Surprising leftist tendencies
I’m in the strange position of feeling insulted, but slowly realising that I’m utterly wrong about this.
The first time I came across the term leftist it was in right wing blogs during the November 2004 US election. For instance, the Captain’s Quarters says:
The problem for Kedwards is they have no original proposals and can only offer a leftist spin on what the president has already accomplished.
There was much, much else around at the time. I felt the term mildly offensive then, and haven’t changed my mind since.
But recently it cropped up in a headline in — of all places — the Guardian: “Leftists plan ID card assault”. This was from no pyjamahadin, but from the venerable Michael White, their political editor. Though he won’t have written the headline himself, it was a significant moment. Standards are slipping down t’Guardian way, I thought.
Now following the term’s appearance again, today, I’m perturbed to find that it’s used widely and not at all pejoratively. The earliest I can trace it on Guardian Unlimited (outside a comment piece) is to 21 January 2001:
On Tuesday, he gave evidence at the trial of Hans-Joachim Klein, one of the leftist gunmen who attacked the Opec meeting in Vienna in 1975.
Wikipedia, rigorous in it neutral point of view, uses it casually in its discussion of left wing politics.
I don’t know when this term first appeared. For how long before January 2001 was it in use? And how did it bypass me for 30+ years?
Now, despite feeling aggrieved for so long, I find I’m completely out of kilter with the rest of the world. Adjustment is going to be difficult.
