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AlexandraErin's profile
Alexandra Erin
Alexandra Erin
Alexandra Erin
@AlexandraErin

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Alexandra Erin

@AlexandraErin

Alfie Award-Winning Author/Commentator She/Her Nonfiction: http://alexandraerin.substack.com  Fiction: http://patreon.com/alexandraerin  Query: blueauthor@alexandraerin.com

Hagerstown
patreon.com/AlexandraErin
Joined February 2007

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    Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

    So I just saw someone wondering how liberals can cut ties with conservative friends and family members over immigration policies when most Americans (including most conservatives) support immigration reform. I'm going to talk about what I call the Shirley Exception.

    9:33 AM - 6 Jun 2018
    • 4,280 Retweets
    • 6,931 Likes
    • Veronica Foale Chrome Lycancub 🌈🍖🖤🤍💜 ell 𖤐 🏴 semi-hiatus Katarra B e c Ⓧ 🖖🏻🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 WT: 𝑫𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒚 / 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 🏳️‍🌈 Hubert Minion Molly Weaver
    105 replies 4,280 retweets 6,931 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        The Shirley Exception is a bit of mental sleight of hand that allows people to support a policy they profess to disagree with. It's called the Shirley Exception because... well, I mean, *surely* there must be exceptions, right?

        13 replies 556 retweets 2,082 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        Let's imagine that in response to suspicions about overbroad use of service animal rules, a city somewhere decides to just swing the pendulum 100% in the other direction. Restaurants, public accommodations, etc., no longer have to recognize any service animals.

        1 reply 70 retweets 1,116 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        And in the aftermath of the change, existing rules about where animals may and may not go apply full force.

        1 reply 57 retweets 1,025 likes
        Show this thread
      5. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        A lot of people would back the change because Obviously Some People Take Advantage. (Positing that someone, somewhere is taking advantage is a great way to get the masses on your side in our politics, sadly.)

        4 replies 128 retweets 1,787 likes
        Show this thread
      6. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        Now if you point out the existence of a blind person or an epileptic person who has a service dog for everyday navigation of life or for life-saving purposes, the Good People who just don't want anyone to take advantage will tell you: "No one's talking about legitimate cases."

        1 reply 119 retweets 1,550 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        And if you point out that the rule that they're backing would affect what they call "legitimate cases", the response will be: "But surely there will be an exception."

        2 replies 150 retweets 1,704 likes
        Show this thread
      8. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        If you back up an anti-abortion activist to the point where they actually have to grapple with a case where the parent would 100% die delivering a 100% non-viable fetus, you'll get the same answers: "No one is talking about those cases." and "But surely there will be exceptions."

        9 replies 170 retweets 1,914 likes
        Show this thread
      9. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        All of those studies of people in Trump Country USA who were shocked, shocked, that the kind man next door who is a good father and a great neighbor and a real part of the community was dragged away by ICE? They all thought that surely he'd be an exception.

        6 replies 367 retweets 2,544 likes
        Show this thread
      10. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        If you point out that the laws/policies they're talking about *don't* offer such exceptions and in some cases explicitly forbid them, if you say "So let's put those exceptions in writing."... well, then you're back to Surely People Will Take Advantage.

        1 reply 179 retweets 1,901 likes
        Show this thread
      11. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        See, the people who are sure that Surely There Will Be Exceptions are very comfortable with the idea of justice being decided on a case-by-case basis. They've always had teachers, bosses, bureaucrats, even traffic cops giving them some slack for reasons of compassion and logic.

        9 replies 474 retweets 2,743 likes
        Show this thread
      12. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        I mean, if Officer Smalltown von Cul-De-Sac could give them a warning when they were caught with recreational amounts of pot as kids because it was harmless and they Had Futures, then Surely there must be similar exceptions for everyone?

        10 replies 219 retweets 2,298 likes
        Show this thread
      13. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        That post about "I never thought the leopards would eat my face, sobbed woman who voted for Face-Eating Leopards Party" is very true, and it goes farther than personal immunity to a very generalized and broad Just World Fallacy.

        6 replies 353 retweets 2,612 likes
        Show this thread
      14. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        Surely, they think, surely the leopards will know to only eat the *right* faces, the faces that need eating, and leave alone all the faces that don't deserve that.

        6 replies 254 retweets 1,939 likes
        Show this thread
      15. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        But if we try to lay out rules to protect faces from being eaten by leopards, people will take advantage. Best to keep it simple and count on decency and reason to rule the day.

        2 replies 121 retweets 1,591 likes
        Show this thread
      16. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        So moderate conservatives, what we might call "everyday conservatives", the ones who don't wear MAGA hats or tea party costumes and think that Mr. Trump fella should maybe stay off of Twitter, they will vote for candidates and policies that they don't actually agree with...

        2 replies 175 retweets 1,638 likes
        Show this thread
      17. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        ...because in their mind the exact law being prescribed is just a tool in the chest, an option on the table, which they expect to be wielded fairly and judiciously. Surely no one would do anything so unreasonable as actually enforcing it as written! Not when that would be bad!

        8 replies 234 retweets 2,181 likes
        Show this thread
      18. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        And then they are confused, shocked, and even insulted when people hold them accountable for their support of the monstrous policy. "I didn't vote for leopards to eat *your* face! I just thought we needed some face-eating leopards generally. Surely you can't blame me for that!"

        6 replies 381 retweets 2,450 likes
        Show this thread
      19. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        The old "Defense of Marriage" laws are another textbook example of this. Many of them included language that expressly forbade giving similar benefits (like hospital visitation) to same-sex relationships.

        3 replies 111 retweets 1,465 likes
        Show this thread
      20. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        Yet the people who voted for them, in many cases, wanted it to be known that No One Is Talking About Stopping You From Visiting Your Loved One In The Hospital. And Surely There Will Be An Exception.

        2 replies 104 retweets 1,637 likes
        Show this thread
      21. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        The Shirley Exception is how people who are only mundanely monstrous, moderately monstrous, wind up supporting policies that are completely monstrous. And when they do, they always want credit for their good intentions towards those they see as deserving, not the outcomes.

        9 replies 763 retweets 3,042 likes
        Show this thread
      22. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        I'm describing a phenomenon here and I don't have a solution to its existence. While convincing people that laws that don't specify exceptions functionally *don't have them* might work sometimes on (ironically) a case-by-case basis, what is really needed is a broader shift.

        10 replies 88 retweets 1,529 likes
        Show this thread
      23. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        People need to get used to thinking about the harm policies will do as a real part of the policy, not a hypothetical that Reasonable People of Good Will Can Surely Work Around.

        10 replies 357 retweets 2,136 likes
        Show this thread
      24. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Jun 2018

        Maybe the tack of saying, "If it was your life on the line, wouldn't you want that to be in writing?" would work. I don't know. Like I said, I don't have a solution here. This is just a thing that happens.

        60 replies 138 retweets 2,066 likes
        Show this thread
      25. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 18 Aug 2018

        This thread is going viral again. I don't have a SoundCloud to promote because Twitter is my SoundCloud. Tweeting this kind of explanation/analysis is one of the main things I do (when I'm not at a con). If you get some value from it, feel free to tip. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=RR84V5CDS9UP4 …

        18 replies 41 retweets 699 likes
        Show this thread
      26. End of conversation

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