I’m curious whether calling someone an ultra has a generally agreed upon meaning here.
Not to defend any accused ultras or whatever. Recent post got me thinking about it though. It feels like a very loaded word and using it seems like in-group/out-group differentiation signalling or … I dunno.
Maybe another way to put it is often when I see the term being used it feels like its serves a similar purpose to the “tankie” label’s utility for anarchists and liberals.
I might just be running up against tone parsing issues or something, and so maybe this is just me or a figment of my imagination, but it often seems to limit or shape discussion when it pops up early in a discussion.
Again I’m sure I’m just Wrong about this, but it almost feels like a mild thought terminating cliche at least some of the time.
Not trying to fight with anyone, I’m just curious about the nuances (if there are any) with the term.
What does it mean to you and do you have any thoughts you feel like sharing regarding the role it plays in online leftist spaces?
Online discussion often falls into lobbing insults and floating signifiers at each other. It is the nature of online discussion, and depends on the personal qualities of the people arguing rather than their professed ideologies.
I think that the term plays a fine role in leftist spaces. It is used as a thought terminating cliche, but a lot of the times, the thoughts being terminated come from a place of profound ignorance. Not every discussion is useful and it helps to have some guardrails against wasting your time.