>When I look in the mirror, I see a left-wing extremist
Considering left-wing extremists murdered more people than nazis in the 20th century, why is it still socially acceptable to say such a thing?
Considering left-wing extremists murdered more people than nazis in the 20th century, why is it still socially acceptable to say such a thing?
Of course, people always believe other people's moderate proposals are dangerous extremism.
For instance, the FBI considered Martin Luther King Jr a dangerous extreme leftist to be spied-upon for the sake of national security, and of course, part of the reason MLKJr was actually a socialist was precisely because mid-century America's idea of "moderate" and "normal" was that prosperity for the white working-class could and should be purchased with the tortuous exploitation of the black and immigrant working classes, and that anyone who would run a Poor People's Campaign for all colors together was a dangerous extremist who had to die.
Left-wing without context and location doesn't say much useful.
The 20th century's distinction between "capitalist" and "communist", "free" and "not free", doesn't seem to have actually captured genuinely relevant dimensions of variation very well.
I also don't think words mean the same thing to all people. As someone who spent his youth in a socialist country I can assure you Bernie Sanders idea of socialism is very different to what "we" thought it was or what other socialist countries were trying.
And that's really more or less my point. Left-wing doesn't really say much by itself without more information. There is no belief that would be shared by everyone who either describes themselves as left-wing or is described as such. Same for right-wing.