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Notes -
What is this "most effective tool" that risks being lost in the face of pragmatism? I'm not sure I'm following you.
The intransigence that comes with a refusal to tolerate tradeoffs. There's an endless cycle of argument that go (very simplified):
Left: We want Good Thing.
Right: Good Thing costs too much. We have Lesser Good Thing at home.
Left: You just hate Good Thing! You want Bad Thing because you are evil! Good Thing now!
If Left actually accepts the premise that there are real costs and trade-offs to consider and haggle and compromise over, then they're not really Left anymore. They're just a boring Math Liberal. Boring Math Liberal doesn't fire up passion. Boring Math Liberal has to sometimes admit he was wrong. He can't be a romantic revolutionary. He has to stop dehumanizing the outgroup. And dehumanizing the outgroup is a very, very, very powerful technique. It gives a nexus to coordinate and rally around. It creates solidarity.
That solidarity is, imo, the most effective tool. "No enemies to the left" means that attacks from the right just get ignored and shrugged off. It allows expansive motte-and-bailey tactics.
Leftists will fixate on their own intercine squabbles, but they don't accept intrusion into the "family business" from outsiders. Hasan Piker is every bit as much of a rabid, malevolent extremist as any literal National Socialist, but almost no one on the left is going to nod along to right-aligned criticisms, even while the man is wishing for the deaths of his own side's moderate faction.
Policing your extremists takes time, attention, and vulnerability. The left refuses to pay that price, so they're starting to pay a different one as the extremists eat them from the inside.
Interesting. I think you're definitely on to something and what you're identifying is important, but my gut tells me there's more to it than that. I'll chew on it and see if I can elaborate.
Yeah, my post there was definitely a bit muddled. It started with one idea, but I think the last two sentences are probably the important part. Thanks for giving me the chance to clarify my own thinking a bit more.
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