1/I noticed Brit Hume defending Tucker Carlson's remarks about diversity today, and it made me think about how ideas go from the political extremes to the political mainstream. I kind of have a model in my head for how this process happens.
2/The idea that an influx of minorities is dangerous to the fabric of a nation is a very, very old idea on the political right, of course...
amazon.com/Strangers-Land…
amazon.com/Strangers-Land…
3/But that doesn't mean it's a *constant* idea.
Ronald Reagan strongly supported Mexican immigration. He signed an amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
In the 1980s, the Republican mainstream supported large-scale nonwhite immigration. What changed?
vox.com/2017/1/29/1442…
Ronald Reagan strongly supported Mexican immigration. He signed an amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
In the 1980s, the Republican mainstream supported large-scale nonwhite immigration. What changed?
vox.com/2017/1/29/1442…
4/In the early 2000s, things changed. Bush's attempted second amnesty was defeated by his own party, and on right-wing blogs, a new idea started to appear - the idea that diversity is a form of national suicide.
vdare.com/articles/diver…
vdare.com/articles/diver…
5/In the early 2010s, this view started proliferating strongly among what would soon become known as the alt-right. heartiste.wordpress.com/diversity-prox…
6/By the time Trump's campaign was in full swing, the alt-right was in full anti-diversity mode.
Here was a representative blog post from 2016.
unz.com/freed/diversit…
Here was a representative blog post from 2016.
unz.com/freed/diversit…
7/OK, but now here's where things get interesting. By the mid-2000s, it wasn't just alt-right blogs saying diversity = doom. Media outlets like Breitbart had emerged that straddled the line between fringe and mainstream.
mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/1…
mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/1…
8/In this quasi-mainstream right-wing media, the idea spread that the New Immigration - mostly Latinos and Asians, but also some Middle Easterners and Africans -- represented a mortal threat to the American nation.
dailycaller.com/2016/12/08/the…
dailycaller.com/2016/12/08/the…
9/With the election of Trump, figures from the quasi-mainstream right-wing media went mainstream. Bannon, of course. Stephen Miller.
Fox News hired Tucker Carlson of the quasi-mainstream Daily Caller to be its replacement for Bill O'Reilly, a more traditional conservative.
Fox News hired Tucker Carlson of the quasi-mainstream Daily Caller to be its replacement for Bill O'Reilly, a more traditional conservative.
10/Trump is sui generis, but Tucker Carlson brought the idea of anti-diversity - which is really just racial-nationalist opposition to the New Immigration - solidly into the conservative mainstream.
11/Carlson's racial nationalism, of course, prompted mainstream liberals to condemn him loudly.
12/That, in turn, means mainstream conservatives of all stripes, no matter their personal views on immigration or diversity, MUST defend Carlson.
If they don't, they are surrendering to The Enemy. To the left.
If they don't, they are surrendering to The Enemy. To the left.
13/Conservative writers and thinkers who under a Reagan or a Bush would support nonwhite immigration now cannot.
Because figures like Carlson managed to turn the issue into a high-profile left-right battle, the entire right must line up behind Carlson's position.
Because figures like Carlson managed to turn the issue into a high-profile left-right battle, the entire right must line up behind Carlson's position.
14/This compulsion extends even to right-leaning intellectuals who think of themselves as mavericks, or as not beholden to the conservative movement or establishment.
quillette.com/2018/02/12/the…
quillette.com/2018/02/12/the…
15/This is why you see Quillette, or the "Intellectual Dark Web" - people who have no allegiance to Trump or Fox News - focusing on and criticizing the idea of diversity.
Oppositional thinking rules everything. A position reviled by my enemies must be one worth considering.
Oppositional thinking rules everything. A position reviled by my enemies must be one worth considering.
16/The entire thing hinged on a few media entrepreneurs, particularly Bannon and Carlson.
By seizing on the previously fringe issue of diversity and turning it into a flashpoint for left-right conflict, they harnessed the power of oppositional thinking...
By seizing on the previously fringe issue of diversity and turning it into a flashpoint for left-right conflict, they harnessed the power of oppositional thinking...
17/Smart people on the (generalized) Right who were pro-immigration libertarians two years ago will now talk to you about the dangers of a diverse country.
Why?
Because lefties, the people who they feel most threatened by in society, are attacking opponents of diversity!
Why?
Because lefties, the people who they feel most threatened by in society, are attacking opponents of diversity!
18/Of course, I'm obviously minimizing the role of Trump in all this. His anti-immigrant campaign and electoral victories made anti-immigration seem like the "strong horse"...
19/But if media entrepreneurs like Bannon and Carlson had chosen to focus on things like kneeling football players or trade wars or MeToo, the issue of diversity might have been a side issue, and lots of people on the Right might be pro-immigration libertarians to this day!
20/Thus do media entrepreneurs harness the incredible power of oppositional, tribal thinking to control our minds and tell us what to believe.
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