I’ve noticed a curious linguistic pattern over the past few years. A sort of person—typically in educated/credentialed circles—who usually goes out of his way to sound circumspect likes to emphasize the word “lie” to describe statements by Trump. 🧵 1/11
This by itself would not be striking, except that such people almost never use that word (or similarly strong language) to describe *anything* else. A pretense of quasi-elite society today is to maintain a tone of “neutrality” marked by extreme circumspection; 2/11
...in a world where nearly everything is subjective—from morality to history to gender identity—this means the strongest claim such people typically make is that something is the best argument or “most reasonable position.” 3/11
(This is especially true of Christians in these circles, who go out of their way to present their claims as reasonable beliefs while carefully couching any claim to universal truth.) 4/11
Thus the willingness to use such direct, harsh language for lies (or alleged lies) by Trump stands out, and even sounds jarring—like the use of a curse word by someone who rarely curses.

A few ideas on what could explain this: 5/11
Elevated concern for absolute truth: Seems unlikely since they don’t use the same language for other lies (eg by national media or Cuomo). If anything, one would expect such concern to focus on more carefully guarded lies, which are more likely to be believed by their peers. 6/11
Imitation of media figures: The media have pushed language around “facts” “truth” and “lies” over the past five years as they’ve faced unprecedented challenges to their own lies and distortions. ... 7/11
...Their aim seems to be to shift the spotlight and discredit their opponents while positioning themselves as arbiters of truth, and this broad acceptance of their language could indicate they are succeeding with at least some people. 8/11
Class: Perhaps the reaction has less to do with the truth/falsehood of a Trump statement than his class transgressions. Because he can be jarring, violating the norms expected of a member of his class (who, even when they lie, do so with the appropriate tone)... 9/11
...a response that also departs from class norms is seen as appropriate. The charitable version of this is that they believe a direct lie should be directly called out, while more guarded ones (the type more common in their world) merit similarly guarded responses. ... 10/11
...The more cynical is that it’s not even the lie that really offended, but rather the class violation. This must be called out in an acceptable way. Since this obviously isn’t direct mention of the class issue, jarring language can emphasize that a taboo has been violated. 11/11
One added hypothesis raised by a friend: certain Trump statements have been particularly easy to call out as lies (eg one involving rain during his inauguration speech), which makes it easier for people normally reticent to use this word to extend it to many other things he says.

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More from @NateAFischer

14 Feb
I suspect this tweet particularly disturbs establishment-right types because of the uncomfortable questions it raises about immigration and fit in American political culture. 🧵
Many presume that immigrants—especially refugees, and certainly those who achieve the “American dream”—tend to be model Americans, and base many policies on this idealistic assumption.
Yet when people like Nguyen, who arrived as a refugee and achieved great professional success, express scorn for so much of American culture and values, it publicly throws that presumption into question.
Read 5 tweets
11 Feb
A new business model for dissident media:

The digital age has disrupted legacy media models.  As mainstream advertisers become more politicized and censorious, any "dissident" views are increasingly punished.

Yet such media projects can be more valuable than ever. 1/11
The suppression of such views—any outside the ever-narrower bounds of woke political correctness—is not limited to mainstream media. These views are increasingly self-censored or punished in workplaces, schools, and social settings. 2/11
Institutions and activities that once connected people no longer suffice for projects where alignment around an independent point of view (POV) matters. Without alternatives, the connections that predicate such projects simply will not occur. 3/11
Read 11 tweets
11 Feb
She presumes a lot that she does not understand here.

The arrogance of many who have found their way into influencer roles in the evangelical world is striking.
If an English prof with a large following doesn’t understand something in another field, she should consider what those in that space recognize, instead of jumping to a naive conclusion and sharing it with the world.
But it should not be a surprise such people are often given a platform in the Atlantic or favorable New Yorker profiles: the point is not to elevate the most thoughtful evangelical voices, but the people who can be counted on to tell us the right things.
Read 4 tweets
24 Jan
A $100 million gift gets @elonmusk a snarky NBC article with incongruous historical references.

This epitomizes the sorry state of tech journalism today.

1/6
Though @bpopken compares Musk unfavorably with Rockefeller and Carnegie for supposedly delaying serious giving, the bulk of Carnegie’s philanthropy began around age 65, and Rockefeller’s was also concentrated after age 60. Musk is 49.

2/6
Rockefeller and Carnegie had businesses generating significant cash flow for years by that point.

As recently as 2019 Musk was risking Tesla’s survival to bring out a lower-cost electric car (which could do more than billions of dollars of gifts to reduce emissions).

3/6
Read 6 tweets
23 Jan
Our bureaucracies are too often woefully inept.
Given this record, shouldn't we reconsider the assumption that political "interference" is necessarily bad?

'"Yes, they were interfered with politically," said Lawrence Gostin... "But that’s not the only reason CDC didn’t perform optimally during COVID-19."'
A competent administration—one strong on common sense and a savvy understanding of risk—should exercise firm oversight over bureaucracies, recognizing their institutional biases and blind spots and treating their recommendations as only one of many factors.
Read 6 tweets
22 Jan
Many have rushed to defend Will Wilkinson out of a principled opposition to "cancel culture."

I take a different stance. These mobs will only be reigned in when too many of their elite proponents start to feel the pain. ...
By helping spare elite proponents of mob-inciting ideology such pain, we only prolong a trend that harms many ordinary people, such as this utility worker, who can less afford the cost and have fewer blue-checks rushing to their defense. ...
nbcsandiego.com/news/local/sdg…
The tide may actually turn—to a full rejection of this mob-inciting ideology, not just isolated forgiveness—when its elite proponents see their own friends destroyed by such mobs and personally feel the risk.

This historical example is instructive:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_M…
Read 4 tweets

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