IF YOU INSIST ON IDEOLOGICAL PURITY YOU WILL LOSE EVERY BATTLE

giancarloangulo

Dec 18

by Andrew Lim

We start with a politically incorrect joke:

Gays for Gaza: Yipee, we're so happy all the tall buildings in Gaza are gone.

Hamas: Why?

Gays for Gaza: Because you can't throw us off them anymore.

First time I heard it, I doubled in laughter. And relieved, too I wasn't a public figure nor still fighting in the trenches of activism. Because I would have been rebuked and cancelled. Which brings us to the central point of this essay: If the progressives/left persist in ideological/personal purity they will lose every battle. Full stop.

Former US President Obama said it so well in 2019: "This idea of purity, and you're never compromised, and you're always politically woke, and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly," Obama said. "The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws."

"Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn't do something right or used the wrong verb ... then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself. Because man, you see how woke I was," Obama said. "You know, that's not activism. That's not bringing about change."

Personally, I pride myself in having stood on the right side of history with regards to Bongbong's father. I also take pride in standing with Joe in the various issues raised here, specially during Pnoy's time. We can take small credit for that. But to be honest with everyone, I have had so many flaws, from misogynous statements to making fun of LGBTQ+. If there were social media back then, I would have been outed and blacklisted.

Let's take a look at the US political landscape for the 2024 presidential election. I'm betting Trump would win, and it won't be close. Not because he's a good person, or who has good plans, but because the Democrats, the left, the progressives disintegrated, paving an easy path for Trump.

Biden's handling of Israel? A huge segment of his 2020 supporters insists on ideological purity – the youth, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ are mad and willing to drop him and to hell with a Trump return as long as they "stood under the right flag no matter the consequences". Fools, if you ask me.

Those Ivy League university presidents who made a mess of themselves trying to explain their lack of response to antisemitism? That's your woke turning into choke. While intellectuals will have the bandwidth to understand their "calling for genocide is context dependent" it simply doesn't fly with the general population. For me, it was the first time I saw being woke for these people meant being so out of touch. Outrage for civilian suffering in Gaza? Where's the outrage for the Oct 7 attack? Where's the outrage for building tunnels and positioning war materiel in schools, hospitals and mosques? How blinkered can one get?

Make a list of all the allies who have been cancelled thus far: from Al Franken to David Chappelle to Kevin Hart to the Cuomo brothers. You think pruning down the bench will strengthen the left? Who's left with the Left? Ocasio Cortez? That lady is feisty and admirable but her style will lead nowhere and decimate the ranks – Alexandria is the Karen of the Democrats.

Place yourselves in the shoes of Israel. You think they would still exist if they had chosen a 100% purer than Ivory soap strategy in dealing with their enemies? When the other side has declared that their goal is to eliminate all Jews and has rejected all peace talks and compromise, then it is justified to take them out first – the threat has become existential.

Let's go to our local scene. This may rankle some of us, particularly our kuya Wil. When I joined the Leni campaign, it gradually dawned on me: this group is incredibly naïve and some were so ignorant on how to navigate political battles. They were waging a war based on one's morality and classified people into politically correct or incorrect. It was an unwinnable strategy based on a feel-good purity of one's self but ignored how the masses -poor, ignorant, terrible memories and poor learners would vote based on fear, ignorance, gullibility and a hope no matter how remote that things can change for the better. The last-minute house to house and street performances were admirable but was not designed to win.

Personal anecdote: after attending the Leni rally in Macapagal and while crossing Roxas back to the hotel, I heard one vendor shout: "Dumadaan na mga mayayaman (the rich are passing through) …" He was terribly wrong of course, but that's not what matters.

What mattered was how to deal with that in order to win the election, not being pure or correct. Using the Israel example, this means dealing with Hamas no matter how harsh the side effects will be.

Globally, progressives are in retreat. Not because people stopped caring about what is right, but because the "woke" insist on ideological/personal purity at the expense of ignoring real problems that people face.