CW:
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-031-25399-7_82-2
Brainbroken by October 7th, Zak Cope has done a 180 on his prior work, which focused on the unequal development of nations under the global capitalist economy, to writing propaganda pieces on how the liberal global US-led economic order must be maintained to ensure “free trade”.
Having been committed to the toxic Marxist perspective for more than half my life, it ultimately proved impossible for me not to perceive the consistent and century-old pattern of far-left apologetics for every conceivable atrocity committed by avowed enemies of the West (including war crimes and genocide), these typically starting with denial, moving to excuse, and ending in justification. This was starkly highlighted in the leftist response to the bestial violence unleashed by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7, 2023. Laboring under Marxian fantasies for so long, following the shock of recognition in witnessing such moral and intellectual decrepitude its dissolution in my mind was precipitate.
He proceeds to argue that, “following free trade principles of comparative advantage can benefit all countries” and that US military supremacy is necessary due to Russia threatening, “the liberal international order upon which free trade is grounded.”
The link he offers to explain October 7 and why it desensitized him from the left is this one:
https://k-larevue.com/en/the-october-7th-pogrom-as-a-non-event-on-the-western-left/
This is what he cited as a good explanation of October 7 and the reason he left the left™
The structurally equivalent totalitarian ideology with communism on the left today – the contemporary opium of the intellectuals – is antizionism.
A number of times, the Palestinian leadership notoriously refused any peace agreement that would have resulted in a free Palestinian state living alongside Israel, insisting on conditions that could only be conceded at the cost of Israel itself. This was particularly true of their insistence on the absolute right of “return” for Palestinian “refugees” who left, or who were expelled, in 1948. This seems to be good evidence that their political leadership actually focuses on extinguishing the existence of a Jewish state more than on the founding of their own country. This is the most unfortunate for Israel, which has to maintain the partial occupation of the West Bank, with devastating consequences also for its own society.
Religious fundamentalism is only the most recent and extreme outgrowth of this basic moral fundamentalist appeal for “justice”. In fact, “Justice for Palestine!” is the slogan that anchors its derivative ones we are seeing today: “From the river to the sea”, “(Globalize the) Intifada!”, “Apartheid Israel”, etc. This deeply immoral moral fundamentalism has been widely accepted in the West as a “liberation movement” by wide parts of public opinion, while its religious fundamentalism and Nazi-like messianic antisemitism is still not being acknowledged.
In contrast, this thinking automatically absolves even its most inhumane and barbarian enemies who in any other context would be considered as the enemy of humanity as a whole. This is worse than Holocaust denial: this is the outright justification of all potential Holocausts.
My greatest fear is turning out like this.
Barring some major life changing injury to the brain (this is not meant in a joking way. Being serious) or like dementia or something… I don’t believe these people when they act like something changed their worldviews. Once someone is over like 30 their views are basically cemented for life. They can change, anyone can change, but that (in my opinion…) requires massive personal exposure to something that sparks a chain of events leading to radicalization in a different direction. For someone to just light switch flip into “oh, actually, fuck all that shit I said: the browns do deserve it after all!” to be legitimate and not just a fallback on previously held (maybe dormant or like subconscious, but down there somewhere) racist convictions gained earlier in life, it would take some extreme shit done to them personally. If one day you’re sympathetic to people because they’re people, and you see a protester say something you object to for whatever reason, and decide that those people the protester is advocating for should die because your feelings were hurt momentarily… am I crazy here? Like clearly you never believed in that. You just took what you perceived as a moral stance just to say you were doing so right up until it annoyed you too much then immediately flipped into the reactionary stance.
Maybe I’m too cynical or whatever, but I just don’t believe dumbass libs when they say “heuhheuh the left heuh is actually the heuhhgh” then drool starts dribbling out of their mouths mid “thought”. No one actually believes that bullshit. Even the Nazis know they’re lying about it and they can’t help but give it away while in the middle of the lies. So, I just don’t believe it. They know better, they’re just ideologically opposed to the left and because they’re worms (in all the ways) they happily lean into fascist rhetoric when they view it as helpful for them to dismiss the left. It doesn’t work though when one side is like “Israel is literally shredding babies… we can make them stop” and the right wingers are like “we want Israel to shred more babies, actually and also we would like someone to shred all the Jews too. Check out my pepe pfp guys!” No one with a functioning brain thinks these are the same. So the libs get mad and flail around. They do anything except turn off the baby shredder…
Nah literally. And don’t assume that just because someone has a materialist stance on a few issues means they’re a materialist. So many broken clocks out there that people don’t hear the worst opinions of
“you either die based or you live long enough to see yourself become cringe” - mr. coin toss man