The whole Alt-Right Playbook series is incredible and necessary, but the more relevant video is arguably Always A Bigger Fish. Specifically for one point:
Conservatives are not failed liberals.
They don’t want what liberals want. That’s why they don’t do what liberals do. We keep assuming we must agree on certain topics - often because they say they believe in things we believe in - but if that were true then their actions would make sense. We wouldn’t be constantly baffled by their hypocrisy, asking over and over, ‘how can they say X when they do Y?’
The default approach is to point out these contradictions… as if they haven’t noticed. As if it will force them to reconcile their rhetoric with their behavior (or vice-versa). That never happens. They don’t fucking care. All of their stated ideals are ad-hoc justifications.
Everything for conservatives is in service to hierarchy. Words don’t mean anything except to signal loyalty or disloyalty to that hierarchy. They are shibboleths. Ducktalk. They cheer when Their Guy says the sky is blue and boo when Our Guy says the exact same thing. They proclaim themselves “rational” because obviously someone rational would want what they already want, and being smart just means working backwards for clever excuses. This is how reality works, for these people. All of their stated ideals are ad-hoc justifications.
And they think we’re the same way.
That’s what really connects us, across the aisle. We think they’re like us, and when they say they support democracy, we think they mean it. It’s why we’d say that. They think we’re like them, and when we say we want fair elections, they think we’re lying. It’s why they’d say that. All of their stated ideals are ad-hoc justifications. They say things we like to hear because it works. It has no predictive value.
The card says “moops”.
The whole Alt-Right Playbook series is incredible and necessary, but the more relevant video is arguably Always A Bigger Fish. Specifically for one point:
Conservatives are not failed liberals.
They don’t want what liberals want. That’s why they don’t do what liberals do. We keep assuming we must agree on certain topics - often because they say they believe in things we believe in - but if that were true then their actions would make sense. We wouldn’t be constantly baffled by their hypocrisy, asking over and over, ‘how can they say X when they do Y?’
The default approach is to point out these contradictions… as if they haven’t noticed. As if it will force them to reconcile their rhetoric with their behavior (or vice-versa). That never happens. They don’t fucking care. All of their stated ideals are ad-hoc justifications.
Everything for conservatives is in service to hierarchy. Words don’t mean anything except to signal loyalty or disloyalty to that hierarchy. They are shibboleths. Ducktalk. They cheer when Their Guy says the sky is blue and boo when Our Guy says the exact same thing. They proclaim themselves “rational” because obviously someone rational would want what they already want, and being smart just means working backwards for clever excuses. This is how reality works, for these people. All of their stated ideals are ad-hoc justifications.
And they think we’re the same way.
That’s what really connects us, across the aisle. We think they’re like us, and when they say they support democracy, we think they mean it. It’s why we’d say that. They think we’re like them, and when we say we want fair elections, they think we’re lying. It’s why they’d say that. All of their stated ideals are ad-hoc justifications. They say things we like to hear because it works. It has no predictive value.