Has Atlas gotten more conservative lately?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I think there has been a universal backlash against "the left" as currently constituted in the United States. The pseudo-philosophies of governance embraced by left-wing activists during the Trump administration - MMT, radical police abolitionism, "open borders", climate radicalism and, later, the "stay home, saves" lockdown ideology - have all been cruelly, viciously discredited by reality, in exactly the manner as prophesized by conservatives. It would be very surprising indeed if this did not result in just about every poster on the forum sounding markedly more right-wing than they were last year.

At the same time, it's important to not conflate the backlash against the progressivism and new new left style socialism of the late 2010s - and which define the present day Democratic Party - as a pivot away from the entire tradition of left-liberalism and socialism. As far as I can tell, these new ideologies bear little similarity with the old, venerable social democracy and liberalism of the past, which always recognized the importance of sound public administration, accepted textbook macroeconomics and accepted the idea that there were tradeoffs in public health. Furthermore, contemporary political debate has turned away from discussions of the welfare state, which are totally off the table, and towards the topics I just listed - the pandemic, the border crisis, the massive increase in energy prices, the emerging crime wave etc. Most notably, there is no discussion whatsoever about healthcare reform, which has been supplanted by pandemic discussion.

Speaking for myself, I believe very strongly that I am sharply critical of the Biden administration, the Democratic Party and the contemporary left from the perspective of a rather radical social democrat/democratic socialist. None of my views have changed fundamentally. If asked, I still support massively increasing taxes to move the US as far in the direction of the Nordic model as possible and, for that matter, to move beyond it. I am still a "class warrior", I am still militant in my support of the labor movement etc. On every dimension, I remain who I was, it's just that my long simmering frustration with various activist groupings and the mainstream D's has boiled over - they constitute a real threat to my way of life, not only because their failures in governance threaten to bring the right into power, but because the damage being done to society is extreme.

Here's what I fear the most: the failures of the current regime are so devastating, so damaging that they will destroy trust in the idea of a government working for the common good for decades. Even if there is internal reform, it might be that no one would be willing to respect an argument in favor of the welfare state because there'd be a sense that the government is dysfunctional, impotent and useless.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

It would seem that way in a time when many users are experiencing crime, inflation, and pandemic fatigue, wouldn't it? 

Even the posters who are more concerned with student loans or the cost of raising children have little to show from the incumbent administration. The least that political leaders can offer to people frustrated with their material conditions is hope, and even that's falling short.

Reading it as conservatism assumes too much, though. Some of it's that, but frustration is the universal. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. In short: malaise.

I think that one can say in a strict, traditional sense that just about all of this is "conservatism". At the moment, almost all of us are realizing that there was much worth preserving about our pre-pandemic society. This isn't the conservatism of the Republican Party but it is what the term usually means - there is a backlash against certain kinds of changes and a deep desire for normalcy. In the end, I don't think this is particularly inconsistent with desires for radical reform, which are often driven by conservative impulses of various kinds.

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

Well, I am a perfect example. I used to be a Jimmy dore/TYT/Kulinski watching "True Leftist" and now I'm more level headed.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

It's just the natural consequence of Republicans being the out party. Conservatives can come out of the woodwork as instead of constantly being asked to defend Trump doing X they can attack Biden for doing X. And leftists will complain more about Democrats not doing X. And some Democrats will not like what the in party is doing and shift rightward. Not really mysterious.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

It would seem that way in a time when many users are experiencing crime, inflation, and pandemic fatigue, wouldn't it? 

Even the posters who are more concerned with student loans or the cost of raising children have little to show from the incumbent administration. The least that political leaders can offer to people frustrated with their material conditions is hope, and even that's falling short.

Reading it as conservatism assumes too much, though. Some of it's that, but frustration is the universal. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. In short: malaise.

I think that one can say in a strict, traditional sense that just about all of this is "conservatism". At the moment, almost all of us are realizing that there was much worth preserving about our pre-pandemic society. This isn't the conservatism of the Republican Party but it is what the term usually means - there is a backlash against certain kinds of changes and a deep desire for normalcy. In the end, I don't think this is particularly inconsistent with desires for radical reform, which are often driven by conservative impulses of various kinds.

I've started deliberately entertaining fantasies about going back in time approximately a decade and, once I'm there, "standing athwart history yelling 'stop!'". Who in their right mind, in late 2011, would have seen American society and the American body politic as they stood at that time as worth preserving at all costs from half-baked reform efforts? Would anybody? Did anybody? Obamaworld didn't; the at-the-time-unprecedentedly-reactionary Republican House majority didn't; the Arab Spring/Occupy/Project Chanology-emboldened New Old New New Left didn't; I didn't. And yet, and yet...

