Online campaigns like these have helped radicalize a broad swath of Germany’s youth, making extreme-right ideas that were once relegated to the margins of German political discourse increasingly mainstream. The Young Alternative, the AfD youth organization that put out the dance video, has been classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as an extremist group since last year.
If i had to guess, the right offers classic masculinity and certainty in the belief system. The world is good or bad, and it is easy to know which is which.
Meanwhile the left is basically everything but typically masculine, and makes little effort to appeal to men in its rethoric and demands (in fact, i personally believe the surface level hostility towards men is incredibly harmful to the cause and should be adjusted for less antagonistic language).
If i was a teenager today id probably feel very lost myself. Being a man is no longer “good”, men are oppressors and part of the partiarchy now, and previous male role models are dated without an alternative available. So where does that leave a confused adolescent?
I once called out quite specific misandrist statements, you could assume they might have disagreed with the evaluation. Instead, they straight up jumped to calling me a dangerous misogynist when my entire political and social stance is openly opposite. In the aftermath I read on their social media increasingly unhinged rants how only single rare exceptions of men are not perpetrators. Not surprised the left alienates large demographics, even their own allies.
I’m sure that’s a big part of it, but there’s also a massive cost of living crisis and a lot of straight up gaslighting in regards to immigration. I’m willing to bet if there was a left wing party that addressed a lot of those issues you wouldn’t see the same shift rightward.
The left has a lot of hostility in general. Towards men, towards centrists, towards white people, and towards the right.
As a centrist, it’s really disappointing to see, because at this time when the right has dropped the ball and sacrificed stability and moral soundness for power and populism, we need the left to be welcoming people with open arms, educating them, and encouraging voting in general.
Instead, there’s scorn and rejection, and denial of that scorn and rejection if it’s brought up - or even just doubling down on “they deserve it”.
And so, they feed their opposition, because they can’t take the time to find a common ground. Being seen to be “the right one” is more important to them - and they’ll “win” their way into a hole.
Is it the left’s fault the right are like an infested cricket hopping to its watery demise? No. But it’s their fault they rely on the easy lies of hate - that their position is morally superior, and so people who don’t agree are shit. Anything you’re accused of, just point at the whipping boy, and whip harder, because the right are so clearly wrong, you don’t have to inspect your own life.
Eventually, people will wake up. …or, one side will “win”, and try to suppress the views of the other, which will eventually pop up again anyways, because of the duality in the human mind. In either case, after a while, we’ll rinse and repeat.