Dirtbag left
The dirtbag left is a style of
Origins
Vulgarity is the language of the people, and so it should be among the grammars of the left, just as it has been historically, to wield righteously against the corrupt and the powerful.
—Amber A'Lee Frost, "The Necessity of Political Vulgarity"[1]
The term was coined by Amber A'Lee Frost and is associated with her essay "The Necessity of Political Vulgarity", published in Current Affairs in 2016.[2][3] While the essay does not directly use the term dirtbag left, it mounts a defense of politics that uses "vulgarity as a tool for fighting the powerful", citing libelles used to slander Marie Antoinette, Cohen v. California, and N.W.A's protest song "Fuck tha Police", among others.[1] Frost writes that vulgarity in itself is not "inherently subversive", but argues that the left must reclaim vulgarity "from the Trumps of the world", lest it be "handicapped by [its] own civility."[1]
The dirtbag left is most closely associated with the American politics podcast Chapo Trap House, which Frost co-hosted. Chapo emerged in 2016 in the context of the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and subsequent presidential election.[2] It combines political analysis and punditry from a socialist perspective with elements of comedy and irony, in the style of a shock jock.[4][5] Chapo gained attention for its criticism of both the Republican and Democratic parties, particularly what the podcast claimed was the Democratic Party's complicity with a conservative agenda.[3]
Beyond Chapo, media outlets that have been alternately linked to or described as dirtbag left include the podcasts Street Fight Radio,[6] TrueAnon,[7] Red Scare,[8][9][10] Cum Town,[11] the publications The Baffler and Current Affairs,[6] and internet streamer Hasan Piker.[12] These outlets are noted as presenting comedy as "applied to an ideological reading of the news of the day, with a particular focus on political feeling or style."[9]
Tenets and rhetorical style
The dirtbag left has been described as an
The
Rhetorically, the dirtbag left is noted as a vulgar, "bawdy offensive balance to cautious mainstream liberal politics",[14] with "a dismissive attitude towards the niceties of liberal political correctness"[15] that frequently direct insults and attacks through social media at specific public figures with political or economic power.[3] The Times (London) cited the rise of this rhetorical style as evidence of "the limitations of wokeness as a political force" and an example of the changing nature of politics on the internet.[15]
Despite the connotations of the term dirtbag left, its use is not typically considered derogatory, with
Criticism
Writer Amanda Marcotte argued that the ideology is linked to "that male privilege of intimidating people into assuming you're cool" and comparing it to the television series Jackass.[14] Writer Jeet Heer argued that the dirtbag left is a form of "doomed to fail" dominance politics, arguing that "derision is useful for one half of politics—defeating the opposing party—but has nothing to say to the crucial other half of forming alliances that can govern effectively for the people."[6]
While
References
- ^ a b c Frost, Amber A'Lee (August 25, 2016). "The Necessity of Political Vulgarity". Current Affairs. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c Tolentino, Jia (November 18, 2016). "What Will Become of the Dirtbag Left?". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c Jones, Sarah (Fall 2018). "The Dirtbag Manifesto". Dissent. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ Beauchamp, Zac (March 9, 2020). "The raging controversy over "Bernie Bros" and the so-called dirtbag left, explained". Vox. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- ^ "The Post-Dirtbag Left". The New Yorker. July 23, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c Heer, Jeet (July 19, 2017). "The Dirtbag Left and the Problem of Dominance Politics". The New Republic. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- ^ Beckwith, Caleb (March 3, 2020). "Epstein Brain is for the People". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
- ^ Williams, Hannah (August 11, 2021). "Why Millennial Leftists Have Made a BBC Filmmaker a Cult Hero". The Atlantic. The Atlantic. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
- ^ a b Malone, Noreen (October 25, 2018). "Red Scare Leans Into Nothing". New York. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ Power, Nina (March 7, 2020). "Oracles, perverts and the Dirtbag Left". The Spectator. London. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- ^ North, Anna; Stein, Jeff (October 24, 2017). "Listen to what socialist women are saying about misogyny on the left". Vox. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "Socialist Twitch Streamer Says He's Changing Minds". May 20, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Semley, John (July 5, 2017). "The rise of the internet's 'dirtbag left'". Maclean's. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Bowles, Nellie (March 1, 2020). "The Pied Pipers of the Dirtbag Left Want to Lead Everyone to Bernie Sanders". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c Marriott, James (April 21, 2020). "Goodbye woke liberals, hello dirtbag left". The Times. London. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- ^ Koshy, Yohann (June 3, 2019). "'The Voice of the Dirtbag Left': socialist US comics Chapo Trap House". The Guardian. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- ^ Rhode, Jason (July 29, 2016). "Chapo Trap House are the Vulgar, Brilliant Demigods of the New Progressive Left". Paste. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
- S2CID 245637556, retrieved April 21, 2023