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9 tweets,
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Fair number of people seem to be misunderstanding my point here. It isn't a point about whether such things have been said/done by Cons (clearly they have) but about the impact of double standards on *credibility* and hence ability to build & enforce antiracist norms 1/x
Lets' rewind for a second and remember what the situation is here. Various elected Labour representatives and activists discussing allegations of racism. Not only are these dismissed, but racialised puns are used to casually dismiss the group alleging prejudice
The problem is not just what is said. It is that everyone in the room is, it seems, perfectly comfortable with the expression of such sentiments. Those expressing them don't expect any opposition from their listeners. They don't feel any norm is being violated.
The point I was making by reframing the situation as Con MPs and councillors making similar comments about ethnic minorities is that in such as situation it would be *obvious* to nearly all liberals or leftists that an anti-racism norm had been violated.
Those replying to my original tweet with articles criticising Cons for similar behaviour are highlighting this point - there is a strong norm, and those who cross it face sustained criticism. And rightly so. But that norm has taken a long time to build up and is incomplete.
If you want to further reinforce it and extend such norms - and anti-racism is a long standing part of the progressive project - it is important to be seen as credible when identifying and criticising norm violators. And *that* is why the behaviour detailed here is so harmful
If we have Labour elected representatives who violate anti-racist norms - who are recorded trading racist terms, and dismissing and disparaging a group with real and well documented concerns about racist treatment, that does harm to progressives' ability to enforce such norms.
When those on the left then seek to highlight and criticise norm violations by their political opponents, the obvious, and powerful, riposte will be: "You're hypocrites. You only call this out when its politically convenient. You don't police your own."
And that, in turn, is harmful more generally, because if such norms are to have force then people have to believe that certain kinds of behaviour/attitude are *always wrong* and will *always be stigmatised*. Anything which looks like double standards makes this harder.
