“You only attack liberals, what about the other side?!?!”
I haven’t heard this (strawman quote?) myself, but my answer is I rarely think people further "right" than liberals are worth discussing politics with. Outside of special circumstances, I skip arguing with anti-liberal “conservatives” and neo-nazis and go straight to denying speech (both peacefully, and where appropriate, forcefully). They generally have no interest in good faith or truthfulness, those concepts are silly, idealist and weak self-restrictions to them.
“Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience,” - Mark Twain.
Liberals, on the other hand, sometimes value other people, the search for truth and a better society as much as us. So it makes sense to discuss our disagreements so long as each side reciprocates that respect. We can actually learn from each other.
Relevant quote from Jean-Paul Sartre on antisemites (1946):
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
And a point of notice: it’s worth acknowledging that some people share worker-class values but have adopted the language or even talking points of mass-media bigotry. I’ve even seen this in some unions, for example. I don’t automatically consider them a lost cause like I do with nazi scum, even if their ignorance or careless word choice suggests they’re “the other side” - the sides are drawn by the class war, not a culture war.
I see people calling “tankies” right wingers for this reason all the time on linked to me threads on shit like “meanwhileongrad” threads. The thought is since leftists attack democrats and liberals but never trump and conservatives, we are in support of trump and conservatives and are the actual right wingers. It is part of the horseshoe nonsense. The real reason I don’t waste my time making fun of republicans and reposting anti-trump memes is that everyone in my target audience is already against them and its just a circlejerk at this point. Trump and conservatives don’t deserve to be given validity at all but the liberals are caught up on the if you’re not actively against something you support it.
I haven’t heard this (strawman quote?) myself, but my answer is I rarely think people further "right" than liberals are worth discussing politics with. Outside of special circumstances, I skip arguing with anti-liberal “conservatives” and neo-nazis and go straight to denying speech (both peacefully, and where appropriate, forcefully). They generally have no interest in good faith or truthfulness, those concepts are silly, idealist and weak self-restrictions to them.
Liberals, on the other hand, sometimes value other people, the search for truth and a better society as much as us. So it makes sense to discuss our disagreements so long as each side reciprocates that respect. We can actually learn from each other.
Relevant quote from Jean-Paul Sartre on antisemites (1946):
And a point of notice: it’s worth acknowledging that some people share worker-class values but have adopted the language or even talking points of mass-media bigotry. I’ve even seen this in some unions, for example. I don’t automatically consider them a lost cause like I do with nazi scum, even if their ignorance or careless word choice suggests they’re “the other side” - the sides are drawn by the class war, not a culture war.
I see people calling “tankies” right wingers for this reason all the time on linked to me threads on shit like “meanwhileongrad” threads. The thought is since leftists attack democrats and liberals but never trump and conservatives, we are in support of trump and conservatives and are the actual right wingers. It is part of the horseshoe nonsense. The real reason I don’t waste my time making fun of republicans and reposting anti-trump memes is that everyone in my target audience is already against them and its just a circlejerk at this point. Trump and conservatives don’t deserve to be given validity at all but the liberals are caught up on the if you’re not actively against something you support it.