It didn't use to be this way. It is a part of the era that we are in.

I used to be a progressive and abandoned the left in part because of my experiences in grad school. (I'm not a conservative now. Just deeply ambivalent and politically homeless. Also, I still care, very deeply, about racism and sexism.)

If you look at the previous century, you'll see that far-left movements have an inclination towards using art and literature as propaganda. They only value art insofar as it advances their ideologies. The Soviets, the Maoists, the Khmer Rouge all did the same thing.

The far-left's disregard for art is one of the things that has me concerned for what that movement has in store for the country. I am also, for the record, afraid of the far-right. I think we've just been so focused on what the right has been doing we've been allowing the left to become increasingly unhinged.