Defining political beliefs in opposition to others (I don't like you, so I'll support whatever you think is bad) instead of from within (I support this because I think it's good). It's not that this doesn't happen. It does. Quite a bit. It's that it's pathetic.https://twitter.com/bariweiss/status/995018297207918592 …
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When one says many Americans are defining their sense of self in opposition, rather than from within—i.e. following Slave Morality—a common response is snarky incredulousness: “I wasn’t a Nazi, but you called me a Nazi, so now I have no choice but to act like a Nazi.”
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That’s true at the extremes—no one traveled to Charlottesville with their swastikas just because someone on Twitter called them racist—but not at the margins. In counterterrorism, we worry about fence-sitters, and potential informants who get offended and don’t take the risk.
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Politics in 2018 is plagued by Slave Morality. Even worse, many define themselves in opposition to the most obnoxious internet voices, rather than actual policies. Pointing this out doesn’t excuse them. It’s noting a big societal problem no one seems to know how to fix. (END)
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