It’s an evolutionary process

[aadler]

A blog post I read a few days ago touched on something that seems to be happening in the realm of political ‘discourse’.

It is, of course, well known — to the point of being infamous — that anyone who disagreed with Barack Obama on anything was instantly and repeatedly accused of racism. Because Democrat disagreement with Republicans is always a matter of principle, but Republican disagreement with Democrats is definitionally a matter of racism (according to the people who have appointed themselves to make the definitions, who only coincidentally are always liberal Democrats). Obama being a black man meant that any political disagreement was even more obviously racial bigotry, and accusations of racism over any form of policy disagreement became the gift that never stopped giving.

Only, there were consequences, which really could have been predicted. Overuse of antibiotics inevitably led to the appearance of antibiotic-resistant strains of various bacteria. Attempts to wash out the Tuskegee airmen by the application of ridiculously high standards resulted in the creation of an elite unit, because the only ones who could make it through that program were the ones who DID meet those ridiculously high standards. And universal accusations of racism had two results: first, it cowed into silence anyone who cared about such accusations, leaving only those who didn’t care; and, second, the accusations themselves were so overblown and obviously biased that fewer and fewer people actually took them seriously.

The result was a metamorphosis that is entirely unsurprising to anyone familiar with cause and effect. As the blog writer put it, it used to be that political disagreement between liberals and conservatives followed this basic format:

1. Liberal: says something
2. Conservative: responds
3. Liberal: you’re a racist | sexist | bigot | pejorative du jour
4a. Conservative: I am not a racist | sexist | bigot | pejorative du jour
4b. [Conservative attempts to give evidence for statement 4a.]
5. Liberal: not good enough
6. [Goto step 3]

After too many years, however, of dealing with people who were clearly operating in blatant bad faith, those who always found themselves the target of such accusations began to see no point in continuing to play a game wherein the rules were written to guarantee their loss. Now, the process is more inclined to go something like this:

1. Conservative: says something
2. Liberal: you’re a racist | sexist | bigot | pejorative du jour
3. Conservative: f**k you.

And the response, so far, is for the radical left to turn up the volume on its endless accusations of racism/sexism/homophobia/xenophobia/Islamophobia/transphobia/overall­poopy­headed­ness. In other words, to double down on what had already stopped working.

These are the people who not only claim to be, but know themselves to be, our intellectual superiors.

And my advice to them is, keep on keepin’ on. So far, I’m loving this.

Comments

[frogfarm]

We need better words. Liberals aren't liberal, and conservatives haven't conserved a damn thing.

In the meantime, it isn't just the radicals/extremists who are doubling down on hypocrisy and double standards. Every day someone else gets assaulted, even battered. All I know is I'll never accept BS false equivalences ("they're just as bad", "they do it too") when the hypocrisy, double standards and intolerance are demonstrably, overwhelmingly coming from one side.