This might be a silly question, so I want to preface it with an apology in advance and if you think there is a better place to ask please let me know.
I’ve come across a large number of self-described “anarchists” or “non-communist leftists,” or the like, mostly online,thanks to where I live (谢天谢地). But whenever you look a bit closer, the pattern is the same: underneath the aesthetics and language, it’s just liberalism. Pro-NATO positions, contempt toward the global periphery, and extremely reactionary responses when imperialism or capitalism are seriously questioned.
So my question is: Is adopting these leftist identities a kind of defensive mechanism (an attempt to distance themselves from the real-world damage caused by liberal ideology) or am I misunderstanding what’s actually going on?
they don’t all know there are other economic formations on the table, i would hesitate to say they’re meaningfully “pro-capitalist” all the time. If there was some better way to oxygenate our blood than breathing are we “pro-breathing” when we didn’t know the other way was an option couldn’t have considered it?
Some are market socialists, some think you could have enough welfare and public services for people to live but maintain capitalism for everything else, some think you can technology your way to star trek. or if they’re american they think minorities should have rights and haven’t considered economics at all.
their ignorance defaults them to chauvinism, but ironically some of them will advocate for systems that are or were set up in AES.