I need help - I keep seeing this narrative repeated again and again. I saw it today on several conservative blogs, and the Bill-O's, Limbaughs, and Hannity's of the world use it as a mantra.....
It's this notion that there exists a "radical-left."
Sometimes I see this archetype described as a "fringe" element.
Sometimes it's called ultra-_________ (liberal, radical, etc...)
But I don't know who they are....
Are they...
-Greenpeace people who block whaling ships with rubber boats?
-People who chain themselves to trees to prevent logging?
-People who put themselves in harms' way in Baghdad to prevent war (human shields?
What I need is help - I want this community to seriously (ok as serious as this bunch ever gets) help me to sort out who this group might be, if they exist at all....
Is this a hold-over from the days of the SLA, the Weather Underground, and groups like that?
I also would like to know - if it exists - how much of a REAL influence does it have on the progressive movement in aggregate?
Because I don't see anyone ever challenging these statements, so it's taken on faith that this element exists. I just see pundits nodding sagely like they personally "know" members of this element of the political spectrum.
My theory is that the reactionary wing of the Conservative Side of the equation needs a counterpoint, a boogeyman if you will. I see this notion of a "radical left" as being just that. The Reactionaries don't want to allow, as I firmly believe, that America is essentially a progressive and fairly liberal nation. If they paint the "left" as being somehow "extreme," then their hope is that people will not want to self-identify as such.
I think it's marketing, but I wanted to test that with this group.
Help me out.....please?