Midge Decter was a major figure whose historical importance has been obscured for many reasons (including, ironically, a sexism she herself supported). One big achievement was she invented the whole rhetorical strategy of "making up a guy to get mad at."
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In her book 'Liberal Parents, Radical Children" (1975) Decter used a method she called "fictionalized sociology" -- creating ideal types of bad people. In other words, "making up a guy to get mad at."pic.twitter.com/RQ2Exx9olZ
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Me (stupid guy): Wait, you're just making up didactic & manipulative stories to describe people you hate. But these stories have neither the empathy of fiction nor the empirical grounding of journalism and scholarship. You (smart guy): Yes, I call it fictionalized sociology
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This whole "fictionalized sociology" is a big thing on the right. You see it in David Brooks' work ("Bobos in Paradise") and Charles Murray's ("Coming Apart"). But Decter was a pioneer. She helped create "making up a guy to get mad at."
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Replying to @HeerJeet
I hope it’s not sexist to think that Plato may have made up guys to get mad at (and then destroy in debate) a few years before Midge.
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Replying to @protanope
Obviously it has long roots but I think Decter really pioneered the modern political version of this.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
Sorry, should have put j/k on that response; I appreciate what you’re saying about Decter, and how she brought it to a new form. And how it influenced conservative acolytes. Very interesting.
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No, it's a good question. Obviously character types are a staple of literature. It's interesting to think of what Decter's innovation was.
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Replying to @delong @protanope
Yeah, Decter was a hyper partisan, simplified and polemical Weber.
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