Why Does the Left Oppose "Imperialism"?

I'm reading a book about a left-wing activist (A long-dead, pre-woke left-wing activist.)

The book, however, has been written recently so it uses contemporary leftist rhetoric. It repeatedly uses the word "imperialist".

I always find myself wondering why the (contemporary) left would oppose imperialism.

Is it because they think power should be devolved, that everyone should be governed by rulers who live close to them rather than rulers who live far away? Is it a sort of localism?

That sounds plausible...except the left is overwhelmingly in favour of supranational institutions like the EU, the WHO, the UN, etc. etc. Just look at the meltdown they had about Brexit.

So do the left oppose imperialism because they think people should be self-governing and not ruled by an alien government?

But what could this possibly mean according to the leftist worldview? The whole idea of an allegiance that is based on anything particularistic-- religion, language, ethnicity, folkways-- is anathema to the left. According to the left, the only permissible bond, on a societal level, is common humanity. (Even while they push identity-based grievances, this remains true.)

So how can the left possibly oppose imperialism? On what grounds? I don't get it.

Two Definitions

A Marxist: Someone who is infinitely cynical about existing institutions and infinitely credulous about future institutions.

Nationality: Something that you can't find when you go looking for it, but that rugby-tackles you when you're not looking for it.

Painted Rocks and Re-Enchantment

A few years ago, when I still lived in a house with a garden, I discovered a rock painted as a ladybird hidden under the grass. It was one of several painted rocks hidden there.

I didn't realize at the time (although I was quickly told) that this is part of a trend.

My own belief is that the path to societal re-enchantment lies in Christianity.

But I think delightful little actions like this are re-enchanting in themselves-- guerilla warfare of re-enchantment, so to speak. (Painted electricity boxes are another example.)

Why Isn't the Universe Boring?

I mentioned YouTuber Joe Schmid recent conversion (or reversion) to Catholicism, and the epic seven-hour video he made on the cumulative case for God. (One of only three videos explaining his conversion, which total twenty-five hours.)

I'm working my way through it bit by bit, but I was particularly struck by this section, in which he asks why the universe, if it's "just there", isn't a lot more boring. I've often wondered this myself.

Whenever I've found myself pondering this, I've imagined the universe as an endless block of steel extending in every directions

Here are some of Schmid's suggestions of how the universe might have been (I've modified things I don't understand):

No concrete objects exist.

Only one particle exists.

One particle moves in a straight line forever (or a circle, etc.)

One particle periodically enters into an excited state.

Exactly two particles exist and orbit their common centre.

And he then says: "I could do this forever". Indeed.

Atheists put so much weight on evolution that it doesn't seem to occur to them that even for evolution to occur, the universe had to be a dynamic, rule-governed, complex reality.

To which the atheist might reply: "Well, it just is."

Which reminds me of Fr. Frederick Copleston's reply to Bertrand Russell, in a radio debate on the existence of God, when Russell was sticking to the "arms folded and sitting back" position: "If one refuses to even sit down at the chessboard and make a move, one cannot be checkmated."

My Hipster Cartoon

 

Yes

 I completely agree with this Daily Wire article. The death of the monoculture is a good thing.

I can vividly remember how monolithic pop culture was in my childhood. It was a bad thing. It was a homogenizing, standardizing, deadening force.

Folk culture was dissipating, high culture was almost a memory, but everybody talked about the same TV shows and films and music and toys.

In a small country like Ireland, this could be quite cosy, insofar as it was Irish pop culture that was uniting people. But it mostly wasn't.

Also, people were generally led into same sociopolitical talking points. 

There's lots to decry about the internet, but the shattering of the pop culture straitjacket is not one of them.

A Theory of Nostalgia

The sort of nostalgia to which I am most inclined is a nostalgia for particular moments. They might be forty years ago or they might be four months ago. (It usually takes a few months for them to settle into my memory.)

The strange thing is that these moments of nostalgia often have no obvious explanation. I may have been doing something completely mundane when they occur. They might even come at a very stressful time or in the midst of dejection.

Here is my theory: at every moment, we are experiencing and assessing the world according to a multitude of criteria, most of which are dark to our own vision-- that is, we don't even realize we are applying them.

For instance, if we walk into a room, and the colour combination is pleasing to us, we might not even register this consciously. Or perhaps the sound of traffic outside the building is calming at that moment.

Those are only the intrinsic factors, the ones you could list off from examining the particular setting you're in. But there are any number of others. There are psychological factors-- something triggers a memory, an association, a comparison that is somehow pleasing. Or perhaps you were anxious about something which has recently been settled. Or perhaps something in the news that day has pleased you somehow-- it might not even be a good news story, but perhaps a bad news story that you find somehow bracing.

In any case, my theory is that all these factors come together in a given moment, or at least enough of them to cause a flood of wellbeing or excitement or delight. Like a fruit machine with a hundred windows all showing the same fruit at once. (I've never actually used a fruit machine.)

I've noticed that such moments of nostalgia often take years for me to "decipher", and even then they only seem partially deciphered. So perhaps other people are like me in this regard.