The Drumbeat

I was introduced to a very young guy who wants to be a writer. I checked out his stuff, and it was a strange experience. He writes like a Boomer. The turns of phrase, the ideas, the emotions are all identical to what I hear from very liberal 70-year-old friends. Who are very nice people. Everybody in this story is a nice person.

What I’m saying is that the horizon of possibility is closed and screwed shut on the Left. There’s a limited range of words and expressions that are allowed. You can’t step even a millimeter beyond the line. Nothing I read or hear from the Left makes me go, “Hah. Never thought of it this way.” It was the call-out culture, then it was the cancel culture, and the result is that there is no culture. You are supposed to be reciting a limited range of precisely worded statements. No departure is possible.

Nazism, fascism, hatred, something-phobia, no human is illegal, trans women are women, gun culture, mental illness, climate change, non-traditional good, traditional bad, we just want you to have healthcare.

And then all over again, on a loop. Nazism, fascism, hatred, something-phobia. Even the young people aren’t finding a tiny crevice to escape from this mechanical recitation. The drumbeat of identical slogans drowns out any original thought.