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opponents of change have learned that, much like greenwashing or the myth of individual responsibility, they can strategically deploy purity language and the ac
by causi 5y ago
opponents of change have learned that, much like greenwashing or the myth of individual responsibility, they can strategically deploy purity language and the accusation of selling out to undermine resistance groups and leaders.
This seems like a cop-out. It's not the battle-flag wavers and the red hats who attack people for not being pure enough, it's us. We're our own worst problem and we sound as crazy as the false-flag-shooting claiming nutcases when we're continuously in denial about the way we treat each other when we see the slightest hint of moral failing, past or present.
- HKH2 5y agoForgiveness means letting go of leverage. Retaining leverage by foregoing forgiveness trains people not to apologize, and the most unapologetic rise to the top.
- Applejinx 5y agoNo, I do think it's weaponized. Not exclusively… but for the very reason that you mention, that this is a behavior easy to elicit, I think smart malefactors do exactly this 'strategic deployment of purity language', especially on very low inertia platforms like Twitter, using armies of bots for amplification, to crank up this reaction way beyond its natural presence. It would be a cop-out to say it is ONLY the bad actors imposing this on an otherwise content populace. You're right that 'it's us' who provide the amplified response, especially when we're terminally online and plugged-in. But it's not at all hard to observe this and weaponize it. This is well established by this point. I feel it's almost the new battleground for WWIII: attempts to really-truly demolish and cripple an enemy power by intelligently exploiting this in ALL possible directions. Not towards a unified response, but toward 'the Zone' and chaos and mistrust of everything.