Talking about Creating The Alt-Left Pipeline

Admin V thinks you should talk about your political beliefs.

Admin V here. Happy Friday, y’all. I went through my 1980s and 1990s earring collection last night and it was epic. I have an excellent collection of vintage earrings that I wore when they were new because I am old. This is part of my continuing effort of decluttering. Alas, I still refuse to declutter them or any other earrings. Hashtag hoarder or something like that.

One of my current favorite social media trends is very normal looking men creating the alt left pipeline. It is just delightful because they talk about their traditional manly hobbies and then how they believe in universal healthcare, being anti-racist, and having empathy.

I am just delighted to see it because we at the Fam of Liberty have been working hard at being anti-racist, pro-human rights, and having empathy for a while now and the more people who can publicly join the party and start speaking out, the better.

But this inspired me to play a little game and speculate a little. What does the alt left pipeline look like? Because, I don’t think it should necessarily look like the alt-right pipeline. I think it is simpler than that.

I think about the time that I took my nephew to the Clemson game after the 2016 election. I’m sitting up in the stands surrounded by white men being delighted about the election while I am continuing to feel sick to my stomach for the 5th day in a row. And I am sitting surrounded by mostly men who were totally okay with a rapist being president. One white man asked another white man something like “Aren’t you glad he got elected?” And the other white man said “No, I didn’t vote for that asshole.” And I immediately felt safer and was able to say that I didn’t either as a woman alone with a child in the stands. And the vocal guy looked absolutely baffled that not everyone at the Clemson game agreed with him.

Conversations are fucking hard. You have to weigh what talking about something will do to your social capital. What will happen if I speak out here? Am I willing to have the argument? I do this particular version of calculus all the time with my family.

This summer, my mom implied “Only Christians can be good parents.” I weighed the cost benefit analysis and decided to push back. The consequence was that I got lectured about my lack of Christianity, but I didn’t let her get away with it and I can almost certainly guarantee that won’t come out of her mouth again and if she thinks it, she will hear my voice in her head reminding her that not everyone in the world is Christian and that there are plenty of people raising healthy, happy kids in non-Christian homes. And also, that there are plenty of bad Christian parents.

The point is that if you’re in a situation and you can speak up, you should. Tell the transphobe that you aren’t transphobic. Tell the misogynist that you aren’t misogynistic. Ask the racist why they’re being racist. Tell the MAGAt that you haven’t seen any evidence that prices have gone down since Trump’s election. Ask them to tell you where you can get that cheap gas they’re talking about on Fox News. Make them think about their words.

You don’t have to be aggressive about it. You don’t have to yell in their faces. You don’t have to call them names. You can keep it simple and say things like “I don’t know that you’re right about that. Where did you hear that information?”

And that is how I think the alt left pipeline begins. When you are in conversation with people who say something stupid, you challenge them on the stupid shit they say. They may not agree with you. They may continue to say stupid shit, but they are less likely to do it around you because they know you will push back.

And hey, give them some social consequences. My mom is not allowed to come visit me alone because she doesn’t know how to behave and talk to me about things that aren’t politics. She is fine when there is another person between us, but not when we’re alone. So her consequence is that she doesn’t get to spend time alone with me.

Social consequences are also known as boundaries. You can set them. And maybe Bob doesn’t get invited anymore to the fishing trip because Bob is a misogynist. Or perhaps Susan makes brunch uncomfortable so you don’t invite her. And then, you don’t make it a secret why they aren’t invited anymore.

The alt left pipeline begins by no longer being silent.