The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard performs at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., July 2, 2015. During the Fourth of July weekend each year, Disneyland invites military units to the park for special performances — a tradition started by Walt Disney on opening day. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nichelle Anderson)
Young Leftists are ideologically rooted in an anti-capitalist movement. But recently there has been an obsession to use corporations as a way to restrict the boundaries of acceptable political thought and debate.
Colin Kaepernick, Pawn of Capitalists
Take Colin Kaepernick as an example, writes Emily Jashinsky in The Federalist. Mr. Kaepernick tweeted a passage from Robert L. Allen, who criticizes “black capitalism.” In “Black Awakening in Capitalist America,” Allen’s scorns black capitalism because it welds “black communities more firmly into the structure of American corporate capitalism.”
That’s a strange sentiment from a man who is now enmeshed financially with Disney and Nike. Kaepernick is intentionally using major corporate brands to promote his cultural ideology, which is purportedly rooted in anti-capitalist goals. Advancing a mission by exploiting American consumer culture is, of course, extremely capitalist. Profiting off multinational corporate empires is too.
The left is advancing advertising boycotts against journalists like Tucker Carlson and demanding corporations police political speech by starving news outlets of advertising revenue.
Such campaigns only give corporations more control over the fourth estate.
To be clear, the cultural left is certainly not co-opting the capitalist system. Capitalists are using the cultural left to promote their brand and increase their profits. Convinced target demographics will reward virtue signaling.
Who’s Being Duped
Perhaps someone like Kaepernick believes his charity work offsets his personal involvement with Nike or Disney. That doesn’t make it any less capitalist, or make his work any less of a boost to the brand.
The far left claims its cultural goals are inextricably intertwined with anti-capitalism, and then begs capitalists to promote its values, which only gives the capitalists more money and more power. That’s why they’re doing it.
Capitalist’s Control of the 4th Estate
The other consequence, of course, is that those corporatists who perpetuate the capitalist system amass even more control over our politics. They are the people ultimately being given more authority over political discourse as a result of the left’s insistence on this incoherent blend of capitalism and progressivism.
Activists may be convinced it’s a ground-up movement, from leftist activists to beguiled elites, but however you slice it, the result is more political power in the hands of the ultra-powerful corporate class.
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