The world we live in is divided. People are divided based on culture, color, cash, chromosomes, clans, communities, countries, constitutions, and political ideologies such as communism, capitalism, and centrism. So, in one way or another, the world is divided by all these “C”s.
If we simplify these divisions, we can group people into two major ideological categories: the Left and the Right. I am, by the way, a proud right-wing nationalist who loves his country, its ancient culture, traditions, and everything that I believe is good, progressive, and beneficial for the nation.
Who Is a Leftist? Are You One? Let’s Find Out.
1. They Always Support the Underdog
One of the most common traits of a leftist is that they almost always support the underdog. I believe this mindset comes from communism, the ideological foundation of much of the modern Left. It gained popularity by portraying the ruling class, successful businessmen, and the rich as villains, while presenting poor labourers and the working class as exploited victims. By creating this “oppressor versus oppressed” narrative, communist movements gained support and eventually came to power.
Because of this mindset, leftists tend to support the underdog almost regardless of who that underdog is. It could be a so-called minority, the LGBTQ community, or even people protesting against the ruling government without a valid reason and with political motive.
To them democratically elected governments, successful businessmen, large organisations, and people in positions of authority are bad and oppressors who exist to harm or exploit those they consider underdogs or victims.
There are some so-called Indians I have seen who support the Pakistan cricket team when it plays against India because they see Pakistan as the weaker, underdog team.
Sometimes I wonder whether they genuinely care about the underdog or simply hate and dislike people who are in power. Their support can become so blind that they stop judging situations based on right or wrong and instead side with whoever appears weaker, even if it ends up harming businesses, the government, or, in some cases, their own country and culture.
2. They Oppose Development
Another common trait of leftists is that they often oppose development projects. If you have visited any developed Western country, you will notice how clean, modern, well-planned, and developed they are. But none of these countries reached that stage overnight or even in a decade. Their development took hundreds of years through investment, urbanization, infrastructure, technology, and strict laws. At one point, many of them also had poor roads, poor infrastructure, and poor management.
When leftists visit or see countries such as the USA, the UK, or even China, they often admire how developed they are. However, they forget the sacrifices and difficult decisions those countries made to reach that level. I clearly remember around 2007 when television channels frequently showed Beijing’s sky covered in thick red smog because of rapid industrialization. Today, China has become far cleaner while continuing its development.
Yet whenever a new development project begins, many leftists immediately raise environmental concerns. Ironically, they often forget the environmental impact of things they themselves use, such as air travel or personal vehicles.
They oppose factories, roads, airports, highways, and many other infrastructure projects because they believe they harm the environment. In my opinion, they fail to see the bigger picture that many of these projects can benefit both people and the environment in the long run. For example, during the construction of the Mumbai Metro, many protests focused on trees being cut down. While protecting the environment is important, many protesters ignored how a fast and efficient metro system can reduce traffic congestion, save fuel, lower pollution, and decrease the number of private vehicles on the road. The same argument applies to highways, expressways, and bullet trains.
3. They Think with Their Heart, Not with Their Mind
I sometimes say things when I am angry or in a bad mood that I later regret because, once I calm down, I realize how irrational or emotional I was being.
Many leftists make emotional thinking a core part of their worldview. Over time, it becomes part of their identity, making it difficult for them to view issues logically or analytically or from different points of views.
As a result, they often let emotions guide their opinions and decisions, but only when it comes to one side. Their empathy seems to disappear when innocent people on the other side are suffering.
This is especially true among younger leftists, who can be easily influenced by emotionally driven narratives, whether they come from movies like Rang De Basanti, certain professors, authors, activists, or social media. I was also a leftist during my college days, so I understand how persuasive these narratives can be and if you don’t defeat them you end up being lifelong Leftist.
They show you innocent children being killed in Gaza, cows suffering in the dairy industry, or Iran portrayed as the weaker nation fighting against the powerful USA. In India, similar emotional narratives are often built around protests by showing selected visuals, emotional speeches, or individual incidents while ignoring the broader context. The goal is to shape the narrative by appealing to emotions rather than encouraging people to examine the complete picture.
Emotional stories spread much faster than facts, and many young or politically inexperienced people are easily influenced by them. Instead of asking questions or looking at both sides of an issue, they accept the emotional narrative as the complete truth.
4. They Hate Their Own Country and Culture
Many leftists go through certain moments in life that shake their belief in God, religion and country. It could be a tragic incident in the family, a serious illness, a movie they watched during their teenage years, or something they came across on the internet. The reason may be different for each person, but over time many of them lose their faith.
Once they lose their faith, they gradually begin losing interest in their culture, traditions, and eventually even their country. They start seeing criticism or even ridicule of their own culture as a symbol of being modern, intellectual, or revolutionary. They begin treating opposition to tradition and authority as something admirable, and over time they start taking pride in mocking their own culture and country.
Since this behaviour is common within many left-wing circles, new leftist fastly adopt it as well. It earns them acceptance, appreciation, and a sense of belonging within that leftist community. For some, it even becomes a career, bringing them popularity, influence, or financial benefits.
