Differences and Similarities of Left and Right Rallies

Opinion/Politics - 8 minute read

As someone who has covered a number of rallies put on by both the political left and political right, I have noticed some interesting differences and even a couple of similarities. After my last rally, which was for ‘Trans Day of Visibility,’ I’ve decided to share my observations.

Differences

How they start

Rallies that are more geared toward the right will always start with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Some will go a step further and have someone sing the National Anthem. This is something I have never seen done at a rally geared toward the left. Instead, they typically just start by simply introducing the first speaker.

The media

There is almost always far more media presence at left-wing rallies than at right-wing rallies, and on more than one occasion I was the only media presence at right-wing rallies. However, the presence of media was not the only difference I’ve found when it comes to media and rallies. Those who attend left-wing rallies tend to be far more trusting of the media to accurately portray them. They tend to be happy to talk to media and don’t feel like they will be misrepresented. Those on the right, however, tend to be very cautious around media and even disdain the media. They often feel like they will not be accurately portrayed and therefore there are always a couple that shy away from talking to the media.

This does make sense when you look at the field of journalism. While many journalists will claim to be “unbiased” in their reporting, the reality is most journalists are on the left, and therefore come at things from a left-leaning perspective. According to a study, it was found that 58.47 percent of journalists claimed to lean left of center with 37.12 percent of journalists claiming to be “moderates.” Only 4.4 percent claimed to lean right of center, including 3.94 percent who claimed they were only “somewhat conservative”.

Interestingly, those on the right tend to care less if they are photographed while many of those on the left tend to claim they feel “unsafe” being photographed by media.

The flags

Flags can be powerful symbols to express a specific political ideology. At right-leaning rallies the presence of American flags will always be there. There may also be the state flag, the Prisoner of War flag, the Gadsden flag, and pro-Trump/anti-Biden flags.

The left on the other hand will rarely if ever fly the American flag, many now believing our country’s flag is a symbol of racism and hate. Instead, you will always see pride flags and you will also probably see Black Lives Matter flags.

Information on bills

When the left speaks on bills at rallies, they almost always misrepresents the bills that are being voted on and will even provide inaccurate information at times. They use different words than the ones that are actually in the bills to make them sound scarier and more oppressive than what they probably are, and this is meant to illicit a collective of fear and anger.

Those on the right that tend to speak on bills at rallies may read a bit of the bill word-for-word and will often encourage people to do their own research and provide information on where to read the bills and get the least biased explanations.

The physical appearance of the people

The physical appearance of the people that show up at these rallies are some of the most notable differences. Those that attend right-leaning rallies tend to be older adults. They look like normal, every day people that you would see at you local grocery store.

Those on the left tend to be children, teenagers, and young adults who are physically unattractive. They tend to be unhealthy, often overweight or obese. They will cut and dye their hair to look as strange as possible and will often be wearing something that looks strange and may be covered in rainbows or in all black. Many also wear facemasks even though the pandemic is over. It seems they wear the masks, not because they fear COVID, but rather to conceal their identity or show that they are a part of the collective, as they will take the masks off if need be for any reason in their group settings.

Chants

There are always chants at left-leaning rallies. These chants are often aggressive and are said over and over again. Rallies that are more right-leaning don’t do chants usually, but you may hear hymns being sung by a group from a local church.

The vibes

Another big difference between right-leaning rallies and left-leaning rallies are the vibes. At left-leaning rallies the vibe is almost always negative. There is an energy that courses through the air that is a mix of anger and fear that the people seem to feed off of. They often feel like they are victims and it amps up the negativity.

Right-leaning rallies tend to have more positive vibes. They tend to have hope, putting their trust in God. When worry is expressed, it is never for themselves, but rather for their children and the future of the country.

Protestors

When it comes to protestors, whether it’s a right-leaning rally or a left-leaning rally, I’ve never been to a rally where the right got physical. The left, however, get physical with protestors often. I have observed them intentionally running into people at right-leaning marches and have watched them hit right-leaning protestors with signs or attempt to ruin the signs of right-leaning protestors.

The speakers

At left-leaning rallies, speakers tend to be younger—some even being children, even if it’s obvious they’re not fully aware of what they’re saying—and will often times give their pronouns, sexuality, and may even provide any physical or mental disabilities before speaking, though they may only give their first name. Speakers at right-leaning rallies tend to be older and never give their pronouns. I’ve also never seen a child speak at right-leaning rallies.

Collectives vs different perspectives

At right-leaning rallies, the people tend to be more open to other viewpoints. Your race and sexuality don’t actually matter at these events, because they’re more focused on how to protect children and save the country. If you do disagree with someone, as I openly have, they are happy to agree to disagree and won’t try to convince you that you’re wrong.

At left-leaning rallies, you have to echo their narrative perfectly, or they see you as an outsider. For example, I’ve gone to a pro-abortion rally in Lawrence, Kansas last year and one masked woman came up to me, never having heard of The Kansas Constitutional. I told her I was there interviewing people on both sides to hear each side out. The moment she heard me say I wanted to hear both sides, she rolled her eyes at me, said, “okay,” and walked off while I was still speaking. At a rally for marijuana this year, after a man found out I was more conservative, he started harassing me for being prolife and pro-self-defense despite being their in support for marijuana, which the rally was all about.

Similarities

Wanting to grow the government bigger

The left love the government and want it to control every aspect of life. This is pretty obvious when you look at the majority of their policies which often involve raising taxes and forcing people to do things in spite of the constitution. The only time this doesn’t seem to be the case is when it comes to drug policy, in which case, the right picks up the slack and demands bigger government.

A love for socialism over capitalism

Both the left and the right fight to end capitalism, but the right tends to be more sinister in their approach. The left outright states that they are for socialism or even communism. They often times describe capitalism, believing what they’re describing is socialism or communism, and say that that’s why we need to implement the destructive economic systems.

However, the right is more devious. They often look for ways to attack the free-market through the means of government to benefit themselves, and then say that what they’re doing is “pro-capitalism.” This has made people confused about what capitalism really is, making people, like those on the left, hate capitalism. Not only this, but the Pledge of Allegiance is literally socialist propaganda that undermines the U.S. Constitution which is why I never say it. We’re not “one nation, indivisible.” That’s big government think. We’re a federation. We have a federal government. Not a national one.

Extremely political people

Only extremely political people really attend rallies. Most other people cringe at the idea, and probably haven’t even heard about the rally. These are people that go to share information on a political issues and/or to get informed on political issues. They do pay attention to the news and are often focused on at least a couple of bills being voted on.

Conclusion

Not too many people go to political rallies and even fewer go to political rallies for both sides of things. Having done this, I have been able to personally observe the many differences between the left and right when it comes to rallies. Due to the vibes alone, I do tend to enjoy right-leaning rallies more. They can both be creepy when they start talking about a want and a “need” for growing government bigger as this ultimately leads to more government oppression. Nevertheless, if you never go to rallies, I do suggest checking one out. If you do go to rallies, I would suggest going to one that is politically different than you just to check it out.

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