1. Right... so regarding the 'dirtbag left'.

The 'Dirtbag Left' are a reactionary group of bigots who cosplay at leftism.

The 'Dirtbag Left' are largely defined as a group of 'Leftists' who fight against "identity politics" while being "edgy" (read, reactionary bigots).

2. The 'Dirtbag Left' often engages in racism, misogyny, transphobia, and when called out on that they recede behind their 'we don't believe in idpol' ("identity politics").

How are they in any meaningful way different from the alt-right?

3. And the argument goes, "yea, but we want to make the left more edgy and funny and welcoming for right wingers".

Listen...

Racism isn't going to make the left more welcome for right wingers. It's going to drive white people to the right, and make POC afraid of white leftists.

4. Transphobia isn't going to make the left more welcome for right wingers. It's going to drive cis people to the right, and make transgender people afraid of cis leftists.

5. Misogyny isn't going to make the left more welcome for right wingers. It's going to drive cis men to the right and make women more afraid of cis male leftists.

6. "The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house." ~Audre Lorde

7. With the 'Dirtbag Left's ***edgyness*** comes a cost that privileged leftists will never understand. You're literally shitting on the most vulnerable people in society to make room for even more reactionary, even more bigoted, even more violent people.

8. And this will be done in the name of unity.

"Black people shut up, white people are talking now, stand by us or else you're not really a leftist. We don't play identity politics here."

But this is the zenith of identity politics.

9. Except white people's concerns have been framed as legitimate and black people's concerns have been framed as 'identity politics' ... and that situation, my summer blossoms, is called racism.

10. And this is the kind of racism, the kind of misogyny, the kind of transphobia, that the 'Dirtbag Left' engages in.

11. Coming back full circle to Breadtube/"Left" Tube.

People like V4ush, 5hoe, C0ff1n who engage in a shitload of misogyny, transphobia, racism, etc... and respond to any criticism with the kind of reactionary bullshit you'd expect from the alt-right.

12. They surround themselves with right wingers who parrot their rhetoric, while at the same time they pretend to be left wing, and if you call them out on their bigotry they'll point to their token minority right wingers and say, "yea, but I have a gay/trans/black friend."

13. If your aim is cruelty then you're not a leftist.
If your aim is edginess for the sake of edginess then you're not a leftist.
If your aim is bigotry under the guise of comedy then you're not a leftist.

14. Let's be clear about what leftism is.

Leftism is the politics of making things equal between people who have and people who do not have, people who are privileged and people who are oppressed. It's about justice. Not merely peace. Justice.

15. Leftism is about moving society in ways that breaks down hierarchy, about uplifting people who are hurt, about creating a world in which all people can life.

The 'Dirtbag Left' is about punching down.

16. The 'Dirtbag Left' may counter saying: "Yea, but you're making the left like an exclusive club."

But, like I've said before, that's like a healthy person storming into an ER saying, "I hurt my toe, why don't I get to be a part of this club."

17. As I said before, the left is not doing so well. We're not an exclusive club, we're triage, we're an emergency room. Our chief concern should be and should always be the most marginalised, the most vulnerable people.

18. Our chief concern should be lifting the voices of the most marginalised, the most vulnerable people. Raising their concerns. Because uplifting their concerns will always uplift the concerns of all people.

19. The 'Dirtbag Left' is concerned with: "Why doesn't cishet white college boy, Chad Chadlington get to make naughty jokes about trans people to impress his Nazi friends?"

20. "But we should care more about class than race or sex or gender or sexuality."

People of colour are statistically more poor more often than white people.
Women are statistically more poor more often than men.
Queer people are statistically more poor more often... etc...

21. But the "Dirtbag Left" doesn't care about that, they want to make helicopter jokes and complain that their Nazi friends don't feel comfortable while they cosplay as leftists.

22. Let's be clear.

Trans people are dying. Black trans people are dying at an alarming rate. Black trans people are being murdered at an alarming rate.

Chad tells the one helicopter joke and yells, "Just because I disagree with you, that doesn't make me transphobic."

CW: transphobia, white person using 'woke' as a derrogative, ableism

This is the 'Dirtbag Left' for you.

24. So why is this concerning. Because this shit works. People gravitate towards the reactionary. People gravitate to the cruel and dismissive. People think violence against marginalised people is funnier than violence against privileged people.

25. Notice the "jokes" targeting trans people and even a mild criticism of the police among centrists and how they react.

26. I don't really want to mention R1ck and Mrty right now, but people think this "I'm mean therefore I'm smart" / "I'm smart therefore I get to be mean" thing is a thing.

No.

27. Being cruel, punching down, being a bigot for lolz, being a bigot because it gains you an audience isn't "oh so clever", it's the status quo. It's literally how the right functions. This isn't "Edgy Leftism" it's conservative reactionary bullshit cosplaying as leftist.

28. Again, it's not that remarkable to point out that the "Dirtbag Left's" audience is majority white, majority cis, majority male.

29. "But what if this Nazis wants to become a leftist."

Good. Not going to stop them. They're more than welcome to. Nobody is stopping them. Literally nobody.

HOWEVER...

30. This does not grant them a platform before or over their 'previous' victims.

This does not grant them an award.

This does not annul their responsibility to undo the harm they did and address the various rewards they reaped from being a Nazi.

31. And as for the 'Dirtbag Left'. If a Nazi won't come to the left because not enough people are like the 'Dirtbag Left' that should tell you a world of things that Nazis expect before they turn to the left, and a world of things about the nature of the 'Dirtbag Left' itself.

32. This is a very, very elaborate version of "I used to support trans people, but a trans person was mean to me, so now I'm a TERF."

That's all fine, but that means that this person was never an ally to begin with.

Social justice isn't about the comfort of the powerful.

33. And the 'Dirtbag Left' is all about that comfort. Being smug at how much better you are than everyone else. Such a clever... clever... clever little boy. Aren't you just the bestest most clever boy who owned all those wokescolds, yes you are, yes you are.

34. And yes, the term 'wokescold' is racist. And I still apologise for using it here.