Oddbean new post about login | logout And it doesn’t matter if you want to sow division or not, when you say “as a straight, white male” to preface your position, you sow it regardless. Because you literally establish the mental framing that this is a critical part of your argument, and the next time the reader listens to someone else, they immediately think “I wonder if this is a straight white male?” Because you taught them to. How you think about the problem precedes the solution. EVERY time
I appreciate this nuance. In fact, I can agree that it’s probably not helpful to lead with that, the way I did. (I do think it was unnecessary for my original discussion partner to get so triggered by it that he left,, and I appreciate your ongoing engagement and thoughtful approach to joint truth-seeking even more than I might normally, by contrast). You may be right, in that it would have been a far more powerful answer to the original question of “how did trump take away freedoms” to simply recount his many policies and orders that explicitly or implicitly limited the rights of specific groups of people, and authorized forms of repression against individuals who historically and statistically/invariably already face a dramatically higher share of “poor treatment” by those in our society who hold power than others. Not sure if I recommended The Color of Law in a previous reply, or if I just thought of it. But it felt very bitcoiner-y to read and I would recommend. It’s decidedly not a woke culture piece… I would zap the fuck out of a Guy Swann audiobook, just sayin…
There’s another piece to this that I’m thinking about. If the only point in question is whether leading with the point about differences is beneficial or not, the discussion is pretty straightforward. Where it gets tricky and toxic, though, is the part where many people continue to willingly ignore or deny the existence of “privilege” (defined as the fact that people in the racial/religious majority experience a significant type of ease or freedom in society that’s frequently defined to minority groups for no reason other than their physical traits). The term “ignorant” (another word that’s been corrupted by woke institutional incentives) actually comes from “ignore”. It doesn’t mean “stupid” or “uninformed”, but rather, “intentionally disregarding the truth” (generally because the truth is painful or uncomfortable). So yes, beginning the discussion with “my life is easier because I’m white” may be counterproductive (and I’m not so sure that it is, but I get your point), the flip-side is a common cultural knee-jerk reaction to deny or debate the existence of racial privilege (or institutional racism, systemic injustice/imbalance, etc., call it what you will) and get lost in the weeds there, instead of acknowledging the significant and real impacts of existing cultural dynamics, and then being free to proceed with honesty, compassion, and a goal of increasing every individual’s freedom to maximize their own potential in the world, the market, and within themselves.