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What the author excuses is clear. Their intent is something all together different. For instance: I say to a group of people, "I am really not trying to singl
by kokanator 5y ago
What the author excuses is clear. Their intent is something all together different.
For instance:
I say to a group of people, "I am really not trying to single anyone out here but half of the people in this room do x,y and z. Therefore we need to reprogram how people like that think."
Although I stated my "intent" I was actually excusing my actions ahead of time.
- epgui 5y agoIt's not clear to me whether the text could reasonably be perceived as causing harm to anyone, even if it does criticize a specific group of people... So, what is there to excuse? Is there some expectation that whenever criticism or advice is written down, that there must be something in there that applies to everyone and every group?
- kokanator 5y agoThen call it criticism. Don't excuse it away.
- epgui 5y agoThey're not using the word "criticism", but they're being very clear about it: > Throughout the paper, we focus on the problems among conservatives, because these are the problems that are most urgent to American democracy. Our prescriptions are not intended to weaken the Republican Party, but instead to redirect its energies so that its extremists don’t undermine a basic shared understanding of democracy. That first sentence defines what the authors think is the biggest problem. The second sentence narrows and refines the scope of the problem, it doesn't apologize for the text.