I really don’t think that this is an accurate description of what happened (and is happening), in the “racism” case. What’s more, it elides those critical aspects of the situation to which I was trying to point.
However, possibly this is a distracting avenue of discussion at this time, so I am content to let this thread end here. I will only say that I strongly recommend thinking about the analogy between these two situations in greater detail.
Personally, I found your highlighting of that paragraph in particular useful, and believe the piece is stronger now that I’ve removed it, and would not mind if you went into more detail. This is a tangent/digression, but it’s a relevant one, so as long as it’s headlined as such I don’t think it’s distracting.
(This is actually one of my private “rules of engagement” and something I’ve got an essay in the works about: changes-of-topic are exhausting when they’re not self-aware about being changes-of-topic, but if they’re clearly identified then that cost goes way down.)
It’s possible I should change that section. The most important piece of it that I do intend is that we’ve tipped past
“Someone’s being racist in the parking lot! Oh, well, not my problem.”
to
“Someone’s being racist in the parking lot! This threatens an aspect of the fabric that I care about, that makes it my problem.”
I agree with you that a lot (most?) of what the blue tribe is doing re: racism specifically is counterproductive.
I really don’t think that this is an accurate description of what happened (and is happening), in the “racism” case. What’s more, it elides those critical aspects of the situation to which I was trying to point.
However, possibly this is a distracting avenue of discussion at this time, so I am content to let this thread end here. I will only say that I strongly recommend thinking about the analogy between these two situations in greater detail.
Personally, I found your highlighting of that paragraph in particular useful, and believe the piece is stronger now that I’ve removed it, and would not mind if you went into more detail. This is a tangent/digression, but it’s a relevant one, so as long as it’s headlined as such I don’t think it’s distracting.
(This is actually one of my private “rules of engagement” and something I’ve got an essay in the works about: changes-of-topic are exhausting when they’re not self-aware about being changes-of-topic, but if they’re clearly identified then that cost goes way down.)