The more you challenge those on your own team when they do and say terrible things, the more good people will respect you.

in debate •  2 years ago 

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I've long been critical of the "woke" activist left for imagining bigotry in every corner of life and using accusations of "racism", "sexism", "homophobia", "transphobia" or calling people "fascists" in order to shut down debate and silence people who disagree with their ideology and politics.

But just because they routinely overuse these terms and smear people who don't deserve those labels doesn't mean that bigotry doesn't exist, or that some people on the right do, in fact, oppose what they see as "woke" activism because they do harbor irrational, collectivist animosity against gay people, non-white people, etc. It's also true that there are people inside the right-wing sphere who are proudly "national socialists" and who believe that America should be ethnically homogeneous -- which is just another way of saying that they're genuine fascists who want to end (at least non-white / European) immigration, and who would use the state to explicitly privilege their race over everyone else.

Incidentally, there's no shortage of leftist ideologues who want the same kinds of things, only they would use the state to explicitly harm white people and impose all sorts of insane restrictions on speech, create a racially segregated tax and regulatory code, and who would absolutely imprison people who think or say things they don't like. Even now, some of that group has figured out how to harass people into struggle sessions and has wrecked a large number of lives even without total control.

It really is just the repetition of a hundred-year old battle between imbeciles -- fascists & commies -- who act like they're radically different, but whose actions and ideals are virtually indistinguishable.

Both groups are simply not fit to have any power over other people under any circumstances.

I've spent the last 24 hours or so calling out bigotry on the right, and one of the responses I've gotten from people among that tribe is that I shouldn't be doing this because it "plays into" the hands of the SJW activists. The claim here is that since they misuse and overuse those terms all the time, acknowledging instances where their accusations have merit is tantamount to admitting that they're always right.

This is absurd.

Furthermore, it's the argument of a coward who cares more about scoring tribal "points" than telling the truth or taking out the trash on their own team.

Don't be that person. If there are people on your "side" who are actually awful -- calling them out is not a sign of weakness. It does not "play into" your opponent's hands. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The more you ignore the rot in your own ranks, the more examples your opponents will be able to point to that prove them right... and the more those who aren't stuck in your ideological bubble will find their claims to be convincing.

On the other hand, the more you challenge those on your own team when they do and say terrible things, the more good people will respect you.

This doesn't mean obsequiously apologizing anytime someone levels an accusation or failing to stand up for those who haven't done anything wrong. But it does mean adhering to the truth and being willing to stand up to your own friends and supposed allies in circumstances where they are advocating horrible positions.

So... I dunno... Grow a spine.

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