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Doctorow (imo) prioritizes breadth of reach over control over how and where his message gets delivered. It's an interesting strategy in part because it means a
by danShumway 3y ago
Doctorow (imo) prioritizes breadth of reach over control over how and where his message gets delivered.
It's an interesting strategy in part because it means a lot of the people encountering him are probably not aware of him in other online spaces, they'll only see him when republished in sources they already read, and they might not ever work their way back to his blog.
On one hand I'd be very worried about dilution of the message, misinterpretation, etc... On the other hand, it's enabled Doctorow to get some of his concepts into much wider cultural circles than he otherwise would have access to, so it's hard for me to criticize it too much.
And I think that Doctorow also has a talent for figuring out how to frame his ideas in a way where the conclusions stay the same, but it feels like he's reaching those conclusions by arguing specifically from your individual starting position and ideological base. His essays tend to (again, imo) feel tailored in a way where regardless of the context or regardless of where the essay is published, it'll have this vibe of "I'm on your community's side and I'm saying stuff that you all are going to nod along to and agree with... and therefore X/Y/Z."
Pros and cons to that approach, but it makes him accessible in a way that many other political writers aren't. So it's not too surprising to me to see his writing show up in Conservative circles as well as Liberal ones, I think it just kind of shows his talent for subtly reframing political discussions depending on the context.
- samtho 3y agoSomething that seems absent these days in American political discourse is the assumption that the other party, in general, has a similar north start to your own, i.e. both conservative and liberal ideals (in the recent past) seemed well-intentioned enough to claim that they each just want what’s best for the country. Now it seems like we have four factions and the centrist left and centrist right just seem to be merging while the far left and far right are moving further away from everyone.
- catlover76 3y agoFeels to me like centrist left and right are getting pulled apart from one another to their respective ideological fringes. This has pretty much just totally happened to the Republicans; Democrats have done a better job of staying centered and responsible, but I don't think that will last forever, unfortunately. > Something that seems absent these days in American political discourse is the assumption that the other party, in general, has a similar north start to your own Well, they don't have similar "north stars" or visions of the country or normative values. But this isn't discussed or debated directly by anyone; politician, talking head, or otherwise.
- Animats 3y agoDoctorow is arguing, as usual, for stronger antitrust enforcement. "As antitrust enforcement was progressively neutered—tentatively by Carter, aggressively by Reagan, and with varying degrees of enthusiasm by each successor administration, Republican and Democrat—tech companies were able to simply buy their competitors." That's unusual for a conservative publication. At least in modern times.
- danShumway 3y agoI don't think the broad base of the Republican party has had strong feelings against antitrust for at least 6 or 7 years, if not longer. I grew up as a small-government don't-interfere-with-anything Conservative, so I understand the philosophy you're talking about and understand the instinct to say that Conservatives wouldn't want antitrust, but I don't think that the vaguely Libertarian wing of the Republican party is representative of what most Republicans believe nowadays. If Doctorow is picking up on that then I think his instincts are correct; I think a lot of modern Republican voters and Republican publications are much more receptive to government involvement in the market and are much less persuaded by "pro-business" arguments. Consider that the presumptive Republican nominee for president has come out in support of recent union strikes. The base is no longer Reagan's base.