Malcolm X told you 60 years ago: The white liberal’s concern for black people is abstract, performative. The black people to the white liberal is as a moral bludgeon to wield against white conservatives, and they attack any black person who refuses to play along.
If the lives of black people actually improved, they would vote on issues like tax policy, national security, immigration - and inevitable veer in the direction of partisan parity - therefore the lives of black people must not improve.
If Latinos assimilate, they will vote on education, taxes, and social issues - rather than ethnic identity - and inevitable veer toward partisan parity, therefore Latinos must not assimilate (we’re told assimilation is “cultural genocide”, “selling out”, etc.)
A terrible set of incentives emerges for a political coalition of the fringes: any fringe-dweller who improves their lot and moves toward the socioeconomic middle is a sellout, an Uncle Tom, a traitor.
The Soviets used two strategies to discourage potential defectors: 1) threats (incl threatening families), 2) convince them that the West was vicious, implacable devil that wished them dead. Who can deny that this is the strategy of progressives and the Democratic Party in 2022?
The worst thing that could happen to the Democrats is that the lives of their minority constituencies actually improve, and that their political decisions begin to reflect elements other than terror, rage, desperation, and misery.
Indeed.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.