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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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    1. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

      So here's another "I'm new here, please explain to me like I'm five" thing about the Bernie camp. Any time I see someone talking about doing outreach to a community, I also see Bernie fans saying "Actually we do very well with that community, so tell it to the other candidate."

      16 replies 126 retweets 675 likes
      Show this thread
      Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

      So... are we full up on votes, then? Do we have the exact number we want? Just the right amount? If so, great! Sorry I didn't check before switching my vote to Bernie, hope I didn't screw anything up. And really charitable to direct those "extra" votes to a rival. So laudable.

      7:00 AM - 6 Mar 2020
      • 27 Retweets
      • 500 Likes
      • Malia Kawaguchi Olivia Christina (Taylor’s Version) 💛💛 LEA Williams Irene DeStefano Briana Darryl, Socrates' Friend peregringa Cyril #OustDuterteNow 🇻🇦🇵🇭🏳️‍🌈💗💜💙↙️↙️↙️
      1 reply 27 retweets 500 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          If we're not actually full up on votes and we think Bernie could use some more votes than he's been getting, then this is another example of how defensiveness is not helpful. You can't actually defend someone (yourself, or someone else) with defensiveness. Doesn't work.

          3 replies 22 retweets 469 likes
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        3. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          The difference between defense and defensiveness is like the difference between "covered in chocolate" and "a chocolatey coating". A chocolatey substance is not chocolate. Defensiveness is not defense.

          2 replies 28 retweets 318 likes
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        4. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          I get the impulse, I really do. I wrestle with it every day, as does every human being. You see someone saying something negative about you or something you identify with and you think it's unfair and you want to set the record straight.

          1 reply 11 retweets 248 likes
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        5. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          But as someone who until recently was not a Bernie voter, I can tell you from the outside it makes it harder to tell the difference between the mass of well-meaning, principled Bernie supporters and the small toxic subset. It amplifies the toxicity.

          2 replies 23 retweets 373 likes
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        6. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          I mean, we all know Biden both had a bad look and a fairly unorthodox strategy for winning elections those (multiple, plural) times he snapped at someone that they should be voting for someone else, then, right?

          1 reply 9 retweets 240 likes
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        7. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Responding to someone suggesting that our candidate could do better with, "How about your candidate does better?" is in the same category of error.

          1 reply 12 retweets 235 likes
          Show this thread
        8. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          And based on Super Tuesday, our candidate *does* need to do better. Now maybe you read this and think, "Fine, okay, I'll only do it when the person has no idea what they're talking about and needs to be corrected."

          1 reply 4 retweets 218 likes
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        9. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Like, say the person's advice is just vague platitudes and there's no actual way to implement it or chance it would measurably affect the outcome. ...why does this need correcting? What's that accomplish? Their advice isn't affecting anything.

          1 reply 4 retweets 171 likes
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        10. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          But stepping into argue with them creates the impression that the movement around Bernie Sanders isn't interested in outreach, isn't interested in coalition building, isn't interested in getting more votes. Which is poison for a political campaign.

          3 replies 11 retweets 235 likes
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        11. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          And I know, I know. Twitter is only a small subset of the electorate and the dynamics here are a bit different than offline, because Political Twitter is paying more attention and cares more about both the minutiae of campaigns and the drama.

          1 reply 4 retweets 156 likes
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        12. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          But we're also frequently the people who are passionate and talkative about these topics offline, too. So the experiences the people we engage or browbeat on here have will carry over to "real life", shaping how they see and discuss the Sanders campaign and our candidate.

          1 reply 14 retweets 175 likes
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        13. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          One of the many apparently very unfair things is that there are many fewer signs of toxicity IRL... but that doesn't stop people who never get into political arguments on Twitter from knowing about it. Is that just because "the lying snakes won't shut up about it"? I doubt it.

          1 reply 2 retweets 156 likes
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        14. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Whether it's fair or not, whether we like it or not, the tubes are leaking... the online discourse is affecting the offline discourse. That can't be avoided.

          2 replies 5 retweets 152 likes
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        15. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Let me tell you something about arguments in general, as someone who is good at arguing with people and who used to be fully aboard the "actually if your ideas were sound you would expose them to the purifying fires of public debate so they would come out the stronger" train.

