This might be a silly question, so I want to preface it with an apology in advance and if you think there is a better place to ask please let me know.
I’ve come across a large number of self-described “anarchists” or “non-communist leftists,” or the like, mostly online,thanks to where I live (谢天谢地). But whenever you look a bit closer, the pattern is the same: underneath the aesthetics and language, it’s just liberalism. Pro-NATO positions, contempt toward the global periphery, and extremely reactionary responses when imperialism or capitalism are seriously questioned.
So my question is: Is adopting these leftist identities a kind of defensive mechanism (an attempt to distance themselves from the real-world damage caused by liberal ideology) or am I misunderstanding what’s actually going on?
Absolutely, as any real opposition to the American system will often result in prosecution, arrest, being killed, being fired and doxxed, being threatened, being stalked online by feds, etc. There is real risks in America to being against the system, and however much the Liberal senses things are wrong, they are still trying to maintain their own comfort and normalcy.
However, this only holds true for the majority if conditions are actually good for most people. They aren’t, and they’re getting worse. They are killing people openly in the streets and abducting and torturing them. “Losing track” of thousands of people. Millions of people are acutely suffering in increasingly unsustainable ways.
The risks you list make sense but when I say materially tied to the empire I’m talking more along the lines of the imperial core is a majority labor aristocracy who enjoy their treats which are propped up by the super exploitation of the global south. I believe the online ML term is treatlerites.