The perhaps forced resignation of Marjorie Taylor-Greene should come as no surprise to those of us attuned to how cults operate. MAGA has always been a white supremacist cult but when a cult True Believer challenges Dear Leader or asks too many uncomfortable questions, the outcome is immediate, preordained and brutal. Not that I have much sympathy for her. Apparently she made millions on insider trading (yet another example of Trump’s blatant corruption) and spent years spewing the most insane conspiracy nonsense. I’m still waiting for my long overdue Jewish Space Lasers along with the dozen monetary checks George Soros owes me for attending his rallies. Yet, if her newly acquired outspokenness brings about the downfall of the king and his tainted minions, she might be partially forgiven.
But before the progressive left chortles in smug schadenfreude, they might have to admit they’re hardly free from the same demands of conformity manifested by the MAGA tribe, albeit less violent and dangerous than their right-leaning counterparts.
As noted in my short bio below, I’ve been writing a monthly My Turn for nearly 25 years. The vast majority of my 200-plus columns have been supporting progressive causes and topics which had once earned me the title “A Monster of the Left” from one of the more conservative members of the Greenfield community. I thought that was pretty cool.
But something happened after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel but before the destruction of Gaza (which I have since heartily condemned). I refused to jump on the local pro-Palestinian bandwagon and called to account the astonishingly inaccurate (and in some cases, blood-libelous) versions of Israeli and Jewish history by supposedly educated Valley progressives. Worse, in their eyes, I called them out for their obscene accusation that the rape and sexual violence perpetrated on Jewish women and teenage girls by Hamas was “faked.”
Suddenly, I was getting emails warning me that some in Franklin County were worried that I had gone over to the Dark Side, like Darth Vader. “What’s happening to Dan Brown!” was one alarmed comment. Others were hurt that I had in the past criticized the local and national progressive community. Overall, it was quite surprising, coming as it did from people I’ve known, liked and worked with for many decades. Reconciliation on my part and theirs was needed to repair and enhance these lifelong friendships which I continue to cherish.
I have indeed criticized the activist left because on occasion their self-congratulatory myopia demands criticism, especially from an insider like me who attended his first Vietnam peace march in 1966 where I had rocks thrown at me.
The dangers of any movement, no matter how noble and pure, are as follows: Believing you’re above criticism. Demanding an orthodoxy of thought and blind obedience to a set ideology. Demonizing, ostracizing or otherwise condemning those who dare challenge or criticize that ideology. The left often falls into these categories. The apex of this antagonism was when I posted a complimentary photo of local heroes Juanita Nelson and Randy Kehler on a public Facebook page. I was told by an enraged viewer that I had no right to post it because I was nothing but an “Old, fat, Fascist Warmonger” (an epithet that includes ageism and body-shaming!)
But the brittleness of the left is not confined to western Massachusetts. I found the same attitudes in Taos, New Mexico where I joined a promising activist community right after I moved there. Unfortunately, that relationship ended within a year. I found to my surprise that expressing one wrong word, one wrong joke, one wrong suggestion and suddenly I was made the adversary, someone to lecture, defame and castigate.
To me, friendship is a sacred trust, one that far outweighs political dogma. It’s the main reason I’ve always disliked the term “ally.” It’s too partisan and impersonal. If I condemn homophobia, racism, and misogyny, it’s because I have LGBT, Black and women friends and family I want protected from persecution. It’s as simple as that.
In conclusion, Clint Eastwood once caustically observed that “If you go far enough to the Right, you meet the same idiots coming around from the Left.” While I might question the choice of noun, it’s true that the intolerance of these two extremes is equal if manifested differently. Therefore, an old, fat, warmongering fascist monster of the left should continue to write these columns because if they rile both progressive and conservative, it’s obvious to me, they’re hitting the correct balance.
Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and has written a monthly My Turn column for over two decades. He lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Lisa and dog, Cody.