[beesley]

Whether it has or has not, I have no real problem with it.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Atlas thought Biden was landslide Biden in 2020 it started with SOLID, Landslide Lyndon and Brucejoel and he wasn't he can't even deliver on Voting Rights and BBB we should of nominated someone else but Obama and all the Ds like Beto who is gonna lose in a Landslide gotten behind Biden on Super Tuesday

Solid uses Cookie Damage because he has Pack the Crts as his user name but everyone ne knows Biden wasn't who we thought he was

Even if we do win in 22 it's gonna be another narrow majority it won't be a big majority either because COVID is in the way and we're gonna have divided Govt

.Since, Biden sux, Brucejoel stopped posting

But, this doesn't lie with us Obama and Beto and Klobuchar endorsed Biden during Super Tuesday he is 3o4 Biden not Landslide Biden just like Hillary was

Eventhough the Economy has rebounded even Newsom whom won in a Landslide didn't give UBI checks to everyone his polls were 57 and declining, Biden stopped those checks they were very popular not child tax credit,  Yang proposed it before the Pandemic to Everyone not for EITC only

[Conservatopia]

Whether it has or has not, I have no real problem with it.

But what if instead of merely becoming more conservative it became more Conservative?

[beesley]

Whether it has or has not, I have no real problem with it.

But what if instead of merely becoming more conservative it became more Conservative?

I could accept that - more Brits is always a good thing, providing they subscribe to the goal of a 'free and independent Wessex'. Of course there are plenty of Irish Republicans here, so to balance them out we need some Sweden Democrats.

[Associate Justice PiT]

It would seem that way in a time when many users are experiencing crime, inflation, and pandemic fatigue, wouldn't it? 

Even the posters who are more concerned with student loans or the cost of raising children have little to show from the incumbent administration. The least that political leaders can offer to people frustrated with their material conditions is hope, and even that's falling short.

Reading it as conservatism assumes too much, though. Some of it's that, but frustration is the universal. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. In short: malaise.

I think that one can say in a strict, traditional sense that just about all of this is "conservatism". At the moment, almost all of us are realizing that there was much worth preserving about our pre-pandemic society. This isn't the conservatism of the Republican Party but it is what the term usually means - there is a backlash against certain kinds of changes and a deep desire for normalcy. In the end, I don't think this is particularly inconsistent with desires for radical reform, which are often driven by conservative impulses of various kinds.

I've started deliberately entertaining fantasies about going back in time approximately a decade and, once I'm there, "standing athwart history yelling 'stop!'". Who in their right mind, in late 2011, would have seen American society and the American body politic as they stood at that time as worth preserving at all costs from half-baked reform efforts? Would anybody? Did anybody? Obamaworld didn't; the at-the-time-unprecedentedly-reactionary Republican House majority didn't; the Arab Spring/Occupy/Project Chanology-emboldened New Old New New Left didn't; I didn't. And yet, and yet...

     It was a slow burn that burned too slowly to actually see what was coming. I think I started suspecting that the country was going in the wrong direction some time in early 2016, and I think I was rather ahead of the curve. Sure you had #NeverTrump types emerge around that time, but I always found them noisome because of their apparent conviction that everything was okay until Trump came on the scene. I knew the rot was already there and that the country's future ultimately looked bleak regardless of what anyone did, but I am nevertheless impressed by the degree to which the pandemic has exacerbated the situation.

[Badger]

No, however, the few conservative posters here are now a bit more vocal, a bit less afraid of the leftist mob that bullies others, as it has become slightly more socially acceptable to be against Biden and Democrats (really only because public opinion polls say so). All it really indicates is how much groupthink suffocates this forum on a regular basis, especially in 2020, and how conservatives on a usual basis do not speak up and confront the pac-man pie chart of opinion, because they will be targeted by 10 different people mocking and belittling them, and nobody will have their back.

Still, it's much easier to be a Democrat and get 20 recommends on every post you get, then be a conservative and get 5, and have opinion polls of you done where 40-50% of the forum automatically hates you for having a different opinion. And that even hides the fact that in order to be a "respected" person here, you have to be part of the 5% of Republicans in 2020 that voted for Joe Biden, and about half (maybe more) of all Republicans here fall into that category. Hilarious that Democrats on here are now upset that their supermajority of posters has been perceived to decrease slightly.

Yah and like I said during the Trump years you would basically see Red Avatar Hacks post thread after thread on USGD which basically compromised of a crazy statement made by random state legislators, activists or out of context statements(like the infamous "Animals" Thread). Also from their posts in the thread, it was clear they used those threads to dunk on blue avatars as over and over you would see them post "Where are all the blue avatars to condemn this".


