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Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
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28 Feb, 5 tweets, 1 min read
It's worth unpacking why Nick Fuentes is wrong 1/
Thomas Jefferson and King George both had phenotypically "white" skin. I was born in 1980 with phenotypically "white" skin. That doesn't imbue me with credit for the words of the Declaration or blame for tyrannical monarchy. 2/
The ideals of the Declaration are great. They are out common inheritance. They belong as much to the most recently naturalized immigrant, regardless of his or her skin color or national origin, as they do to me. And people of all skin colors can and do betray those ideals too.
The canard that white people have a greater claim to the American founding, or to (say) Greek philosophers, is one that both white supremacists and some antiracists share, and it is wrong, wrong, wrong.
(Folks pointing out the OP that I quote tweeted is wrong about Fuentes being at CPAC FYI)

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More from @conor64

Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
19 Feb
One aspect of the Reply All controversy illustrates an emerging norm in some quarters of journalism and public discourse that goes something like this (I'm trying to understand it so this is tentative, do correct me if you think I've got it wrong):
It is seen as virtuous to produce journalistic work against racism/sexism/homophobia/transphobia, and for social justice... so it is unethical/hypocritical to produce such work if you have a less than perfect record with respect to the ill you are inveighing against
Because you're accumulating an unearned perception of virtue and/or triggering those you've harmed. It is bad quite separate from and in addition to whatever your initial shortcoming, and should be policed to prevent bad actors from getting unearned virtue points.
Read 6 tweets
Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
18 Feb
Even rank and file conservatives in full Anton hysteria mode who look at American culture and feel they've lost it all and know they've lost the rising generation cannot accept an obvious corrolary: the Newt Gingrich/Rush Limbaugh/Roger Ailes style served them ill, not well
This is due partly to vastly overestimating the value and quality of low brow content that reinforces their priors, feeds their sense of grievance, and attacks their culture war enemies, yielding fleeting dopamine hits. That isn't mysterious but this is:
Buckley said some awful things as surely as Limbaugh, but he's remembered for more because he had a positive project and built an enduring institution and said some remarkable things. And this contrast on the good end is striking:
Read 5 tweets
Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
11 Feb
This article is full of claims with premises I do not share. 1/
Here's one excerpt:
How did it arise, this new premise that whenever people converse with one another there needs to be a "path to accountability"? And why wouldn't fact checkers have to decide what facts to check? The implicit expectations here are just so bizarre.
Read 6 tweets
Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
14 Jan
This is a good case study in the distorting effects of racial essentialism and the way it can exaggerate differences in perception among racial groups. (1/x)
So here is a survey finding from Harvard showing that a majority of both white and black faculty agree with a proposition, and that the white majority that agrees is bigger than the black majority that agrees. (2/x)
Here is how an analysis of that survey finding characterizes it, emphasizing racial disparities despite the fact that majorities of both races agree with the proposition. But that's not all. (3/x)
Read 7 tweets
Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
8 Jan
Some thoughts on Twitter's ban of Donald Trump:

1) We should concern ourselves about the precedent this sets for other users, especially depending on the platform's explanation.

2) But I think there are approaches that would avoid slippery slopes. I offered one in 2018 (1/x)
3) World leaders, regardless of ideology, are unlike all other users. They combine maximum institutional power and reach. & the consequences if they are impulsively reckless have unique potential to do damage.
4) Twitter's architecture and culture reward impulsive hostility, including on the highest stakes issues. Easily the best example is the Donald Trump Tweet that prompted my 2018 article. Let's revisit it.
Read 7 tweets
Conor Friedersdorf Profile picture
5 Jan
Let's take a trip back to 1978
Romance novels were cheap:
Cigarettes were sold with clumsy appeals to feminism
Read 30 tweets

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