5. They Support Other Extreme Ideologies
Many leftists tend to support other extreme ideologies, such as Islamism and communism, and often strongly advocate for movements like LGBTQ activism, regardless of the country they are in.
I believe one reason for this is that these ideologies often share a common opponent: the native culture, traditional religion, and existing political system of a country. Since they view the same institutions as obstacles, they frequently find themselves supporting one another, even if their ideologies differ in many other ways.
In my opinion, Islamists and communists often use leftists to further their own agendas because they share a common objective. As a result, many leftists overlook or ignore the more extreme aspects of these ideologies, focusing instead on the causes they believe they have in common.
6. They Love Participating in Protests
As a result of the emotional mindset I discussed in the previous point, many leftists are easily influenced by misinformation, selective visuals, emotionally charged stories, or one-sided narratives. Whether it is an online story of alleged police brutality, misleading information, or carefully selected videos and images, many react before looking at the complete facts. As a result, they often end up participating in protests without fully understanding the bigger picture.
Many large protests are not as spontaneous as they appear. They often receive support from political opposition, communist groups, Islamist organizations, or other groups with their own agendas. This support helps such protests gain attention, attract more participants, and dominate media coverage.
I also believe powerful countries sometimes use such movements to influence politics in other nations. In my opinion, what happened in countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal involved the interests of foreign powers, political opposition, and Islamist groups because of those countries’ growing ties with China. From my perspective, many leftists and woke students become part of these movements without fully understanding the larger geopolitical interests behind them.
I have also noticed that some people who feel directionless or lack a sense of purpose are more likely to become deeply involved in such protests because they find identity, belonging, or a common cause in opposing the ruling establishment.
A recent example in India, in my opinion, was when the suicide of a depressed student quickly became a political issue, with demands for the Education Minister’s resignation. A rational person should first ask whether there is any evidence that someone directly encouraged or forced the student to take such a step. Simply because a depressed person dies by suicide does not automatically make someone else responsible.
If we start blaming others without evidence, then by the same logic, every heartbroken lover who dies by suicide after being rejected would make the person who rejected them responsible. That is neither reasonable nor just.
If we create a society where people are blamed for every emotional reaction or where everyone is afraid to speak freely because someone might be offended, then I do not believe that is a healthy society.
Quick Note
One of the biggest problems is that many leftists become emotionally attached to selective visuals and underdog narratives but refuse to look at the complete picture. They see one side of a conflict yet often ignore the other side completely.
Take Iran, for example. While many people portray Iran only as a victim, they rarely talk about the thousands of Iranians who were killed by the Islamic regime simply because they opposed it. One of my Iranian friends once told me that what the world sees on the internet is only a small fraction of the brutality that ordinary Iranians have suffered under the regime.
The Iranian regime has also supported and funded terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been responsible for killing thousands of Israelis over the years. At the same time, the United States has its own geopolitical interests in the region and has long sought regime change in Iran, particularly because of its strategic importance and oil. All of these factors together have contributed to the conflicts we see today.
I also find it disturbing that Ayatollah Khomeini is reported to have said that “virgin female prisoners should be raped before execution so they would not enter heaven.” No feminist or leftist in the world said anything about this Khomeini guy.
Similarly, many people only discuss Palestinian civilian casualties while ignoring the ideology and actions of Hamas. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel in which around 1,200 people were killed, around 250 were taken hostage, and innocent civilians, including men, women, and children, were murdered. Many Jewish women were gang-raped before they were killed or while they were being held hostage. Yet many people discuss the conflict without acknowledging how the war began or the role Hamas played in triggering it.
7. They Have Suicidal Empathy
Another common trait of many leftists is what they call “suicidal empathy”, showing so much empathy that they ignore its negative impact on self and long-term bad consequences.
For example, I have seen some Indians celebrating events like Rath Yatra or Ganesh Chaturthi in countries such as Canada and the USA. Even though I deeply love my culture, traditions, and Bharat, I personally do not support such public celebrations in foreign countries. Similarly, I dislike the practice of immersing large Ganesh idols in rivers and lakes because many of these idols are not made entirely of natural clay and contribute to water pollution.
However, many western leftists see these situations very differently. To them, it is simply a minority community celebrating its traditions. They do not see the environmental or cultural concerns that I believe should also be considered. This is what I mean by suicidal empathy, focusing only on immediate compassion while ignoring the broader consequences.
In my opinion, many left-wing governments in Europe have shown this same mindset through their immigration policies. They have allowed large-scale Muslim immigration and, in many cases, have also given legitimacy to illegal migrants, like recently the Spanish government did to 5,00,000 illegal muslim immigrants. I believe they do this partly for political gains while convincing themselves that they are doing something morally noble.
However, I believe this extreme empathy has also created serious social problems in some European countries. UK, Germany and France, for example, have repeatedly witnessed riots, vandalism, demands for Sharia law, rape of minor girls and jihadi attacks. There have also been reports of attacks on women, including syringe attacks, sexual assaults, and grooming gang scandals in the UK and some parts of Europe.
