1.I have been thinking about a great Twitter exchange with @gregggonsalves+@republicofspin. I had a few thoughts for 62 lunch tweets. politico.com/magazine/story…
2.Tl;dr—Trump folk have no right to expect or demand decorousness from the rest of us. But it’s smart strategy to general accord them civility anyway.
3.Some deep issues in-play—The difference in moral obligation between nonviolence, civility+upholding the norms of democratic discourse, the meaning+boundaries of nonviolent action, the value+limitations of historical analogies to the Civil Rights era, ACT-UP, Weathermen, etc.
4.Then there’s bringing these up to the present moment: President Trump’ s comprehensive unworthiness+illegitimacy, the urgency of thwarting the stream of specific injustices raining down on vulnerable people, strategic opportunities+pitfalls of specific tactics in this moment.
5.That’s a lot to summarize in one tweet, even with the new 280 characters.
6.First, to clarify terms....
7.It’s easy to confuse nonviolence with decorum+civility. Nonviolence is an absolute requirement, non-negotiable. U.S. movements that turn violent generally self-immolate, bringing sorrow to their own allies while helping their enemies.
8.The early 1970s far left is one obvious cautionary example. It was more crazy+politically damaging, here+in Europe, than we remember. amazon.com/Postwar-Histor…
9.As Mark Rudd rightly observed, most Americans wrote off left violence as signs of mental illness rather than as any call to positive action. Nothing good came from the SLA or the Weathermen, let alone more dangerous European groups. amazon.com/Weather-Underg…
10.Violence is often a sign of disorganization+weakness. Any fringe group can harm individual human beings. Groups that can marshal 250,000 people on the mall don’t waste time debating stupid twitter memes about punching Milo.
11.President Trump is more afraid of a 45-year-old Moral Mondays mom defending her daughter’s Medicaid than he is of some bandana’d 19-year-old Antifa activist making mayhem. The latter is a stage extra in Trump’s reelection campaign. washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-f…
12.Once you entertain violence, you are morally+strategically at the mercy of whatever hothead does to Steve Bannon at Target. Every movement attracts its share of thrill-seekers+enthusiasts who push too far. Bright lines are important, to protect ourselves+to keep ourselves sane
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13. In contrast, decorum+civility, in contrast, are not absolutes. These are contingent strategic choices. A persecuted minority under threat isn’t obliged to be polite. Rudeness+incivility have their place.
14.Some loud incivility is also unavoidable given what’s happening out there. Telling immigrants angry about ICE, African-Americans angry about police violence to always use their inside voices alienates+insults people whom we need to engage as allies+friends.
15.There’s another thing, too. As Katha Pollitt notes, the Right abandoned civility a long time ago. That didn't start+won't end with its apotheosis in the Trump presidency. thenation.com/article/right-…
16.This is true on many levels, from dog-+train-whistle racial politics, to attacks on abortion providers, to insinuations that liberal Democrats are un-American. It’s true on a tactical level, too. Democrats are sick of being out-crazied by Republicans at every turn.
17.We were out-crazied in Bush v. Gore, on the debt ceiling, on scorched-earth opposition to ACA, on Benghazi, on Merrick Garland, on McConnell deterring President Obama from warning the country about Russia’s support for Donald Trump.
18. One reason Director Comey damaged Hillary Clinton without leaking more serious investigations of Donald Trump was his fear of Republican partisans on FOX news+within his own agency. We were out-crazied there too.
19. So Republicans+those on the sidelines not actively opposing President Trump should spare progressives the lectures+concern-trolling about civility. We’re sick of it.
20. As a general matter, pushing the envelop of decorum is sometimes justified+effective.
21.Consider ACT-UP. It was rude to place a giant condom over Jesse Helm’s house. Giant sit-in to pressure pharma corp. Easy call. Protest a homophobic Cardinal in church? Tougher call, but I don’t condemn it.) surviveaplague.com
22.These measures were strategically disciplined+effective, made life unpleasant for the right enemies, embarrassed+inconvenienced the right bystanders, maintained morale, channeling grassroots energy that might easily have gone in a more nihilistic direction.
23. Now the civil rights movement was less decorous than now remembered, more controversial, more suspect in the eyes of most white folk. Whitewashing of King’s radical message is the most obvious example. He was never the Hallmark figure many Americans prefer him to have been.
****(Don't go away. Reached thread limit. To be continued)****
