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this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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When I graduated college in the 2008 I read Richard Rorty's "Achieving Our Country" as we entered the recession and were dealing with the shame of Guantanamo, Iraq, and Bush era generally. During this time we also started to experience the rise of identity politics. I was glad I read this, because it helped me avoid the pitfall's of what Rorty criticized as the "New Left" iirc. This is contrast with the "Old Left" "Progressive Left" he identified it. The New Left focused on America's shame from which there is no redemption. The New Left equates patriotism with John Wayne style Chauvinism, American Exceptionalism, and belligerence. With identity politics, it seems even worsened that the new left cares about ideological purity and sin which prevents coalition type movements.
The old left Rorty championed takes a different view. For him, patriotism or love and pride of country that is abandoned by the new left is a harm to the country. The analogy he makes is that similar to how self love and self respect is a necessary condition for an individual to self improve themselves, love of country and national pride are a necessary condition to the betterment of a nation. The old left was more able to balance or reflect on criticism and shameful acts in our nations history, but through love of country and national pride work to improve it. The old left was also more willing to tolerate and cooperate with groups that did not have 100% alignment on views or experiences. The blue collar workers put there flesh and bones on the lines during strikes, but alliance with elites is what made these strikes publicized in the news and move the needle at a national policy and political conversation.
It's a shame that so many young people are finding it hard to balance that love of country with critical national self reflection. People I have very similar political views gawk or chastise me when I describe my sense of pride or love for the US. It's strange how simply loving one's country or taking pride in it is taboo in young leftist folks today, and that makes me somewhat fearful of the future.
Paywall likely, but this Atlantic article does a decent job capturing the gist of the book: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/advice-for-the-left-on-achieving-a-more-perfect-union/531054/
It seems to me that the old left doesn’t want to play with the new left just as much as vice versa. Definitely a shame that they can’t work together better but blaming it all on the kids is a strangely conservative position for the ‘old left’ to take….
Old and new left isn't an age thing. And Rorty writing about the new left was writing against themes observed in mature boomers of the 90s, using Snow Crash as example of new left fiction. I think that view is more present in young people today, but old and new left is not meant to imply young vs old generational divides.
The recrimination goes both ways is my point, and is to the detriment of both
What recrimination are you talking about?
This critique is pervasive and has always rung hollow to me when trying to navigate this divide. The onus is also on the old left to build bridges imho
The old left, as Rorty describes, is the leftist group that demonstrates the willingness to build bridges. In Achieving Our Country he provides accounts or examples of willingness and trust to create precarious political movements with groups that do not have 100% alignment or common views on all issues to effect change. This requires compromise, pluralism, and willingness to collaborate with people that may have some viewpoints you disagree with in order to achieve common goods.
And again, I am not saying old left and new left is a generational distinction. There are plenty of young folks that fall into the old progressive left category. This article highlights that "18% of those aged 18-34 said the same [of being proud of country]."
Also took some time to open the book again, I think the terms he used were "Cultural Left" and "Progressive Left" but the description was the cultural left was a relatively newer position in Leftist politics. That newness of the cultural left had a lot do with response to things like the Vietnam war that were widely televised, and works by intellectuals like Michel Foucault that impacted how people reflect on their culture. Rorty's heroes of the progressive left go back to Walt Whitman, John Dewey, James Baldwin. The Baldwin quote he borrows the book title from "If we- and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others- do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world."
I know that’s the argument but Framing it as ‘the new folks on the block don’t want to build bridges’ isn’t a very good way to build bridges.
Basically I think this whole analysis is a lazy way to dismiss the new left. Not that they’re perfect or anything, but I think there is an equal responsibility for both groups to work together.
That's the point. The Cultural Critical left in Rorty is characterized as the spectator engaging in cultural commentary (which may be insightful), but do little in terms of action. A theme in spectatorial left is often a sense or POV of a country being beyond repair. The Progressive left is what attempts to be side of action. It's love of country and national pride that instill a sense of duty to navigate paths of change and national improvement. If you are working towards reform you would be categorized and have that degree of social left, you are more inline with the old left or progressive left. The whole point is the "group" of new left or cultural left are those commentators that do little to enact change or hope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achieving_Our_Country
Idk Still sounds to me like this is mostly a clever way to denigrate and dismiss people who aren’t doing things the “right” way.
And I also don’t buy that patriotic duty is the only motivation to work on improving things
But if it works for you then good on ya