Alt Left sub types revisited

Of all my blog posts so far, the one that has promoted the most discussion in alt-left circles - such as they are - to date has been my breakdown of sub types on the alt-left.

Just for reference's sake, here are the main ones.  What unites them is a skepticism towards unbridled capitalism.

Left Wing of the Alt Right: Nationalists, open to race realism.
Red Templars: Anti Islamists, oppose mass immigration.
Gamergate Leftists: Cultural libertarians, anti SJW.  Not necessarily into GamerGate itself, these guys are most concerned about censorship, campus speech codes, trigger warnings, safe spaces and the like.
Brocialists: Leftist anti-feminists, pro MRA or even pro MGTOW.
Red Enlightenment: Big on enlightenment values.  Sometimes into transhumanism, technocracy.
True Liberals: Anti-racist, pro-feminist (pro equity feminism, in any event) but put off by SJW extremism.  I've noticed a subcategory of these who are, say, cisgendered gay males or transgender people who've quarreled with trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs.)  I'll call these kinds Equal Rights Advocates.  Perhaps you recognize yourself among them, dear reader?
New Old Left: Predominantly about economics, class, labor, etc.  Disdainful of IdPol.
Christian Left: See Acts 2: 44-46, Catholic Social Teaching, the Social Gospel and Liberation Theology.
Patriotic Socialists: Socially conservative (in some ways at least) and economically leftist.  Okay, I didn't mention this one in the last post.  I am now.

And what of left wing conspiracy theorists?  Think Alex Jones, except for blue rather than red staters?  Who obsess over the New World Order rather than the (((New World Order.)))  Oh yeah, they already exist.  And have for a long time. 

I think I should clarify a few things here.

As a general rule, these are not hard-fast categories.  Please, my dear readers, don't obsess with categorizing yourself.  Not unless one or more really does fit you.  Even then, keep an open mind.  These should best be thought of as general areas of concern and interest, not as ideological straight jackets.  Perhaps they more accurately describe variations of ideas than people.  There's nothing precluding one or more overlapping.

There's also natural tension between some of them.  A Christian Leftist, Alt-Right leftist or a Patriotic Socialist is less likely to see eye to eye with the Red Enlightenment or Equal Rights Advocate sorts.  Being that both are generally anti-feminist, brocialist and patriotic socialists generally get along.  Except when they don't - many MRAs are as sharply critical of the "trad-cons" as the feminists themselves.  I have yet to see the neo/post Keynesian sorts really get into it with the more radical Marxist or anarchists, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.  Liberals disillusioned by SJW excess and nationalists disillusioned by alt-right excess are not naturally going to understand one another.  The differences go beyond different stances on core issues.  These people come from wildly different ideological backgrounds that think and frame issues in very different ways.

So why try to bring such a divergent group together, you might ask.  In answer, I'll quote Saul Alinsky's first rule for radicals: "Power is derived from two main sources: money and people.  Have-nots must built power from flesh and blood."  Or as the great Brian of Nazareth put it, "We should be struggling together.  We mustn't be fighting each other.  Surely we should be united against the common enemy!"

"The Judean People's front!"

"No!  No!  The Romans!"

Sub Types on the Alternative Left

Left Wing of the Alt Right?

I’ve come up with colloquial expressions of subtypes I’ve noticed in my short time with this movement. Note that these are not hard fast rules or mutually exclusive categories but rather descriptions of what seem to be motivating passions. Some perhaps approximate the Alt-Leftist ideal better than others:

“The Left Wing of the Alt Right” – Rabbit uses this phrase quite explicitly. They are most open to race realism and most opposed to mass immigration and Islamism but are also inclined towards some kind of economic socialism or social democracy and are otherwise put off the Alt-Right somehow or other. Strasserites might be a more explicitly national socialist variant of this, and National Bolshevism would be even more out there still.  Left wing nationalism would be a softer variant of this.

“Gamergate Leftists” – Named from an article I read a while back claiming that most Gamergaters were left-leaning, these are another type. These types need not be big on Gamergate per-se (the more I studied Gamergate personally, the more lost and confused I got) but being anti-feminist (at least against the kind of PC feminist theory you'd find in a women's studies class or on any left-leaning blog) and anti-SJW is huge with them as is civil and cultural libertarianism.  If Milo Yiannopoulos was a social democrat, this is basically what you'd have.

I found a number of these posting on anti-SJW pages. They come to the Alt-Left usually because of a belief in Leftist economics, though they are usually not that far Left.  Guys who believe in some regulation and a social safety net. Some too get put off by the tendency of anti-SJWs to drift into genuinely misogynistic and racist territory.  Remember kids that SJW and social liberalism are not the same things.  Think YouTubers like Sargon of Akkad or the Amazing Atheist, though they don’t use the term Alt-Left to describe themselves. Not yet, anyway. These kinds are defecting less from Richard Spencer and more from Milo Yiannopoluous.

“Red Enlightenment” – These are most passionate about rationalism, skepticism, empiricism and in some cases, transhumanism and futurism. Generally scientifically minded and technocratic sorts of socialists or social democrats.

“True Liberals” – Antiracist and feminist supporters who think the whole thing has gotten out of hand and are concerned for the SJW’s lifestyle puritanism and opposition to free speech. They are more pro-feminist and pro-social liberal than the Gamergaters though. “The Democratic Party of the 1990s,” someone once remarked to me when I described the alt-left to them, to which I replied, “There were no liberals or Leftists in the 1990’s except myself.”

“Brocialists” – Socialists or social democrats with a penchant for men’s rights and anti-misandry. I seem to have drawn a number of these to my page, and a few of my moderators fall into this category. Hillary Clinton supporters have accused Bernie Sanders of using these as his base of support.  Used as a pejorative by the "Lorettas" of the present day left, I'm a firm proponent that we reclaim the term.

“Red Templars” – Especially and specifically anti-Islamic. We get a lot of these from Sam Harris and Bill Maher’s followings. Unlike the Left Wing of the Alt Right types, these sorts are more standard liberals otherwise.

“The New Old Left” – Would dispense with race, culture and identity all together if they could and make Leftism mostly about economic Leftism. The Realist Left page and the blog Social Democracy for the 21st Century are like this. Farther left you’d find /leftypol/ on 8chan and some Marxist/Anarchist groups that reject IdPol.  A whole separate entry could be made of the economic subtypes one might find on the alt left.  I've also found a lot of labor nationalists and assorted 3rd positionists: mutualists, distributists, market socialists, state capitalists, syndicalism and so on.

 A few types that I have not seen many of and would have expected more are Christian leftists (Catholic Social Teaching, the social gospel and even liberation theology seem especially well suited to alt-leftism) and dissident feminists.  Surely, some feminists must be frustrated with what's happened to their movement.  It's been a long, long time since anything this dogmatic, intolerant, and puritanical has arisen in the western world.  Those well meaning devotees to feminism and social justice time and again are the ones who come under the sternest censure for the most minor of transgressions.  How many women out there, after getting called out one time too many for some sleight micro-aggression or another think "screw this" and drift away from the movement, while still holding to its essential ideals?  Many, I would think.  I would hope.  They can't be that hive-minded, could they?  In any event, if there are, the alt-left must be the port-of-call for women of liberal sentiment overall who reject this 21st century rehash of 16th century puritan culture.

On the other hand, I've noticed more than a few economic libertarians in alt-left circles, which I fail to understand since center to left economics is a pretty big part of this.

There may be more variations on the alt-left theme out there that I have not met yet.