Friday, April 19, 2019

The Revolution Eats Itself

A phrase that's become popular in conservative circles is Annals of Leftist Autophagy, which began with the New Criterion in May, 2018:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that revolutionary sentiment is inherently expansionist and, if unimpeded, always winds up devouring its earlier partisans.

As we write, the social-justice chain Starbucks, famous for hectoring its customers about progressive politics and serving expensive burnt coffee, is being boycotted because a store manager in Philadelphia had two black loiterers arrested and removed by the police.
Once one notices the phenomenon, one sees it everywhere. Autophagy, i.e., when the body eats itself, occurs metaphorically when Ivy League colleges discriminate against Asian-American applicants, when anti-Semitic statements are justified if the right people speak them, and when white working-class union members are called "deplorables."

A current example is from California, where some leftist politicians are trying to alleviate the housing shortage by forcing communities to accept dense housing near train stations. They're getting push-back from other leftists.
Still waiting for Al Sharpton's outrage (Chron photo)
A provocative mailer by a deep-pocketed Los Angeles activist equates a state housing bill with “Negro removal,” a comparison that prompted state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Mayor London Breed to fire back Thursday.

The ad, paid for by Michael Weinstein, appeared on cable television, snowballed on social media and popped up in mailboxes throughout the city this week. It features a picture of famous black author James Baldwin with a quote about San Francisco’s urban renewal policies, which displaced thousands of African Americans from the Fillmore.

“San Francisco is engaging ... in something called urban renewal, which means moving the Negroes out. It means Negro removal,” says the quote, attributed to Baldwin in 1963.

It’s juxtaposed with a picture of Wiener, whose bill, SB50, seeks to put more housing near transit stations and job centers.
Frankly, I don't know who's going to win this argument. Just get the guillotines sharpened.

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