Actor-comic Patton Osawalt is multi-talented, intelligent, and gives hope to all the homunculi in the world by being happily married to former teen heart-throb Meredith Salenger (above). But he is a smart-ass and an arrogant progressive. In his stand-up comedy Oswalt is like Janine Garafalo, David Cross or Bill Maher, half-clown and half political and social propagandist, relying on the demographics and biases of his audiences to get away with all sorts of dubious assertions.
In a a riff I just heard on one of Sirius-XM’s comedy channels. Oswalt argued that being “woke” is a short-lived virtue. Inevitably, he said, you are not sufficiently woke because “progress” always makes what was once virtuous and ideal no longer good enough. In other words, today’s progressives are doomed to become tomorrow’s stick-in-the-mud conservatives, because “progress” always pulls to the Left.
What Oswalt was saying is what today’s militant, doctrinaire, Orwellian progressives believe: all of their radical left agenda is “progress,” as in a boon to society and the human race. It is the duty of today’s woke to get with the program and support the next “advance,” whatever it is, because if the Left advocates it, it must be right. Critical thought is not required.
What arrogance! hose of us who are not brain-washed, knee-jerk followers or ideologues know better. Often what the Left sees as “progress” (“We’re on the right side of history!”) is really a terrible idea that their mob has been steam-rolled into supporting on faith. Coming up with a list, an incomplete one, is pretty easy:
- De-incarceration
- Open borders
- Banning firearms
- “Good” discrimination (DEI)
- Critical race theory
- Encouraging gender “transitioning” before puberty
- Procreation without marriage
- De-emphasizing discipline and attendance in the schools
- Recreational drug legalization
- Advocacy journalism
- Unregulated abortion.
That took me 38 seconds, and would have taken less if I could type.
There are many more proven bad ideas belonging on the list, including the failures of such “progress” as Communism, once flirted with (or more) by American intellectuals (Jack London, Dalton Trumbo, Roscoe Pound) and artists, and today by an increasing number of “Democratic-Socialists.” A group that is incapable of honest self-evaluation and unable to recognize its own mistakes and flaws is untrustworthy. In Patton Oswalt’s arrogant version of “woke,” the Left’s agenda is always right, always progress, by definition.
How can a democracy function with so many people who think that way?
Ethics Alarms 
That’s how almost all would-be revolutionaries end up – despised by the new generation of revolutionaries for not being radical enough. In the United States, most liberals are just dismissed as old-fashioned (“Okay, Boomer”) once they reach a certain fermentation level. In many other countries, they end up on the chopping block.
I don’t know that I disagree with your characterization of what he said, as I did not hear the bit. However, I liked what he said because it was honest and so few progressives would say it. But, what he has essentially admitted is that progressivism is never satisfied. It keeps moving. That is what is so dishonest about people saying that the right wing is getting more and more extreme. No! It is the left that keep moving further and further out. For better or worse (and, in some ways, both) our society is more progressive than it was in FDR’s day. At least he could admit it.
As for the list of progressive failures, I would add eugenics and prohibition.
-Jut
Adam Carolla has an analogy about “progress” using cigarettes. Here is his theory:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=503674617040519
jvb
“How can a democracy function with so many people who think that way?”
It can’t. The left despises conservatives and Republicans because they stand in the way (ever heard of the term “reactionaries?” To which I say, “You’re damned straight I’m reacting to your stupid ideas disguising your power grab.”) of single party rule as in the Soviet Union and Cuba. In a nutshell, that’s what the left, and basically all Democrats, want.
OB Jr. always says, condescendingly, “Dad. Change is inevitable.” To which I respond, “That’s irrelevant. The question is whether the change is good.”
Conservatives want to make sure the good things are conserved. Our civil society is a fragile thing and needs to be protected from the bad actors out there, including the literally bad actors throughout the entertainment industry. It’s funny how being a conservative is a bad thing but being a conservationist is a good thing. I guess the left thinks conservationist are just busy dealing with ducks and trees and swamps and they don’t get involved in trying to keep lefties from destroying the social order.
But Oswalt is right. If you’re not on the bleeding edge of progressivism, you’re not one of the cool kids. A while ago it was gay marriage. But now it’s transgender rights. If you were for gay marriage but you’re not on board with transgender rights and all their related aspects, you’re a fuddy-duddy and behind the times and of no use. Get with the program, Comrade!
Per wiki, Oswalt is the son of a career Marine Corps officer and named after George Patton! I can’t help thinking he’s still rebelling against his father. I suspect lots, if not all, of lefties have unresolved father issues.
I’ve been writing for a few years on my blog about how Progressives are literally anti status quo in the 21st century. The most recent one titled “Episode VII: Absurdity In The 21st Century Has Somehow Become “Normal”? e.g. Unwarranted & Unproductive Hate Of The Status Quo” is kind of a culmination of my thoughts on the left’s absurd anti status quo.
A couple of excerpts…
That second excerpt was derived from a quote from one of Humble Talent’s Comment’s of the Day here on Ethics Alarms, I provided a link to it in my blog post.
To borrow a phrase: Unhinged Has Become Safe Haven!
PWS
Steve, that is a very fine essay you have at your blog. Thank you.
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The late Roger Scruton (Sir Roger Scruton) was one of the most effective recent proponents of “conserving what is good” rather than tearing things down.
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I can think of a few useful things to add.
#1. Probably something said by Harvey Mansfield, Jr., and this is a paraphrase from memory.
“Progressivism cannot abide a reversal.”
Therefore, to choose the (polarizing) example of abortion, every step that makes abortion easily available is good, and a *fait accompli*. This helps to explain the rage at the reversal of Roe vs. Wade.
I have no training in law. Apparently Roe vs. Wade was widely considered to be a bad decision. But in the lazy thinking of the garden variety progressive, nothing should ever have reversed Roe v. Wade. Congress could have solidified abortion rights through legislation, but the issue was a hot potato, and canny politicians wouldn’t touch it.
Many were enraged when that decision was reversed. Perhaps I am projecting, but methinks it offends the notion of the “arc of progress” that some liberals and progressives hold.
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#2.
Getting back to Jack’s notion of bad things that progressives favor, “procreation without marriage” and “legalization of recreational drugs” could be classified as “luxury beliefs.”
“Luxury beliefs” is a term coined by Rob Henderson. To explain hurriedly, it’s cool to favor procreation without marriage and recreational drug use. The adverse consequences fall most heavily on those toward the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid. Those in (say) the upper middle class are less likely than the poor to suffer the consequences of a loosening of norms against drug use and casual childbearing. Thus, the belief is a luxury.
Henderson says it better than I can. His book _Troubled_ provides some examples from his own difficult childhood. I’ve not read the book.
charles w abbott
rochester NY
Thanks Charles.
I would add to your list, “Gay Marriage”, “Emotional support dogs, allowed everywhere”, and to top them all, “It is MY truth.”