they're being edgy online Marxist and quoting Mao. the kids these days say anything mainstream is "Liberal". it's pretty politically ignorant but don't bother starting them down the road arguing it or they'll just start quoting books they haven't fully read. to them "liberal" just marks another point on a line

they'll figure out in time that the world is more nuanced than left/right, or maybe they wont.

[–] TotallynotJessica 3 points 6 months ago

They're more referring to supporters of capitalism without substantial changes. Liberalism is a mostly useless term because it's so broad and varied, but words only mean what we think they mean. They often want to make the world a better place, but they're totally unwilling to do what it takes.

The colloquial definition has the downside of becoming a tool to discredit the good ideas related to Liberalism. Properly curtailing property rights can be worked into the liberal democratic model as a way to maximize freedom and stabilize society. However, the colloquial attitude of selfish naivete cannot.