Howdy you lot! I’m wondering if any of you have witnessed the decline of Martin Wright’s politics of late? I know he’s never been everyone’s cup of tea but I’ve always appreciated his highly libertarian attitude and his sneering rejection of authoritarian systems.
What has alarmed and deeply disappointed me about Martin is the nature of his ongoing commentary about the rise of xenophobic and fascist politics in the UK, and its popularity among the white working class.
One of his main narratives has always been the rejection of identity politics, so it’s highly ironic that he has developed his very own special form of idpol, namely the idealisation of the white working class as a body of people that can do no wrong and when they are racist, islamophobic or whatever it’s understandable and even justified.
The horrifying fact that xenophobic racist far-right politics has gained popularity in the UK can be blamed on many factors, including the left, but Martin never mentions any other blameworthy factors and dumps all the blame on the left. He has said the left has abandoned the working class in favor of immigrants (as if immigrants aren’t among the working class). He paints working class supporters of xenophobic fascist bullshit as basically innocent victims of the left, essentially imagining working class people as lacking autonomy, and he practically comes off sounding like a big fucking apologist for the far-right and fascism. He has even implicitly (or at least it seemed to me) blamed immigrants for the decline in conditions for white working class.
The world gets stranger by the day, and the fact that the renowned anti fascist, Martin Wright, is now peddling fash talking points seems to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that simulation theory is on the money!😜
As for his buddy Lisa McKenzie, she was never great but nowadays chats the same sort of shit as the swivel eyed creeps of Reform and Restore. Yet Martin continues to have enormous stars in his mincey pies for her. I’ve actually been planning on making a bet on her standing as a far right MP or councillor. This middle class academic never shuts up about her dad being a miner! More identity politics from the woman who appears to have made it her mission to exemplify how standards in academia have collapsed.
It’s all very weird - anyone got anything to say about this?
I think that, if people are…
I think that, if people are criticising someone else's politics, that it is good to give some actual examples or quotes.
I've watched a fair few of Martin's videos and there are of course a bunch of problems with them. But let's start with what he has actually said?
Hi Fozzie. I hear you, but…
Hi Fozzie. I hear you, but when I’m listening to Martin I’m not sat there with pen and paper waiting for a hot quote though I guess I could do that at some point and post it here.
If I were a journalist writing an article then I agree I should be adding in quotations, but when making a forum post I consider it like having a conversation in a pub, the standards are therefore more relaxed and so quotations while ideal are not really necessary.
I want to make it clear that what I’ve said is not me condemning some random person, it’s an expression of disappointment at someone who I’ve always admired and enormous surprise that someone as solid as him could have been caught up in the current uk cultural lunacy. I know him personally too, though not very well(we’ve met up and hung out a few times) and have had disagreements with his politics which he’s seemed to accept without resentment, but this is something entirely different.
Anyways, if I get a chance I’ll come back to you with some more details.
I completely get that Noah…
I completely get that Noah and I probably share your frustrations, but we'd just end up basically talking about our memories of what he has said and how they differ or are the same.
For example I don't especially remember Martin talking about "the white working class" as a group except in relation to the media or politicians talking about it. I think he is pretty clear that the working class is multi-racial but can be fractured in different ways.
As with Lisa I think his regular bashing of the left is because he would like it to be entirely different / more successful and insurgent. My recollection is that when he is using phrases like "the continual rightward drift" in the UK he also talks about economic immiseration and social atomisation.
But that's just what I remember and it might not be entirely correct.