"The current social justice movement was encouraged by elites to distract from the issue of economic inequality."
-
-
Replying to @Evolving_Ego
yes, but with the caveat that it's not a deep-state smoke filled room planned psyop. it's an emergent phenomenon caused by cultural shifts and structural incentives in the university and media institutions.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto @Evolving_Ego
in other words they distracted themselves from issue of economic inequality in general when they narrowly focused on the particular inequalities disproportionately affecting certain demographics.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto
Most policies that reduce individual inequality help also to reduce group inequality (at least partly). A focus on group inequality has no policy traction.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @Evolving_Ego
Yes, but for reasons of ideological fashion trends the focus has shifted to be extremely tunnel-visioned on group inequality and they keep coming up with policies that have narrative/symbolic appeal but seem to be of limited effectiveness (in addition to be divisive).
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @danlistensto
I'm leaning away from an ideological explanation these days. It seems that fundamentally there's a growing distrust that our liberal individualistic civil and criminal justice systems are delivering justice for everyone. So people revert to an innate logic of collective justice.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @Evolving_Ego @danlistensto
Whether that distrust is well-grounded or not is up for debate. But that's the hook. If you want to trigger tribalism, cause people to lose trust in the state's willingness or ability to deliver justice for individuals in your tribe.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @Evolving_Ego
objectively, the state has NEVER done a good job at delivering justice for anyone, let alone minorities. increased awareness of this would normally lead to reforms but the institutions of government are profoundly fucked so nothing is happening.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @danlistensto @Evolving_Ego
I don't think we should lean away from an ideological explanation though because the role of ideology in mass movements is so important. Ideology is particularly important in predicting the behavior of elites who lead/instigate mass movements.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @danlistensto
I tend to think the ideology is there to justify/rationalize the movement. I don't think it drives it. But you're right. It does play an important role.
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
I look at it from two different points of view. I think the majority of people use it for post hoc rationalization. I think elites are unusually prone to ideological possession though and it actually motivates and predicts their behavior.
-
-
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.