhile the more normal right wing politicians don't get instantly deemed to be ''boring'' the moment they want to keep the status quo. Instead they get to be the ''adults in the room''.
Personal traits that don't hinder the right are also used to malign politician on the left. Often the left is blamed for a lack of cheer. In response to setbacks they are deemed ''sour'', their bearings around voters sometimes called ''icy''. But a politician like Geert Wilders who has never been caught having a good mood never gets blamed for his lack of cheer. Often left leaning politicians are also class shamed in ways their far more posh right wing counterparts don't. When a right wing politician is classy or posh we're supposed to find it charming or that it reflects professionalism. But when these traits exist in a left wing person the narrative becomes ''Pff! Look at this ELITE looking down at us from his ivory tower!''
Different standards for professionalism also apply. You can be on the left and be deemed unfit for office if you eat a sandwitch, but if you're on the right and you're Boris Johnson or Trump your lack of professionalism and class becomes ''folksy'' or ''funny''
And on and on it goes.
Some examples of this in action
-The running theme of the press with Biden, with Sholtz and with Keir Stammer can be summed up as ''Yeah they're not literally insane like their opponents but aren't these old guys BORING!''
-Cameron, Sunak, Pechtold and the like are evidently upper class posh right and to some extend base their personas of it. And while this is noticed and sometimes prompt dislike it hardly ever gets used as a reason to discount them. But with left leaning persons like Sanders or Timmermans you have people scoff about their imagined richness and use it to discount everything they say and do.
-Corbyn was raked over the coals about how dangerous he was for the economy even when his opponents were leading Britain out of the EU. Meanwhile there was also some slander of antisemitism that conveniently never get so far when the far right makes such claims. (ironically Corbyn would later prove all his detractors correct by his antics around Russia)
-Clinton was of course maligned for not taking her defeat with much grace even if the people who take the most offence of that excuse Trump whenever he loudly whines about how the deck is ''stacked against him''. Or how Trump tried doing a literal coup after he lost. In Europe there's also a rich tradition of the left being deemed sore losers when its the demagogic right that keeps insisting their opponents do not represent the people whenever they're not in power.
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