When Left Meets Right

One of the first ironists in the history of Europe was the Greek Heraclitus (535 - 475 BC), known as the 'obscure philosopher', who declared, 'The way down-wards is also the way up-wards', which I would update, hopefully less obscurely, as, 'The way left-wards is also the way right-wards'. This is my way of saying that the people who slide towards the extreme (socio-political) Left tend to behave very much like those who are in the extreme (socio-political) Right.

To understand how that happens, consider the following moves. (1) To begin with, you are in the Left, that is, you oppose the dominant culture as being hierarchical, dogmatic, rigidly orthodox, and elitist. (2) You have a number of like-minded friends who have views similar to those of yours, and all of you collectively form the counter-culture. (3) Soon enough, however, you begin to feel that this counter-culture itself has become the new orthodoxy or a disguised form of overarching authority, and you feel that you can be truly Leftist only if you reject this counter-culture of your friends too and break away from it. (4) Consequently, you believe that the Individual (that is, you yourself) should exercise the maximum amount of personal autonomy without any restraint from any communitarian authority, whether this is your friends, your society, or your government. (5) And this is precisely what somebody who is in the extreme Right believes.

Thus, people who become extreme Leftists are indistinguishable (in external behaviour, if not in intention) from those who are extreme Rightists.