A leftist accidentally reveals why life on that side seems so fraught with high-school level hysteria and neuroses.
And yet they succeed, because:
As well as presenting things more cleverly than the non-left, the left thinks about things more systematically. They start from false premises, raising cathedrals of logic on dubious foundations, but they are patient, and offer proposals while the non-left frets and moans.
Those on Zoe’s side of the barricades have advantages over those of us on this side. They are infinitely less individualistic – it is impossible to imagine a rightwing meeting where everyone is encouraged to have their say (or that is as boring as the meetings she describes). The right doesn’t do solidarity. And leftists cannot separate the personal from the political. Robert McAlpine again: “The only thing that matters is everything you do.” This makes them fanatical, tiresome – and effective.
