THREAD
HOW WE GOT HERE: PART VI—POLITICS OF PERSONALITY
This thread contains excerpts from Part VI of “How We Got Here.” This part addresses the personalization of politics and the need to instead focus on systems and ideas to achieve justice.
1/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Another fundamental problem in our political discourse, which spans the political spectrum but also applies to the progressive movement, has been the conflation of person and idea.”
2/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“We can hate a person's speech without hating the person. In fact, we can hate a person's speech even while loving the person. Our discourse and debate must fundamentally revolve around ideas, not persons.”
3/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“When we respond with personal attacks, we accomplish little, even if those attacks appear to be true.”
4/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“First, by denigrating the source of the disliked language or position, we alienate him or her, which only makes it more likely that the speaker will respond with further defensiveness.”
5/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Second, by stating that the speaker ‘is’ a certain characteristic and affixing a corresponding label, we cast that person in an immutable light. We thereby minimize the space and opportunity for the speaker to rehabilitate or to express remorse.”
6/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Ultimately, matters of personality severely distract from the core ideas at stake and undermine our ability to defeat those ideas.”
7/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Over the past four years, progressives would have done better to focus on refuting Trump's ideas rather than Trump himself—and, not only doing that, but offering positive alternatives to those ideas.”
8/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“The Trump character attacks have been particularly problematic because of the pathological loyalty that Trump has cultivated amongst his followers. Under such circumstances, character attacks against the leader only deepen the loyalty of the flock.”
9/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Most of all, these observations also apply to responses to hateful language: not only must we denounce such language, but we must actively defeat hate with love.”
10/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Oftentimes, progressives have deceived themselves that their advocacy has been grounded on love and inclusion.”
11/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“The love only reverberates inside an echo-chamber. The love does not reach the enemy. Instead, it is a love for the ingroup only.”
12/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“The progressive echo-chamber of love and conformity is reinforced by social media, where one misstep can lead to vehement, widespread shaming.”
13/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“When we degenerate into shaming, we violate another person's rights to dignity and respect, fundamentally undercutting our moral cause—for we cannot defend the existence of some people by denying the existence of others.”
14/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“For hateful groups, the perceived suppression involved in shaming tends to reinforce their conspiracy theories, confirming to them that powerful forces in society have aligned to block free participation in our social discourse.”
15/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“We must remember that our fight is fundamentally about creating better systems—because systems, not individuals, are the ultimate source of injustice. To create more just systems, we fight against problems, not against people. We fight for ideas.”
16/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“In contrast to these feeble approaches, moral ideas—which are inherently true ideas, transcending all individualities and identities—provide the most powerful weapon in the world.”
17/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“Progressives and Democrats, however, have lost sight of these truths. By engaging in constant denunciation and vengefulness, they have contributed to a marked spiral in our political rhetoric and have failed to offer positive alternatives.”
18/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
“At the end of everything, the Democrats have only been left with a 2020 campaign platform that essentially amounts to ‘not Trump.’ This platform is woefully, perhaps fatally, lacking.”
19/20
medium.com/@1JoshGreenber…
20/20
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