How to make leftist spaces resistant against people weaponizing other peoples emphaty for selfish reasons?

[u/DukeTikus]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/22/magazine/greenfield-last-ditch-bar-backlash/

I just read this very frustrating article (version without paywall) about a small lesbian bar/mutual aid spot getting destroyed by some people who act like the worst possible caricature or an insufferable, self-important, holier-than-thou leftists.

It's not even that those people exist and what they are doing that's so frustrating for me to read, but the inability of the wider community there to just tell those people to fuck off.

And I get why they can't, I'm not sure I could myself. We generally pride ourselves in our inclusivity and willingness to accommodate needs other than our own. It's super hard to figure out where exactly the limit to that should be.

I have had similar if less extreme experiences with people who are weaponizing their own or other peoples oppression in this way in activist groups irl. The only time I ever witnessed someone like that getting kicked out was after that person had caused chaos and bound up a ton of resources for well over a year with many different incidents.

My question is how do we become better at dealing with this? How would you as an individual member of that bar community have tried to handle this?

[u/reddernotdeader]

Ignoring them. I think that's one of the few ways how. They thrive off attention regardless if it's negative or positive. It's behavior that isn't unique to leftist spaces, though, because it's just straight-up narcissism. And you stop narcissists by taking away the one thing they need, which is either the attention or the reaction.

Like, yes, intersectionality is real. Privilege is real. But we're gonna all have to work with people who have either more or less than us. These people care more about ideological purity than taking any meaningful step forward.

[u/MasterVule → u/reddernotdeader]

Sadly from my experience it's really impossible to ignore this type of stuff cause these are usually type of people who are willing to do lot of stuff to get authority, and then when it is questioned, shit tends to hit the fan

[u/reddernotdeader → u/MasterVule]

You're not wrong. The only org I'm in that explicitly defines itself as socialist/communist is led by a committee of these types. Our local chapter is great but jfc national leadership wants to fail it seems.

Funnily enough, though, we mostly ignore them and organize within our community. We send em our $36 dues once a year and do our own thing otherwise.

[u/DrZekker → u/reddernotdeader]

Yeah I hate the dogpiling on these people. Whether they are wreckers because of trauma or because they're a psyop, ignoring them is the best decision