By Julie Gray in the Huffington Post
When I grew up in America, you were either a Democrat or a Republican. Over the course of my life that has come to include more pinpointed terms like the Left, the Right, the Far Left, the Far Right, the Religious Right, the Neoconservatives, the Paleo-conservatives, the Regressive Left (okay that one is just an insult but go with me) the Liberals, the Conservatives, the Intelligentsia (paranoid, veiled insult) the New Libertarianism, Centrism, the New Centrism and who knows what else. I can’t keep up with it.
Right now, you are already thinking that because I said that the Regressive Left is an insulting term, that must mean I share either the beliefs of the “Far Left” or that I support the idea behind the “regressive” bit. But you don’t really know, do you?
I live in the Middle East, where these labels, specifically vis a vis the discussion of the conflict between Israel and Palestinian are especially loaded. There is a Willy Wonka “bad egg” chute under every single conversation we have about this conflict. WHOOPS – wrong answer!