In Germany, during New Year’s Eve celebrations, many women were sexually assaulted and robbed. There were also reports of a left-wing German politician who was raped by three Muslim migrants and she misled the police and did not disclose the identity of the rapists because she did not want people to develop hatred toward Muslims migrants.
This kind of empathy often has little impact on the politicians making these decisions, but ordinary citizens are the ones who ultimately face the consequences. To me, this is what suicidal empathy looks like, when ideology becomes more important than acknowledging reality and preventing harm to themselves and others.
8. They do Selective Outrage and have Double Standards
There is nothing wrong with being kind, compassionate, or empathetic. In fact, these are admirable qualities. However, when those values are applied only to certain people while others are ignored, they become nothing more than double standards and hypocrisy.
For example, in the West, cases of police brutality against Black people receive widespread attention and condemnation, which is fair if injustice has occurred. However, when police officers are attacked or killed, many of the same people remain silent or show far less outrage.
A similar pattern can be seen in India. Organizations such as PETA and many liberals often tell Hindus not to eat mithai during Govardhan Puja because, according to them, the dairy industry harms cows. While concern for animal welfare is understandable, many of these same people remain silent during Bakra Eid. Some even post smiling photos with goats that are later slaughtered. If someone genuinely believes in animal welfare, then the same standard should apply in both situations.
When protesters attack police officers, damage public property, or resort to violence, many leftists justify it as the voice of students or the public. Likewise, when the Indian government carries out military action against Pakistan in response to terrorist attacks, many leftists are among the first to preach peace and love. Yet they often remain silent when terrorists carry out those attacks in the first place.
To me, this selective outrage, selective empathy, and repeated use of double standards are among the clearest examples of hypocrisy.
9. They Love Virtue Signaling
In my opinion, many leftists care more about appearing virtuous than standing for what they genuinely believe to be true. Rather than supporting what they think is right, they often say or do things that make them look progressive, compassionate, and morally superior in the eyes of influential leftists, their friends, or their social circle.
This behaviour is commonly known as virtue signaling. Whether it is in the office, at college, on social media, or even during family gatherings, they often bring up issues that make them appear progressive and compassionate. At the same time, they avoid expressing opinions that might cause others to label them as a bigot.
In my opinion, many of them remain silent not because they disagree, but because they fear being judged or excluded by their own social circle. According to the Left, if you question or criticize certain ideas they do not want to hear, you are quickly labelled a bigot, racist, sexist, Islamophobe, homophobe, or given some other label instead of having a genuine discussion.
10. They Love Converting People to Their Ideology
Beautiful things do not ask for attention, they stand on their own because they are beautiful. In the same way, truth does not need constant promotion or validation. A person who genuinely believes in the truth does not feel the need to convert everyone else to his way of thinking. Lies, however, need constant repetition, promotion, and recruitment to survive.
Many of the ideas that leftists support or idolize fall into that category. That is why they constantly promote them, spread them, and try to convert others to their ideology. Every ideology wants more followers, and modern leftism is no different. To me, leftist ideology functions almost like a religion, and leftists often try to spread its ideas through culture, education, entertainment, and activism.
I remember watching a nukkad natak during my college days near Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station. The performers, who were from JNU, were speaking negatively about Hinduism. At that time, I did not realize what they were trying to do, but looking back, I believe they were attempting to influence people’s thinking through their performance and messaging. The group consisted of confident, charismatic, and good-looking young men and women who communicated very effectively. One of them even gave me his group’s card in hope that some of us whom they are giving cards to will invite them to our college for their nukkad natak.
I am glad that I was already beginning to move away from leftist thinking thanks to a muslim Kashmiri friend I had who once told me that his dream was to visit India on a visa using a Kashmiri passport. Conversations like that made me question many of the leftist ideas I had previously accepted without much thought and started realising how bad leftist ideology is.
Islamophobe
/ɪˌslɑː.məˈfoʊ.bə/
(ih-SLAH-muh-FOH-bah)
Someone knows more than what they should know about Islam and talks about it which offend leftists and jihadis.
Do You Know History’s Most Infamous Leftists?
Joseph Stalin
After the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, the Soviet Union was eventually established, and Joseph Stalin later became its leader. His policies on forced collectivization, labour camps, forced migration, political repression, and mass executions resulted in the deaths of 9 millions of people.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi (Nationalsozialist) Germany, portrayed successful and wealthy Jews as the enemy of ordinary Germans and blamed them for many of the country’s problems. By promoting this narrative of a common enemy, he consolidated power and ultimately orchestrated the Holocaust, in which approximately 6 million Jews were murdered.
Mao Zedong
He portrayed the rich and successful business class as the enemy of poor farmers and labourers. By doing so, he gained their support, defeated the right-wing Nationalist government during the Chinese Civil War, and came to power. His policies, including the Great Leap Forward, along with the civil war and the famine that followed, resulted in the deaths of 7 millions of Chinese people.
Are you a Leftist?
How many of these ten traits did you identify with? If you found yourself agreeing with or displaying most of them, then you are probably a leftist. If only one or two apply, that alone does not necessarily make you one.
