The Left’s Anti-Fun Crusade

The modern left is seemingly determined to suck all the joy out of American life – and they’re not sorry about it.

For decades, one of the left’s favorite tactics in cultural battles has been to portray conservatives as rigid, stuffy, and out of touch. This strategy has proven especially effective when it comes to young people, who are often enamored by suave figures in Hollywood and the media who espouse promises of a new liberal utopia.

But as liberal ideology makes ever-more demands of its adherents, and the list of things that are no longer acceptable according to the modern left continues to grow, that dynamic seems to be shifting.

Even something as simple as sitting down to a meal – typically an enjoyable experience – has now become a reason for the left to scold people about how what they’re eating might be destroying the planet.

Some foods (which are invariably the tastiest) are particularly bad for the environment, we are told. The biggest villain is, of course, beef, which supposedly raises global temperatures through “cow burps.”

Even the iconic New York slice isn’t safe. New city regulations in the Big Apple are threatening dozens of pizzerias that use wood- and coal-fired ovens.

Instead of burgers and pizza, left-wing organizations like the World Economic Forum are now recommending “insect protein” as a substitute. “Consider five reasons why insects are an excellent alternative source of protein and significantly reduce our carbon footprint,” our liberal overlords at Davos tell us, even as they dine on exquisite meals prepared by five-star chefs that are noticeably bug-free.

If you want to make your own food at home, you’d better hope that you don’t have a gas oven. Those are also a contributor to climate change according to the left, which has led New York State to ban all natural gas-powered appliances in new buildings. The Biden administration is reportedly considering trying to do the same thing at the federal level.

If you step outside your kitchen into your backyard, you’ll see another thing the left has a problem with. A perfectly-manicured patch of grass is now another threat to the climate, or so we are told by adherents to the so-called “anti-lawn” movement. Instead, liberals encourage homeowners to grow “climate victory gardens.”

Even if you don’t buy into the push to allow weeds to take over your property, maintaining a traditional lawn is going to become a lot harder soon in places like California. A new law which will take effect in the Golden State next year bans the sale of new gas-powered mowers and leaf blowers. Other blue cities and localities are following suit.

Aside from all the simple pleasures which the left would prefer you didn’t enjoy, there is also the fact that living according to liberal ideology has become an endless maze of fretting about “systemic racism,” “microaggressions,” and a host of other woke vocabulary words.

For evidence of this, look no further Stanford’s infamous “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative,” which the university unveiled last year. Everyday words and phrases like “master bedroom,” “blind study,” “gangbusters,” and even “American” are now “problematic” according to the liberal language police. Slip any into casual conversation, and you’ll have to issue a public apology promising to “do the work” to become a “better ally” for “marginalized communities.”

Even professional sports have become just another venue for the left to lecture Americans about how racist and bigoted they are. Unsurprisingly, the NBA’s ratings tanked following the league’s complete descent into wokeness, and other leagues have seen a similar decline in viewership.

Some self-reflective leftists have recognized that their side is no fun anymore, and have pointed out how damaging that could be for the Democratic Party’s brand. HBO’s Bill Maher has been a particularly sharp critic of his fellow liberals for “sucking the fun out of everything.”

Even former President Barack Obama has warned Democrats about being a “buzzkill.”

“Sometimes, people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells,” Obama said on a podcast last year. “And they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes.”

Meanwhile, the left’s glaring inability to have any fun has opened up new opportunities for conservatives. After decades in which the left dominated the comedy scene, liberals are now worried that conservative humor is setting a new standard and forcing the left to “cede ideological territory in the culture wars.”

Liberals can preach all they want about a looming environmental genocide or the need for a “racial reckoning.” But unless they learn to have fun again, conservatives will continue to gain the upper hand.

Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on Twitter @ShaneHarris513.