So, if we take this too seriously and apply it across the metaphor boundary, we conclude that the most effective way to achieve policy change is to pick a side, become the most radical member of that side, and then start pulling sideways? :D
I’d say “Don’t be that guy who injects themselves into the middle of a conversation about something else, and cause everyone to oppose you by trying to coopt the conversation to make it about your pet cause”.
And “Instead, introduce your influence into the things people are already fighting for and not looking at, so that they get the most progress on the issue they’re fighting by building on your input (rather than choosing to pick an additional battle with you).”
For example, I certainly wouldn’t position myself by saying “Regardless of where we draw the line on abortion (i.e. how much we murder babies/attempt to control women by regulating their bodies), what matters more is...”
On the other hand, I would argue for gun rights by emphasizing that the purpose of the second amendment is to protect minorities from oppression by giving them “veto power”, since it shifts the direction gun rights advocates would be pulling from, and the response is that gun rights advocates will pull along that line too instead of fighting it. Importantly, this isn’t just a “rhetorical trick”, but the actual better foundation in the first place, which is more widely recognizable as a solid justification and is in fact what many/most gun rights advocates are trying to pull towards in the first place even though they don’t know how to and can’t verbalize it well enough to pull accurately. “Shifting the direction of pull to one that is more true” is a good idea, as a rule of thumb.
It’s a little more complicated of a maneuver since it also positions the debate in a way that it connects with another line the opposition tends to try to pull in an opposing direction, and in which the directions people think they’re pulling and are actually pulling are very confused, but I think it demonstrates the “pull from behind” concept regardless.
So, if we take this too seriously and apply it across the metaphor boundary, we conclude that the most effective way to achieve policy change is to pick a side, become the most radical member of that side, and then start pulling sideways? :D
I’d say “Don’t be that guy who injects themselves into the middle of a conversation about something else, and cause everyone to oppose you by trying to coopt the conversation to make it about your pet cause”.
And “Instead, introduce your influence into the things people are already fighting for and not looking at, so that they get the most progress on the issue they’re fighting by building on your input (rather than choosing to pick an additional battle with you).”
For example, I certainly wouldn’t position myself by saying “Regardless of where we draw the line on abortion (i.e. how much we murder babies/attempt to control women by regulating their bodies), what matters more is...”
On the other hand, I would argue for gun rights by emphasizing that the purpose of the second amendment is to protect minorities from oppression by giving them “veto power”, since it shifts the direction gun rights advocates would be pulling from, and the response is that gun rights advocates will pull along that line too instead of fighting it. Importantly, this isn’t just a “rhetorical trick”, but the actual better foundation in the first place, which is more widely recognizable as a solid justification and is in fact what many/most gun rights advocates are trying to pull towards in the first place even though they don’t know how to and can’t verbalize it well enough to pull accurately. “Shifting the direction of pull to one that is more true” is a good idea, as a rule of thumb.
It’s a little more complicated of a maneuver since it also positions the debate in a way that it connects with another line the opposition tends to try to pull in an opposing direction, and in which the directions people think they’re pulling and are actually pulling are very confused, but I think it demonstrates the “pull from behind” concept regardless.