, 9 tweets, 3 min read
I sometimes wonder if the chief divide in our politics is between those who think the problem is too little civility and those who say it's too little honesty.

nymag.com/intelligencer/…
I am (and I want to be clear about this) COMPLETELY AWARE that those who urge greater civility toward political opponents do not see this as being in tension with honesty. I get it. I just don't fully believe it works that way in practice.
I am also COMPLETELY AWARE that this tension divides the Left as much as the Right, e.g. conservatives often insist that political correctness is an obstacle to honest debate about immigration. They may have a point.
But everyday, the list of things we are discouraged from being honest about gets longer and longer. Why? Because "That's how Trump won," or "It turns off moderates," or "There are two sides to every story". Read the Biden campaign's letter to the Times today for one such example.
Or anything lately from @jbouie. The evidence that elements within the GOP are trying to disenfranchise black voters continues to mount (it really is overwhelming at this point), but *still* there is this wall of Very Respectable Silence on what that evidence means.
@jbouie I think in part this is because to be honest about it all would, in a very real sense, terrify us. Maybe not you, a jaded and worldweary Twitter warrior, but lots of other people. The implications are just too great.
@jbouie Nobody likes to live through a crisis. So nobody ever does.
@jbouie Anyway, I don't think the answer is necessarily more civility or more honesty. That framing is probably wrong, even though it's increasingly the way the lines are getting drawn. What I do think is that we have gotten very good at not talking about the things we really care about.
@jbouie Ha. I realized I'm basically just regurgitating Sheldon Wolin. God, he was right about so much.
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