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As Sunder rightly points out, the sample Kaufmann presents as representative of "liberal opinion" in his latest Quillette diatribe is nothing of the sort. The items he presents as demonstrating evidence of liberal support for a cultural revolution are also nothing of the sort 1/?
Here are the items he finds majority support for among his (unrepresentative) sample of (self-identified) liberals:
Rebalancing art in museums to better reflect national demography
Public consultation on a new national anthem better reflecting diversity
Rewilding parks 2/?
[ctd] Rebalancing history curricula
Rebalancing public statues by removing white and replacing with other groups
"Gradually replace" older buildings with new ones that "don't perpetuate a Eurocentric order" (nope, me neither)
3?
Leaving aside that his items would be knocked back by any serious survey organisation because they are lengthy, full of vague phrases and abstract nouns, and often ambiguous, what does this amount to exactly? 4/?
5/? "Liberals would like some adjustments to public space, museums, curriculums, and public buildings, slowly, and with public consent." That's what I would consider an accurate summary of what people have indicated support for. How does Kaufmann describe it?
"A de-Europeanizing cultural revolution revolution", a "radical blow to American cultural nationhood" and "the destruction of American distinctiveness".
6/? I think it might come to a surprise to someone who indicated they thought a few more black statues, and a few more re-wilded parks, that they were cultural revolutionaries committed to the destruction of American cultural nationhood
7/? Particularly as the groups who would gain greater representation in textbooks, museums and public squares have been part of "American cultural nationhood" since the nation's beginning on any definition except a racially/ethnically exclusionary one.
8/? OK, but lets apply the principle of charity which Kaufmann is so keen to invoke (while seldom applying himself). Perhaps agreement with these things is just the tip of the iceberg? Perhaps these people really want more revolutionary change. Fortunately, Eric asked.
9/? And guess what? The more drastic changes, even when worded in his customary foggy and ambigious way, were rejected by the majority of his (unrepresentative, self-identified) "liberal" sample. Here's the changes a majority of people did NOT agree to:
Removing Mount Rushmoor
Remodelling the Statue of Liberty
Renaming streets and neighbourhoods to reflect diversity
Renaming towns
Renaming states
Renaming the country
Changing the national language
Changing city street plans
It seems as soon as we move to anything involving destruction or disruption, or the erasure of longstanding identity markers (names), a majority of Kaufmann's supposed "cultural revolutionaries" reject the change
I wonder how Kaufmann - so committed to the principle of charity - describes this balance of opinion among liberals, seeking to diversify public space while preserving longstanding and widely accepted identity markers? 12/?
"The destruction of American distinctiveness that would be necessary to achieve this de-Europeanizing cultural revolution would include blasting Mount Rushmore, tearing down numerous grand old buildings, and letting the nation’s great public parks go to seed."
Note that he describes all of these items, without distinguishing between milder and more radical proposals as "cultural revolution" items. And presents means levels of agreement with all of them, again without distinguishing between modest and radical change
Those people who say "yeah, more black statues please, but no I don't want to rename my street or state"? They are to Kaufmann "“Woke” cultural Jacobins ...trying to destroy the country’s traditions."
So, to recap, Kaufmann asked an unrepresentative sample of self-identified liberals a bunch of poorly designed questions designed to capture their desire for cultural change. He found majority agreement for the moderate changes, majority rejection for the radical changes
He then framed agreement with moderate and radical options as all part of the same "cultural revolution" motivation and argued that these people are like Maoist youth mobs, motivated by a fervent desire to smash American heritage.
To do so, he misrepresented the sample he add, the items he asked, the differences between the items he asked, and the responses he got. On every occasion picking the framing which cast liberals in the most extreme way.
Kaufmann wishes to frame this as objective scientific enquiry. I leave it to readers reviewing this thread, the article and the data on which it is based, to judge whether that framing seems credible. Here's the article:
quillette.com/2020/06/22/tow…
(thread got broken somehow, here's the rest)
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