          1 reply 6 retweets 144 likes
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        16. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Arguing with someone does more to change your own mind than to change the other person's. When you aggressively argue your ideas, you're forced to think about them in terms of their strongest points, while also emotionally investing in them on a deeper level than before.

          1 reply 16 retweets 186 likes
          Show this thread
        17. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          So if you get into an argument with somebody who doesn't think Medicare 4 All will be a good deal for their community, you're less likely to change your mind than to harder *their* position, because while you're arguing, so are they.

          2 replies 4 retweets 136 likes
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        18. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          So, I mean, if you encounter a voter who wants universal healthcare but is afraid of Medicare 4 All because of some policy quibble (even if you think it's based on false info) or who doesn't think Bernie Sanders can seal the deal, you probably won't help with "But you're wrong."

          2 replies 8 retweets 150 likes
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        19. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          You're more likely to help with, "I hear your concerns, and I really think Bernie would hear them, too. Sending him to the White House would be the start of a conversation. Whatever health care we can get, he's the candidate who will fight for it. I hope you'll keep him in mind."

          1 reply 21 retweets 195 likes
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        20. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Do you know why I do these long threads and don't really engage with the replies directly? Like I said, I'm an inveterate arguer. Usually if you see me threading like this, it means the urge to jump into the comments somewhere and mix it up on a topic is getting overwhelming.

          1 reply 3 retweets 180 likes
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        21. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Usually means I've seen enough different people repeating the same idea or behavior I'd disagree with that I think it's a pattern worth addressing. So what to do? Argue individually with each and every one of them? That's beyond pointless.

          1 reply 0 retweets 142 likes
          Show this thread
        22. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          The chance that you'll change a stranger's mind on Twitter dot com by replying to their reply to another reply with a reply with "But that's where you're wrong, see, and you're being completely unfair, and here is some logic, debate it if you can." isn't 0 but it rounds to it.

          1 reply 9 retweets 176 likes
          Show this thread
        23. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          And the deeper into threading you get in an argument with someone, the harder it is to follow, the less people will look at it for anything other than popcorn value, and the less compelling the dazzling displays of logic get.

          1 reply 1 retweet 109 likes
          Show this thread
        24. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Also everything takes ten times as long because you have to wait for the other person to respond. And if their response misinterprets or twists or doesn't address what you said then you've got to spend more time and words getting your point back on track.

          1 reply 0 retweets 108 likes
          Show this thread
        25. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          Whereas if you make a thread, addressed to no one, making your points to the general case... you have no opponent who is defensive, and you have less reason to be defensive yourself. Your point is not buried deep in a sub-thread, and additional tweets increase the visibility.

          1 reply 2 retweets 123 likes
          Show this thread
        26. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          I'm not calling anyone in particular out and saying, "No, stop, you're doing it wrong." So someone might come across this thread and get drawn in because I've written it in a way they might find interesting and they might think, "Well, that's a perspective I never considered."

          1 reply 0 retweets 100 likes
          Show this thread
        27. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          So the chance that this thread will convince someone to reconsider their approach is greater than zero, and the thread is also being read by more people who might be that someone, so the total number of "conversions" is going to be much higher than if I stopped to argue.

          2 replies 0 retweets 97 likes
          Show this thread
        28. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          To put it very simply: on Twitter, you will change more hearts and minds by dragging a soapbox to the public square and speaking your truth than you will be getting in the comments and arguing with other people's truths. (Even when their truths are false.)

          2 replies 40 retweets 178 likes
          Show this thread
        29. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          There's this fabulous concept I hear about, a marketplace of ideas. It's like everyone has a stall where they can sell their ideas, and we're all going to each other's stalls and fighting to the death until only one idea remains... wait, that's not how marketplaces work, is it?

          3 replies 7 retweets 122 likes
          Show this thread
        30. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          In a real marketplace of ideas, we all have our little stands and we can all hawk our wares, and the person whose ideas are most useful and attainable and whose pitch is most appealing will get the most people to buy their ideas. (Other ideas will continue to exist.)

          2 replies 6 retweets 106 likes
          Show this thread
        31. Alexandra Erin‏ @AlexandraErin 6 Mar 2020

          If you want to counter the impression that Bernie appeals only to bored white college students or whatever you're seeing, it might feel satisfying to just get in there and mix it up with people you think are spreading it. (Or it might be deeply unsatisfying yet you can't stop.)

          1 reply 0 retweets 71 likes
          Show this thread
        32. Show replies

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