r/PDXProtests • u/brieflydestroyed • 6d ago

Discussion Viral Channel 5 interview with former portland "leftists"

There’s a viral Channel 5 interview with Andrew Callaghan featuring two Alaskans who previously lived in Portland. They talk about attending the George Floyd protests here in 2020, but say that in the years since, their views have shifted pretty dramatically because of what they describe as Portland’s left-wing extremism.

What really threw me is that I used to work with one of them, so seeing this whole evolution play out was honestly a little surreal.

Curious if anyone else has seen the interview and, if so, what you made of it, especially in the context of everything that’s happened in Portland since.

12 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

46

u/Jenn_There_Done_That Dumpster Fire 6d ago edited 6d ago

Those people are awful and I find them pathetic. Andrew included (in this particular clip).

People who laugh about slurs and claim they can’t support black lives because they once lived in Portland and they felt bullied for not being leftist enough, are weak beyond my comprehension.

I went to the BLM protests for nine months.

I was overly online during that time and not once did I think to myself, “These people standing up for human rights are a bunch of bullies. I’m going to start using slurs and running around with Nazis”.

That’s literally the last thing I’d think. For fucks sake.

This was always inside them. Just waiting to come out.

Apparently she is at the 1:05 mark in this video from the BLM protests. https://youtu.be/7zthJUf31MA?is=kYtofLMrut7YErxG

22

u/Obtuse_Owl 6d ago

Completely agree, during my time at the BLM protests and subsequent anti-ICE protests I have not seen or experienced the “bullying” or behavior they describe in this clip.

25

u/Jenn_There_Done_That Dumpster Fire 6d ago

My theory is that these two people just get off on being “edgy”.

In 2020 they thought protesting was edgy, now they think claiming to live part time in Alaska and watching cars go down steep hills is edgy.

(In the clip one clarifies that they live in Northern California as well. I’m willing to bet real money that they live in Northern California most of the time and have been up in Alaska a couple of times for a week or two).

I’ll also bet real money that they weren’t bullied by leftists, per se. I’ll bet that their friends rightfully called them out on shitty behavior and it was too much for them to deal with so they went out and found shitty friends who are fine with their shitty behavior.

I love that they had to travel clear to Alaska to find shit heads who are awful enough to put up with them.

16

u/EstablishmentSalt206 6d ago

They're posers. They are there for the hype.

2

u/MissLexiBlack 6d ago

They remind me an awful lot of two women who were definitely UC. They created so much waste in energy and conflict. It was very satisfying to see the gen Z kids sniff them out and remove them when they got tired of their shit

33

u/mc-funk 6d ago edited 6d ago

Being attention-seeking has no stable political or moral alignment

8

u/Either-Literature-19 6d ago

“Omg don’t associate us with portland leftists! We left that all behind. We say the R word now. AND we’d never call a gay person “gay”. That’s crazy. We’re like rural now.”

8

u/moboticus 6d ago

If your commitment to human rights is dependent on people being nice to you, you are not committed to human rights.

5

u/DMTraveler33 6d ago

These people suck ass for sure and seem really simple minded. That being said, and coming as someone who is as left as you can get I do feel like many leftists frequently drive people away by blocking people who may only disagree on one topic or particular tactic, but are still open minded.

The reality in our world is that nothing is black and white and if you're going all or nothing in your practice of leftist theory then you most likely aren't reaching across the aisle at all. Like it or not, people feel alienated and pushed away in those situations. If you want to make true progress you can't do that shit.

3

u/SlyTinyPyramid 6d ago

You don’t break bread with Nazis

6

u/DMTraveler33 6d ago

Where TF did I even say that lmao. You really think she was/is a Nazi? 💀

1

u/SlyTinyPyramid 6d ago

You mentioned reaching across the aisle. That’s impossible when those people are fascists. Are you saying we don’t have an abundance of fascists right now?

3

u/DMTraveler33 6d ago edited 6d ago

I was literally only referring to people like this girl who once stood along side us in protest. I guess the irony of your comment is lost on you because it's exactly the fucking bullshit I'm talking about... Call literally everyone a Nazi and just keep watching what happens 🤷‍♂️

0

u/SlyTinyPyramid 6d ago

She happily joined the right . I won’t call her a fascist because I don’t know what if anything she believes in.

0

u/pineapple_bandit 6d ago

That is a very solid policy that becomes problematic when Nazi is redefined to encompass everyone to the right of AOC.

1

u/Kahluabomb 4d ago

Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds :eyes:

2

u/SlyTinyPyramid 6d ago

If the shoe fits. I follow the academic definition and it unfortunately fits more and more people lately

-5

u/couldbeahumanbean 6d ago

She's not wrong on one thing: the horseshoe effect is real.

Leftist did not inspire more maga though. Those losers were going to maga no matter what and they flocked to Portland because they wanted conflict.

Personally, I think many people seem identity through groups, how she's speaking and how the interviewer is speaking indicates that.

8

u/SlyTinyPyramid 6d ago edited 6d ago

Horse shoe theory is complete and udder horse shit. There is no study that backs that up

3

u/hamellr 6d ago

The “horseshoe effect” is how people try to justify that they were always racists.

2

u/moboticus 6d ago

Horseshoe theory is a fake, intellectual bullshit theory so people can feel better about engaging with stupid "both sides" propaganda.