Give Republicans this: they're not dismantling democracy in secret. They're doing it right out in the open. nytimes.com/2021/11/19/us/…
Greg's right to identify this as the key move, but I think he & I disagree slightly on what's behind it.
https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1461688147654414338
I don't think Johnson (+ people like him) is consciously *lying* about believing that Dems cheat, as a pretense or something. I honestly think that credits him with too much intelligence & self-awareness. I think he believes Dems cheat because that's what he needs to believe.
Rather than do a whole new thread on this, I'll just recommend this thread from a while back & which is *extremely* applicable to current controversies over voting rights.
https://twitter.com/drvolts/status/1395835619985616898
It works like this:
1. We want to suppress D votes.
2. Therefore, we will convince ourselves that Ds cheat.
3. Because we now believe Ds cheat, we must change laws to suppress D votes.
1. We want to suppress D votes.
2. Therefore, we will convince ourselves that Ds cheat.
3. Because we now believe Ds cheat, we must change laws to suppress D votes.
1. We want to engage in violence against Ds.
2. Therefore, we will convince ourselves that Ds are on the verge of violence against us.
3. Because we believe violence against us is imminent, we must engage in violence first, as self-defense.
2. Therefore, we will convince ourselves that Ds are on the verge of violence against us.
3. Because we believe violence against us is imminent, we must engage in violence first, as self-defense.
You'd think the "Stop the Steal" thing would have made this dynamic clear to everyone. They didn't want Trump to lose. So they convinced one another he didn't. Now they're justifying repressive voting laws *based on their belief*.
They want schools to teach a sanitized version of history. So they convince themselves schools are involved in a massive conspiracy to undermine whites. Now they're justifying repressive state education laws based on their belief.
If you value tribal advantage above all else -- if morality & even epistemology are subservient to it -- it becomes easy to "believe" whatever is necessary to advance tribal advantage. Yet libs absolutely cannot seem to help but treat these claims as good faith.
Wait, I said I wasn't gonna do another thread on this. I'm stopping!
Oh, but I forgot this classic example!
1. We want to invade Iraq.
2. Only WMD could justify an invasion.
3. Therefore we will believe in the WMD.
4. We must invade because of the WMD.
This process played out in public, before our very eyes!
1. We want to invade Iraq.
2. Only WMD could justify an invasion.
3. Therefore we will believe in the WMD.
4. We must invade because of the WMD.
This process played out in public, before our very eyes!
https://twitter.com/curmudgeonboy/status/1461766438826483714
OK, one final, final note on this non-thread thread.
The dynamic identified in this thread is also behind the increasingly common idea on the RW that murder is justified if you "feel threatened." Not ARE threatened. Feel it. Used to justify police killings, Rittenhouse, etc etc.
The dynamic identified in this thread is also behind the increasingly common idea on the RW that murder is justified if you "feel threatened." Not ARE threatened. Feel it. Used to justify police killings, Rittenhouse, etc etc.
It's clearer & clearer that "facts don't care about your feelings" was always projection. The point was not that facts in general don't care about feelings in general. It's that facts must warp around *our* feelings, not yours. That's the essence of white privilege.
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