It is worth noting that Republican victory has caused lasting harm and subsequent Democratic victory has provided some relief. At least some of those voters were not "drifting" into binary thinking but were accurately identifying a problem. My guess is that many of them did not prefer being forced to this realization. A lot of them were correct and and were not being lazy or driven by an inability to deal with complexity.
Well said, Dr. Galea. The unifying factor of the far left and the far right appears to be a commitment to not working together and to viciously policing members of their own parties who try to do the work of governing for the people who elected them. Many things have brought us to this place, too numerous for me to count, but I think one is labeling. A label is about as meaningful as an emoji. So, I’ve given up labels in favor of a few more words that say plainly what I mean.
Not “racist,” but “a person who makes judgements based on the color of someone’s skin.” Not woke, but a person with a righteous certainty that most of what happened in the past was evil. Not white supremacist, but a person with white skin (usually) who feels threatened by a diverse society and will resort to violence to maintain a presumed superiority. Not Black, but a person with dark skin or a person of African or __________ ancestry. Not white, but a person with light skin or a person of European or __________ ancestry. Not anti-Semite, but a person who ascribes to views about Jewish people’s history and contemporary motives that have no basis in fact and will resort to violence to obliterate this group.
That’s just a working list. In an age where people tweet and post and reduce prose to bulleted lists, it’s folly to think adding words to discourse will ever fly. But I’m doing it. I will not fling labels. No good can come of calling people a “basket of deplorables,” Hilary. Neither was it helpful to label last January’s Ottawa-bound protesters a “small fringe minority of people … who are holding unacceptable views,” Justin.
And yes, I do know that we need policy and law to keep us on the path to a more just society, a more perfect union, and that labels are ever-so-useful in teasing out and righting inequity. Not sure what to do about that. Working on it. Complexity and contradiction.
It is worth noting that Republican victory has caused lasting harm and subsequent Democratic victory has provided some relief. At least some of those voters were not "drifting" into binary thinking but were accurately identifying a problem. My guess is that many of them did not prefer being forced to this realization. A lot of them were correct and and were not being lazy or driven by an inability to deal with complexity.
Well said, Dr. Galea. The unifying factor of the far left and the far right appears to be a commitment to not working together and to viciously policing members of their own parties who try to do the work of governing for the people who elected them. Many things have brought us to this place, too numerous for me to count, but I think one is labeling. A label is about as meaningful as an emoji. So, I’ve given up labels in favor of a few more words that say plainly what I mean.
Not “racist,” but “a person who makes judgements based on the color of someone’s skin.” Not woke, but a person with a righteous certainty that most of what happened in the past was evil. Not white supremacist, but a person with white skin (usually) who feels threatened by a diverse society and will resort to violence to maintain a presumed superiority. Not Black, but a person with dark skin or a person of African or __________ ancestry. Not white, but a person with light skin or a person of European or __________ ancestry. Not anti-Semite, but a person who ascribes to views about Jewish people’s history and contemporary motives that have no basis in fact and will resort to violence to obliterate this group.
That’s just a working list. In an age where people tweet and post and reduce prose to bulleted lists, it’s folly to think adding words to discourse will ever fly. But I’m doing it. I will not fling labels. No good can come of calling people a “basket of deplorables,” Hilary. Neither was it helpful to label last January’s Ottawa-bound protesters a “small fringe minority of people … who are holding unacceptable views,” Justin.
And yes, I do know that we need policy and law to keep us on the path to a more just society, a more perfect union, and that labels are ever-so-useful in teasing out and righting inequity. Not sure what to do about that. Working on it. Complexity and contradiction.