Do most ex JW's go politically left?

by Lightgrowsbrighter 34 Replies latest social current

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  done4good

  Most of us are just cynical, and naturally distrust anything that traces an authoritarian path, and backs it with a propaganda machine.The WT and the (current), Republican party in the USA are both. Perhaps in other countries, (given a very different context), the left might be equally as authoritarian and propagandist, (Russia might be a good example). In a different time, (pre-Nixon), the Republicans in the USA were actually more socially liberal than the Democrats of the era.
  

  The very term "liberal media" is a straw man invented by the conservative controlled media to set the center farther to the right. Apart from the NYT, MSNBC and scant few other sources, little media in the main is "liberal".

  d4g
  
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  LoveUniHateExams

  I'm not sure if most exJWs go politically left.

  I do know that I started out of the left, and have ended up largely on the centre right. Yes, the far right are bigoted and racist and should be called out for this. There should be no room for the far right (BNP, etc) in public life.

  I believe that heterosexual and homosexual marriage/relationships are equal, I suppose that's left-wing of me.

  I believe the state should be kept as small as practically possible, taxes should be kept low, foreign aid should be frozen and ensured that it's spent on the genuinely needy (not pissed away on dictators' birthdays, or helping Grace Mugabe to buy another 100 pairs of shoes). These views are all right wing.

  What troubles me about the left is that their ideas are often good sentiments but don't work out in reality. E.g. equality is a beautiful sentiment but isn't practicably possible. I certainly believe in equality of opportunity, however.

  Here's another example: Jeremy Corbyn said he was unhappy about the drone strike and that he wanted Mohammed Emwazi to stand trial and be punished in prison. Good idea, but how would that work? Send a carful of Met police to Syria then Emwazi would come out with his hands up?! Drone strikes are terrible and in an ideal world we wouldn't have them. But, what the left often forgets, the world isn't ideal.
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  punkofnice

  Gawd. I can't bleedin' stand politicians or politics. It's delusional crap.

  "Politics: ‘Poli’ a Latin word meaning ‘many’; and tics meaning ‘bloodsucking creatures’." –

  Robin Williams
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  Dunedain

  I am not overlly political. That being said, i actually consider myself more RIGHT wing. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with conservative, so-called Christian "values". In fact, on some domestic issues, i would be cnsidered "left".

  Where i become "right" wing, is strictly on economice issues. Due to my financial situation, and that i am a self employed,business owner, it makes more sense for me to "relate" to Right wing. I own a fair number of multi-family homes in the NY, NJ, United states, area. If there is a democrat as President, when i sell a home, i MUST pay 36% Capital gains taxes to the government. However, if there is a Republican President in office, when i sell one of my homes, i only have to pay 18% capital gains taxes.

  This is an "issue", that personally effects me. On CERTAIN social issues, i may be more centered, or even a bit left, and on other social issues i am right, too. On economic i have to be Right. If i sell a home and have to pay ALL those extra taxes, it would cripple me. I work very hard, and have invested a lot of hard earned money, time, and energy, into my business. I also employ people, and directly contribute to the economy. When i buy a home, i give the home improvements material places business, contractore, electricians, plumbers, all the business. I give townships business from permits, inspectors, mortgage lenders, real estate lawyers, home inspectors, and many many others, and this is when i purchase and re-hab 1 home.

  If after doing all that work, and laying ut all that money, i could lose all my profit by having to pay it in taxes to the government, then i just aint gonna do it. That means all the list above does NOT get the business, and the money back into the economy. This is simple economics, and i am SMALL TIME. Now, with all this being said, if i were to have a conversation, and be friends, which i am, with all types, left, right, centered, you would find that we probably agree on MANY things. I am simply, from my own personal financial situations, a bit more Right wing.
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  Londo111

  I always leaned far left, even as a JW. That just gave me something else to feel guilty about. Of course, I could never express it out loud.

  Nowadays, I mainly reserve my expression for the voting booth and leave it there.
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  Vidiot

  Lightgrowbrighter - "Do most ex JW's go politically left?"

  It always surprises me when they don't.

  From what I've seen, though, the ones who leave because the WTS isn't right-wing enough seem to be few and far between.

  Many XJWs who leave do so because they've had enough of that kind of thing.
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  OneEyedJoe

  I started to move more toward a libertarian attitude even while I was in. My change in thinking about politics (in my youth a strong centralized seemed ideal) was closely matched with my awakening from the cult. As I started to see that wanting my freedom from other's impositions logically meant that I should be willing to give that same from to others, I began to see that JWs don't allow us to give this freedom of choice to others. I found it difficult to be bigoted towards homosexuals, for example.

  Anyway I think political leanings after exiting probably depends a lot on religious alignment as you leave. Those that remain evangelical or otherwise strongly Christian are probably more likely to lean right.
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  Simon

  People who leave an authoritarian group because of the authoritarianism probably aren't as likely to seek out even more authoritarianism.

  For all the talk about opposing government, the political right want to impose more limits on most people's lives that aren't demonstrably for their own good IMO.

  Of course not everyone who leaves the WTS leaves for those reasons so some may turn to the right. For some the WTS is probably too liberal.

  Most people tend to become more conservative as they get older (and whiter, LOL) but many exJW's are living live in reverse.
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  Vidiot

  Simon - "Most people tend to become more conservative as they get older (and whiter, LOL)..."

  Explains the GOP so well... :smirk:
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  deanxxx

  A lefty before, during and after. Not far left, social dem/progressive with a dash of liberalism/libertarianism. Here in the UK, JWs seem to be left when it comes to economic inequality but in every other way they are very conservative, being to the right of the Tories imho.