Hm. I'm not sure objective (1) requires them to *be* as I describe (anti-democratic and/or
pro-authority), only that their special pleading be silenced or drowned out. The constant hedging
(EricC's "I'm not *that* kind of racist" ... or "what *I* mean when *I* fly the
confederate flag is blahblahblah") of the deplorable apologist is weak enough to fall apart
over time. So, e.g. things like the Heterodox Academy, which enable the right wing while
rhetorically distancing themselves from the right wing, don't have to be well-classified as
anti-democratic or pro-authority to still crumble. At some point, everyone realizes the lady doth
protest too much.
As for pushing the fringe off the precipice, we'd have to argue a bit about
hidden assumptions. Is there a precipice? If movement left is *progress*, then
we may approach, but by definition never arrive at, a singularity. And if
movement left is progress, why would anyone be against it in the first place?
On 6/12/20 4:02 PM, Prof David West wrote:
I suspected what your argument might be and I am in agreement, with two caveats.
Objective 1) is achieved only to the extent that *all or most* Trump supporters
are as you describe.
Objective 2) not only pushes moderates leftward but simultaneously pushes the
Left-Radical-Fringe off the precipice.
The strategy can, I think, remain unproductive/counterproductive vis-a-vis these two
objectives, but probably would no longer merit the adjective "stupid."
Personally, I think that any meaningful change will require not only "showing just how bad it
can get" but reducing the temple to rubble. (Where's Sampson when we need him?) Apocalypse
Now! The only problem is how to make sure that those that "led" us to this state of
affairs, and the bureaucracies that maintain that state, are the first one's culled by the
pandemics, the jihads, and the environmental collapses.
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