The threads we are posting now are mainly compromised of actual insane policies/actions taken by the left and Red Avatar hacks dont like it cause it exposes the complicity the Democratic Party in those actions.

 Now. blue avatars dunk on goofy social policies put forward by Is random college administrators and city councils in places like San Francisco.

Then. Red have avatars dumped on literally insane and/or borderline fascist statements of belief issued on a nearly daily basis by the president of the United States and leader of their party.

Yep, totally valid comparison.

[Badger]

something else dawned on me. Regardless of whether Atlas has become more conservative, I think the conservative block has become infinitely more cohesive. Not in a laudable sense of solidarity, but rather development of a hive mind. The chronic complaints that The Mods are biased and out to get them while coddling red avatar posters, as an absolute source of religious faith, binds them together as permanent victims.  Just like the real world. They have to have each other's backs because because even the objectively worst poster on Atlas is still better than a Democrat.

Time was, not long ago, blue avatars would readily criticize other blue avatars who were is it who were either jerks or extremists in opinion of polls or the like. Now it's gotten to the point that the worst sh**t posters on Atlas still get unreserved support and loyalty from the blue avatar and conservative posters. It's gotten so bad in this sense that a profoundly arrogant and obnoxious marxist Still gets hardcore love from the blue avis  Because said poster's primary contribution to Atlas is still triggering the libs.

[OSR stands with Israel]

something else dawned on me. Regardless of whether Atlas has become more conservative, I think the conservative block has become infinitely more cohesive. Not in a laudable sense of solidarity, but rather development of a hive mind. The chronic complaints that The Mods are biased and out to get them while coddling red avatar posters, as an absolute source of religious faith, binds them together as permanent victims.  Just like the real world. They have to have each other's backs because because even the objectively worst poster on Atlas is still better than a Democrat.

Time was, not long ago, blue avatars would readily criticize other blue avatars who were is it who were either jerks or extremists in opinion of polls or the like. Now it's gotten to the point that the worst sh**t posters on Atlas still get unreserved support and loyalty from the blue avatar and conservative posters. It's gotten so bad in this sense that a profoundly arrogant and obnoxious marxist Still gets hardcore love from the blue avis  Because said poster's primary contribution to Atlas is still triggering the libs.

You should join discord

[PSOL]

I second that badger should join the main atlascord

[OSR stands with Israel]

Time was, not long ago, blue avatars would readily criticize other blue avatars who were is it who were either jerks or extremists in opinion of polls or the like. Now it's gotten to the point that the worst sh**t posters on Atlas still get unreserved support and loyalty from the blue avatar and conservative posters. It's gotten so bad in this sense that a profoundly arrogant and obnoxious marxist Still gets hardcore love from the blue avis  Because said poster's primary contribution to Atlas is still triggering the libs.

Which blue avatar are you talking about cause if you are talking about ShadowtheAbyss then no many of us don’t like him either.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Discord is about all these Conservative users and don't forget whom gave everyone a 2K dollar stimulus check, and 300 extra in unemployment and if you qualify you gotten 2400, 1200 both times in EITC for your kids, in Cali, n addition to Fed tax cuts


All made possible by D's the second time, Trump passed it the first time

Collins is a FAKE MODERATE she won on Cares Act, but she is Filibustering Voting Rights or VR when Olympia Snowe was in office she did more moderate things now she is falling in line with Ernst and Shelly Moore Capito


Trump was slow giving out the vaccine and when Biden gotten into office we all got the vaccine

This is what Conservatives don't want to tell you if Gideon and Cunningham won we would have gotten another targeted Stimulus and Voting Rights and child tax credits,

Nothing is gonna change when Rs get back power they are gonna pass more Conservative judges and pass tax cuts for the rich


They're gonna secure the Border to stop illegals from being unvaccinated but they want to fire Fauci and repeal all the vaccine mandates here in the US, Obama went on TV and said Larry Elder want to repeal all the vaccine mandates

[Mr. Illini]

Given the responses to the Jan 6 thread that I have read, the answer is yes. More right-wing and more deranged.

[Calthrina950]

Given the responses to the Jan 6 thread that I have read, the answer is yes. More right-wing and more deranged.

Also, there is the poll I created about 1/6, and the results of that are surprising to me.

[Big Abraham]

Given the responses to the Jan 6 thread that I have read, the answer is yes. More right-wing and more deranged.

Thinking January 6th was anything less was than one of history's greatest attacks on democracy and prosecutable as treason is not inherently right-wing.

[Mr. Illini]

Given the responses to the Jan 6 thread that I have read, the answer is yes. More right-wing and more deranged.

