Ideologies of the near future - by Sam Kriss

According to a popular misconception, the idea that politics is divided between a left and a right dates back to the early days of the French Revolution in 1789, when the supporters of the ancien régime sat on the right side of the Constituent Assembly, and the radicals and revolutionaries sat on the left. If you know anything at all about how humans have traditionally structured our world, you’ll know that this is bullshit. The left-right divide is older than the French Revolution, and also older than the monarchies of Europe. It stretches deep into our prehistory. It might be older than the human species. Things that resemble the left-right spectrum do seem to show up a lot, in strange corners of the world. The people of the southwestern United States have traditionally organised the universe along the four cardinal directions. So, for instance, among the Zuni, the west is associated with the colour blue, the bear, the coyote, redtop grass, the clans named after those totems, priesth

According to a popular misconception, the idea that politics is divided between a left and a right dates back to the early days of the French Revolution in 1789, when the supporters of the ancien régime sat on the right side of the Constituent Assembly, and the radicals and revolutionaries sat on the left. If you know anything at all about how humans have traditionally structured our world, you’ll know that this is bullshit. The left-right divide is older than the French Revolution, and also older than the monarchies of Europe. It stretches deep into our prehistory. It might be older than the