Will, you’re right about the contempt and disgust—that’s why I’m trying to get my friends from both sides of the aisle to read “Beyond Contempt”. It’s far too easy to attack someone who agrees with us 90% because they don’t agree 100%.
We’ve been taught for too long to debate with a scorched-earth philosophy when the differences are not great instead of saving that level of fight for the big stuff.
Will, you’re right about the contempt and disgust—that’s why I’m trying to get my friends from both sides of the aisle to read “Beyond Contempt”. It’s far too easy to attack someone who agrees with us 90% because they don’t agree 100%.
We’ve been taught for too long to debate with a scorched-earth philosophy when the differences are not great instead of saving that level of fight for the big stuff.
Yes, Mary. Coalition-building and coalition-keeping needs to be our North Star. Many people were awakened into action post-2016 and started taking clearer moral lines about what our values were and what we were not willing to silently accept. That has been a good thing in my opinion, but too many people have adopted a Down with Oppression/Colonialism/Capitalist/Patriarchy!!! mindset - or something close to it - to feel good about themselves, and are finding that it just doesn't work when applied to notably complex situations. It is easy and necessary to take a clear line against MAGA or any number of American domestic issues, because they are so off-the-charts insane and dangerous and by their very nature destroy nuance anyway. Applying this lens to a stubbornly cyclical and entrenched problem of violence in the Middle East? Not so much.
Will, you’re right about the contempt and disgust—that’s why I’m trying to get my friends from both sides of the aisle to read “Beyond Contempt”. It’s far too easy to attack someone who agrees with us 90% because they don’t agree 100%.
We’ve been taught for too long to debate with a scorched-earth philosophy when the differences are not great instead of saving that level of fight for the big stuff.
Yes, Mary. Coalition-building and coalition-keeping needs to be our North Star. Many people were awakened into action post-2016 and started taking clearer moral lines about what our values were and what we were not willing to silently accept. That has been a good thing in my opinion, but too many people have adopted a Down with Oppression/Colonialism/Capitalist/Patriarchy!!! mindset - or something close to it - to feel good about themselves, and are finding that it just doesn't work when applied to notably complex situations. It is easy and necessary to take a clear line against MAGA or any number of American domestic issues, because they are so off-the-charts insane and dangerous and by their very nature destroy nuance anyway. Applying this lens to a stubbornly cyclical and entrenched problem of violence in the Middle East? Not so much.
Will, once again, you’ve said it so very well. Thank you.