Do Black Lives Matter for the Democratic Party?

August 31st, 2016 saw the release of emails by the hacker Guccifer 2.0 regarding the Democratic Party's stance on Black Lives Matter.  Suffice to say that it dosen't bode well for the Democratic Party.  Why? Because the leaks exposed all to clear the notion that despite rhetoric condemning Trump's racism and the alt-right, Black Lives don't matter for the Democrats.

These documents were supposedly uncovered from Nancy Pelosi's files.  It stated Black Lives Matter was a "radical movement" and that while Democrat party leaders should meet with them and avoid snubbing them with racist terminology such as "all lives matter", they should not support the platform the BLM.

The Democratic party has tried to shrug off the implications of these leaks.  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee(DCCC) has stated that BLM has evolved into a political force with a significant impact on the nation as a whole, and that they welcome dialogue and cooperation with BLM.  They sidelined the contents of the leak by stating that "they will not allow for" the contents of the leaks to negatively affect their relations with the BLM activists.

BLM leaders and activists however, were unconvinced.  Their facebook page offered the statement that the DCCC response was simply used to obfuscate the implications of the issue and silencing black communities.  They state that regardless of party lines, that elected officials in a democratic society have to make legislation reflecting the needs of their constituents.  BLM activists such as Shaun King have stated that the democrats have chosen to not focus on transformative policies to address racism and policy brutality, but instead just chose to "act polite and supportive without giving any real support".

Far-Right Political Correctness: The Hypocriscy of the Alt-Right Exposed

Colin Kaepernick of the San Fransisco 49ers's decision to stay silent during the playing of the American national anthem in a football game elicited strong reactions to say the least.  This was especially true among the alt-right.  That was because Kaepernnick decided to not stand for the national anthem on the basis that there was nothing worth it in his eyes to celebrate about America because of it's racism and "oppression" torwards blacks and other people of color, with a focus torwards police brutality and how cops could get away with dead people in the streets.

As expected, the alt-right's reaction torwards Kaepernick has been totally negative.  NFL fans have taken to burning t-shirts with Kaepernick's number on it, and the far-right has been making statements as to how Kapernick could protest against oppression, but make millions on his contract as a football player(nevermind that he himself accepted that he was privileged with his lifestyle).  The far-right also made complaints about  how football used to be "apolitical" but Kaepernick supposedly "ruined" it by bringing racial justice into the issue.

Thoughts on the Backlash torwards the New Ghostbusters(Rant torwards the alt-right)

The new Ghostbusters is not particularly a movie that I had any intention of seeing.  This has nothing to do with its quality or the acting or the characters, but rather because it is not the sort of movie that I'd like.  I admit that I am not a big horror or comedy fan, more of a TV drama fan as well as a sci-fi and fantasy fan. However I was compelled to watch this movie because of one reason: The various Men's Rights movements and the Alt-Right have been hating on it just because it has a fully female cast, which they believe is pushing a supposedly left-wing, progressive identity politics, and politically correct agenda at the expense of film quality.  The trailer for Ghostbusters has received the most dislikes out of any trailer for a Youtube movie, with many far-right commentators condemning the movie for pushing "SJW Values" over actual quality itself, with the implication that a movie with progressive identity politics is inherently bad.  As a result, I chose to watch this movie on the basis of unpacking some of these worldviews and see for myself: "Is the all-female cast supposedly hiding the movie's flaws?"

My opinion of the movie is that the movie, after been seen for itself, is not a bad movie.  It isn't objectively good but it is not the supposedly crap movie that the far right and sexists claim it to be.  I give it a 3/5.  And therefore, it is important to challenge them on this issue whenever they use social media to perpetuate their hatred.  Before we begin my dissection of the far-right's worldviews it bears noting that simply fighting the far-right on issues of misogyny, racism and identity politics, while necessary, is not the solution to the "root of the problem", and that there needs to be progressive socioeconomic policies opposed to neoliberalism to go hand in hand with progressive identity politics in order to effectively defeat this growing far-right.  Nevertheless, it must not be overlooked that the alt-right and the Men's Right's Movement are opposing the movie from the perspective of White Male Privilege, and must be confronted and called to account in battles between progressive forces and the alt-right over identity politics.