The terms left wing and right wing are useless affections of American politics. To Understand China the first thing you have to do is unlearn the models you’re trained to map everything in America. China’s evolution is a long and very different history than that of the United States. It’s a long history of conquest and of being conquered and manipulated by foreign powers both Asian and Western, something that the U.S. has never gone through. It is a country with a very strong history of central control and conformity.
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oh, and I don’t really consider China an “enemy”, people there are pretty nice actually, more Americans could go visit it once in a while. But Communism is more so on the side of the left (even without American contexts), and is mostly associated with the color Red.
even in the UK, Labour is red (the traditional colour of the working class and party) while Conservative Party is blue. I guess the US’s color scheme of its two main parties is a bit unusual, just like USA not using metric system like rest of the world
From the point of view of the UK most of our so-called “left” party is decidedly right-wing. It’s all relative.
Broaaadly speaking, the Alliance has been more depicted as more conservative in the sense that its morality is rooted in traditionalism and fixed ideals (i.e. more rigid and black and white), while the Horde has been depicted as more pragmatic and thus liberal (i.e. more flexible and grey-ish). But there are so many exceptions.
As for players of either faction, I wouldn’t care to speculate. I suspect that there are both conservatives and liberals attracted to both factions, and they tend to find whatever justification they need to support their choice.
Full disclaimer: I’m Canadian, so the words “liberal” and “conservative” have distinctly different connotations for me as compared to my American brethren. Even though those are the names of our dominant political parties, the two positions are much less radically opposed than for our cousins to the south.
I thought Labor leaned socialist? American here so I’m not 100% on British politics.
I’m not sure if it explains why the colours are reversed in the US, but historically the Democratic party was in many ways the more conservative of the two parties when the Republican party was founded.
Though I know it’s complicated and often regional.
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Traditionally, yes, but there are different strains of Labour politics in the UK. The more left-wing side of the party was more or less dominant until the 90s, when Tony Blair’s much more moderate politics became dominant for approximately 20 years. Now the left wing is ascendant once again.
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The parties pretty much changed hats as an aftermath of the Civil Rights Act being voted into passage. The Southern block of the Democratic party, nicknmed the “Dixiecrats” very big on the Jim Crow and segregation bandwagon jumped ship of the party and became the Conservative Southern core of the Republican Party. They would eventually hook up with the Evangelical Christian movement and become the GOP as it’s known today. The passage of the Voting Rights Act pretty much sealed the deal on any stragglers.
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wait, really? what do you mean? I thought Theresa May and David Cameron were both conservatives?
We were talking about with the Labour party, which has turned hard left again.
Alliance obviously.
Horde is very much injected and philosophically embedded with the values of postmodernism in pretty much every facet of the faction, which lends it more towards liberalism and identity politics.
Sylvannas = Hillary Clinton
Nathanos Blightcaller = Donald Trump
Genn Greymane = Dick Cheney
Umbric = Bernie Sanders
Baine Bloodhoof = Elizabeth Warren
Anduin Wrynn = Nancy Reagan
So it’s about 50/50
I like to think Baine is a neo-libfascist anarcho-vegetarian.
no offense, but exactly how does anduin equal reagan’s wife???
???
So has anyone made any Trump comparisons with Gallywix yet? For better or worse?
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Suppose we define “conservative” to mean a preference for order and stability. This is the tendency to recognize the limitations of human schemes and the danger inherent to change, especially rapid, radical change.
Suppose we define “progressive” to mean a preference for reform. This is the tendency to recognize the way the status quo disguises and facilitates exploitation and oppression.
Under these definitions, I’d argue that the Horde tends more progressive. Think of it this way: Night Elves and humans and dwarves are mostly comfortable with their history and their place in Azeroth; almost all Horde races fight their history and fight for a place on Azeorth.
Orcs, Trolls, and Undead are fighting for the right to exist. The very existence of Orgrimmar and Undercity were affronts to what had been the status quo on Azeroth. And what of their relationship with history? Almost all Horde members reject major parts of their heritage, whether it’s orcish demon blood, or the Blood Elf magic dependency, or the Undead past as humans and/or Arthas minions.
Contrast this with the Night Elf and Human situations. The Night Elves are conservatism incarnate. They are the faction of a thousand year emerald complacency symbol (that was sex-segregated to boot). They fight to protect forests from encroaching industrialization; they fight to keep a 4000 year old empire intact so they can conserve their brand of druidism and nature-worship. Similarly, humans are occupy traditional kingdoms and practice a traditional religion and have a more or less uncomplicated relationship with their history and with their place in Azeroth. .
Are there exceptions? Of course. Gnomes are pretty much the embodiment of democratic technocratic liberalism, and Tauren are pretty damn traditional. However, I think these are clear exceptions to clear rules.
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I don’t know about Gallywix before BfA, but BfA Gally is most definitely a Trump caricature.
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My two copper:
Firstly, irl politics are probably too complex to apply to video game societies. A quick, cursory glance over left wing American politics shows liberalism, classical liberalism, and libertarianism to be very different beasts from the more recent philosophies of leftism, progressivism, and the American breed of socialism. And things are nearly as complex on the right.
Secondly, as simplified as they are, Azerothian cultures are still hard to pigeonhole into a given ideology. Take Night Elves as an example. They’re isolationist, nationalist, and a theocracy. Conversely, you can’t throw a rock on Azeroth without hitting a lesbian Night Elf couple, and they’re the epitome of anti-industrial eco-warriors. Fandral started out in a right wing place of Night Elven nationalism and superiority, but ended up at a left wing place of going against religious authority and the status quo. Blood Elves and Nightborne are similarly highly nationalistic. But their decadence and hedonism (Den of Mortal Delights, and Elisande’s private quarters) are probably not quite up to conservative morals.
Just my thoughts.