We are living in times when the US, Europe, UK, Canada, and India, which collectively make up approximately 2.3 billion people, are affected by the dangerous virus of extreme leftism. Strange and irrational ideas are being touted as the most intelligent and logical.
Initially, encountering the extreme left mindset might feel like a passing phase, similar to the temporary intoxication from weed. Sadly, this is not the case. This is not a fleeting phenomenon; it is here to stay and spreading rapidly, especially among millennials. It is gaining momentum so swiftly that it is changing the nature of public and polity discourse globally.
Having lived in Punjab during the peak of the Khalistani movement in the 1980s, it is confounding to see Trudeau legitimizing a movement he has no connection with and has never experienced the violence it perpetrated. Families lost fathers, brothers, husbands, and countless lives were irreparably impacted. Trudeau's actions seem driven by personal gain, capitalizing on funding and electoral support from wealthy Khalistani supporters in Canada.
However, left-leaning individuals, lacking the inclination, time, or capability to understand the historical context, blindly follow him. They become crusaders for a cause, brandishing placards about the "unjust occupation of Punjab by India," without any real understanding of the issue. The irony is that they are supporting a terrorist movement in the name of humanity, completely unaware of the complexities and consequences of their advocacy. And left unchecked the Left extremism go so far that the Canadian parliament has an official mourning silence on the death anniversary of a Khalistani terrorist.
Consequence 1 Unchecked extreme left extremism can elevate terrorists into public figures.
Consider the case of campus students in around the world protesting against Israel, fervently claiming that 8,000 Palestinian children have been killed. These students have never experienced conflict firsthand, nor do they understand the complexities of fighting a terrorist organization that hides in tunnels beneath densely populated residential areas, endangering its own people and using them as human shields. Moreover, they have not verified the accuracy of the figure they are protesting about. Question their understanding of the Palestine issue, most of them will not know that the land was under British control from 1920 - 48. And prior to the British the land was under the control of various empires, such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and eventually the Islamic Caliphate and the Ottomans.
Anyone would have thought that what happened on October the 7th 2024 in Israel would be widely condemned across the globe. Irrespective of which side you sit on, on the historical debate over who has the right to the land, resolving any dispute via committing the darkest possible human crime of killing babies, women and men while they are attending a dance party has to be unitedly denounced. But strangely and sinisterly no, that is not what happened. Within weeks of the massacre the whole discourse shits to making the terrorists look like victims and then “All eyes on Rafah” follows.
Consequence 2: Unchecked extreme left extremism can invert the roles, portraying the victimizer as the victim.
In India, the left's vocabulary includes terms like secularism, justice, equality, feminism, women's rights, cultural diversity, LGBTQ+ pride, and parade. Their biggest adversary is Hindu fundamentalism. They express admiration for Mughals, Urdu, and ghazals. They support PETA, advocate for dogs and cats, and show extreme sympathy for animals until they're served on the dining table as dishes like ghost (a type of kebab), nargisi kofta, or kebabs, at which point they become celebrated culinary achievements. Hindu deities can be mocked and ridiculed, but criticizing any other God is considered intolerant.
When asked about their objections to government schemes under the BJP rule, they often respond with judgment rather than specific critiques. Supporting the BJP is met with accusations of inhumanity, corruption, Nazism, greed, and even terrorism.
Despite witnessing their passionate disdain, you hope it's a passing phase. As a reasonable human who values discussion, you persist with questions, seeking data, facts, and numbers on policies such as Sharia law, the triple talaq law, Article 370, and the Places of Worship Act. However, over the past decade, I've encountered few leftists willing to engage with concrete information. Instead, I've been met with harsh judgment and intense animosity toward my beliefs and identity.
Consequence 3: Unchecked extreme left extremism fosters judgment, anger, and hatred by rejecting dialogue based on facts and figures.
Having opinions about complex issues without a full understanding, background, and facts may be fine for living room conversations, but taking these uninformed opinions outside and organizing mass protests based on them is dangerous. It transforms naive, ill-informed thoughts into self-righteous ideology. Just as one bad apple spoils the bunch, one person can rally millions who are looking for a cause to fill the void in their lives, leading them to embrace and spread misguided beliefs.
One of the symptoms of this virus attack of leftism is this sense of extreme self-righteousness which is the conviction of one's moral superiority and the unshakeable belief in one's own righteousness, making it highly detrimental. It leads to close-mindedness, and fosters hypocrisy and a lack of compassion, hindering empathy and resisting change or new ideas. This mindset not only hinders personal and collective growth but over mdi to long term it leads to bringing down the level of public discourse where there is no respect for truth or facts, the only space it allows is for emotion which comes from a pre conceived notion.
It is very similar to a crying baby who feels that you need to listen to me because I am crying and it is your duty to pacify me. When adults behave like kids you can’t help but think these are kids who have grown up to be brats, a result of bad parenting.
I've often felt that the more leftist an adult’s views are, the more they are struggling with their own personal unacknowledged failures. Their inability to look into the mirror at their own reality is what is getting shrouded as the hypocrisy of supporting these mass movements that they have little understanding or knowledge of. Just like their own lives they lack the courage to face the truth. I often say "Give me a rascal over a self-righteous person any day. At least the former has the courage to be true to themselves, whereas the latter is a coward and a liar.
What we are seeing happen is described very well by the quote: “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
― Charles Bukowski
(The antidote for the virus of extreme leftism is for unaffected individuals to voice their opinions. Promote discourse grounded in facts and data, where all ideas are welcomed without preconceived biases or judgments, and where courage in speaking and accepting the truth is respected.)