Thinking January 6th was anything less was than one of history's greatest attacks on democracy and prosecutable as treason is not inherently right-wing.

Equating any attack on the Capitol with the looting of a Target is inherently deranged and is an argument that could only be made by someone with strong sympathies for our former right-wing President.

[Big Abraham]

Given the responses to the Jan 6 thread that I have read, the answer is yes. More right-wing and more deranged.

Thinking January 6th was anything less was than one of history's greatest attacks on democracy and prosecutable as treason is not inherently right-wing.

Equating any attack on the Capitol with the looting of a Target is inherently deranged and is an argument that could only be made by someone with strong sympathies for our former right-wing President.

I am broadly sympathetic the George Floyd protests, including some of their more controversial aspects, and I strongly support the right to assembly and petition for any group of people, so please don't lump me in with those people.

That said, even I know it's disingenuous to suggest that the only source of violence during the riots last year was "looting Targets."

[Mr. Illini]

Given the responses to the Jan 6 thread that I have read, the answer is yes. More right-wing and more deranged.

Thinking January 6th was anything less was than one of history's greatest attacks on democracy and prosecutable as treason is not inherently right-wing.

Equating any attack on the Capitol with the looting of a Target is inherently deranged and is an argument that could only be made by someone with strong sympathies for our former right-wing President.

I am broadly sympathetic the George Floyd protests, including some of their more controversial aspects, and I strongly support the right to assembly and petition for any group of people, so please don't lump me in with those people.

That said, even I know it's disingenuous to suggest that the only source of violence during the riots last year was "looting Targets."

Were there any actions that were equivalent to forcing entry into the congressional chambers while congress was in session, forcing evacuation? Anything equivalent to a delay in the certification of fair election results and the subsequent peaceful transfer of power between two American Presidents?

[Xing]

The January 6th thread is just further evidence that a growing number of right-leaning posters, most of whom aren't new posters and many of whom I've respected over the years, have become one-note "screw the left" posters, which is disappointing. Of course, it's nowhere near all of them, but I still don't like seeing posters with whom I got along despite our disagreements suddenly acting in such an antagonizing way. And instead of nuanced criticism of the left, we get sweeping generalizations and posting random Tweets as some kind of "gotcha", even when many of us have shown in our posting history that we don't agree with the content of said Tweet. I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected with a Democratic trifecta, but it's frustrating to try to have serious conversations when many seem to be only be interested in shouting at a cardboard cutout of a "crazy leftist SJW who wants permanent lockdowns, thinks about Trump 24/7, hates white men, and thinks 2022 will be a blue wave."

[Hindsight was 2020]

The January 6th thread is just further evidence that a growing number of right-leaning posters, most of whom aren't new posters and many of whom I've respected over the years, have become one-note "screw the left" posters, which is disappointing. Of course, it's nowhere near all of them, but I still don't like seeing posters with whom I got along despite our disagreements suddenly acting in such an antagonizing way. And instead of nuanced criticism of the left, we get sweeping generalizations and posting random Tweets as some kind of "gotcha", even when many of us have shown in our posting history that we don't agree with the content of said Tweet. I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected with a Democratic trifecta, but it's frustrating to try to have serious conversations when many seem to be only be interested in shouting at a cardboard cutout of a "crazy leftist SJW who wants permanent lockdowns, thinks about Trump 24/7, hates white men, and thinks 2022 will be a blue wave."

Is it really “many” though? Because you seem to be describing OSR more than anyone else because the rest of the rwers posting who have been antagonistic the whole time. Unless I’m forgetting someone it seems like OSR is the only one who has gone through this change over the year

[Xing]

The January 6th thread is just further evidence that a growing number of right-leaning posters, most of whom aren't new posters and many of whom I've respected over the years, have become one-note "screw the left" posters, which is disappointing. Of course, it's nowhere near all of them, but I still don't like seeing posters with whom I got along despite our disagreements suddenly acting in such an antagonizing way. And instead of nuanced criticism of the left, we get sweeping generalizations and posting random Tweets as some kind of "gotcha", even when many of us have shown in our posting history that we don't agree with the content of said Tweet. I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected with a Democratic trifecta, but it's frustrating to try to have serious conversations when many seem to be only be interested in shouting at a cardboard cutout of a "crazy leftist SJW who wants permanent lockdowns, thinks about Trump 24/7, hates white men, and thinks 2022 will be a blue wave."

Is it really “many” though? Because you seem to be describing OSR more than anyone else because the rest of the rwers posting who have been antagonistic the whole time. Unless I’m forgetting someone it seems like OSR is the only one who has gone through this change over the year

I wasn't even thinking of OSR. There are at least six posters that come to mind for me.