Covering domestic abuse, I’ve learned that an absolutely standard hallmark of abusive relationships is that abusers treat compliance w/rules as a test of power: they make rules, they don’t follow them nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
I think that explains so much about other dynamics too, including uproars over "PC culture": people feeling like complying with someone else's rules is a sign of low status or weakness, & freaking out
This is what edgelord idiots are trying to prove when they knowingly violate norms around using racist language: that they can get away with not complying, and therefore must be powerful.
There's a similar dynamic at play with apologies and amends after wrongdoing. Abusers say that the way to prevent future harm is to comply with their rules, and *not to ask for compliance or amends in return*
The offer is, implicitly or explicitly, but always clearly, "don't make me mad again, and I won't hurt you again." It's never "I did something wrong & will take responsibility for never acting that way again, no matter what" steil.house.gov/media/press-re…
The point here isn't to call GOP politicians abusers, but to point out that abusers do this for a reason: they've sensed, correctly, that demanding compliance while refusing to comply is an effective way to test and reinforce power dynamics.
The past week in American politics has been an extremely dangerous test of the power dynamics in American life. That test is still ongoing.
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The statement from Cheney, along with McConnell's apparent support for impeachment, is a sign that at least some crucial GOP elites are abandoning Trump.
I'm not sure what to make of the fact that it's so public and messy, though.
Speaking of elites, it also seems notable that so many large corporations are withdrawing their support from politicians who contested the election results, per @JuddLegum's reporting on this.
In the UK, despite early warnings about domestic abuse during lockdown, the government failed to provide desperately needed emergency help. @jane__bradley and I spent months reporting the unfolding catastrophe: nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Lockdown meant that people in abusive relationships were trapped at home with controlling & dangerous partners or other family members, cut off from work, friends and support networks.
The pressures of lockdown quickly turned deadly. In the first month alone, 16 women and girls were killed in suspected domestic homicides by men. By the end of lockdown there were 10 more. 8 men were also killed.
ICYMI, @max_fisher & I conducted a monthslong investigation into how YouTube radicalized Brazil. What we found was truly shocking. It made me reconsider what I thought I understood about online radicalization: nytimes.com/2019/08/11/wor…
@Max_Fisher Something that really blew me away was that even some within that super-online right-wing movement are afraid of where YouTube is leading the country. They warned us about the “dictatorship of the like”: the ways YouTube encourages politicians to pander to online rage
@Max_Fisher But the thing that made the biggest impression wasn’t the powerful men who have taken advantage of YouTube and its algorithm, or their collaborators who are now coming down with a case of regret.
It was women's stories of how YT disinformation and hate had upended their lives.