{"id":15898,"date":"2025-11-02T08:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T21:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=15898"},"modified":"2025-11-02T08:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T21:50:18","slug":"leftism-a-mental-illness-oh-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/02\/leftism-a-mental-illness-oh-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Leftism, a \u2018mental illness\u2019? Oh, Right!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-excerpt\">\n    <p>Editor\u2019s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our\u00a0Publishing Guideline\n&nbsp;\nDear Editor,<\/p>\n<p>This rhetoric from Senator Ralph Babet (\u2018The Left cannot handle the truth\u2019, The Spectator, 13 September 2025) that Leftism is a \u201cmental illness\u201d \u2013 suggesting Rightism is sanity \u2013 is far from the truth. It\u2019s rhetoric with no basis.\u00a0\nIn the US, Leftists believe that people should not have guns freely, that we should uphold legal institutions, that we should pay attention to what qualified people tell us, that scientists are not trying to trick us, that doctors are not trying to harm us, that dialogue is the way to solve problems.\nLeftists tend to be intelligent debaters, not hot heads yelling slogans.\u00a0\nI know there are outliers who are not these things, but it is these qualities of calm discussion that tend to describe all the Leftists I know.\u00a0\nThose on the Right start off calm and soon fall into name calling, slogans and outright anger. They parrot terms they heard on Sky News \u2013 such as \u201clefty loony\u201d \u2013 and end up believing it. All it reveals is their own lack of facts and statistics backing whatever they are saying. We see this in the parliament so often.\nWe need to stand against these claims by Right-leaning individuals as they have little basis for most people.\nMary Collis\n&nbsp;\nFace veiling: a matter of basic fairness\nDear Editor,\nRegarding burqa bans in Europe (\u2018Burqa ban bill approved by Portugal\u2019s p...<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <hr style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 1000px !important;height: 5px;border-width: 0;color: red;background-color: red\" \/>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\">\n<h3><em>You're part way through this article. Want to keep reading?<\/em><\/h3>\n<h4><em>Only members of the Rationalist Society of Australia can read our Premium articles.\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n<h3 style=\"height: 20px\"><span style=\"color: #c83200\"><em><a style=\"color: #c83200\" href=\"https:\/\/rationalist.com.au\/membership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member today.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><em>Already a member? 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