And I would argue that if these ideas are gaining any kind of foothold broadly, the rest of the citizenry is abjectly failing to meet their social obligations. Society doesn’t get to just coast; we all have to be out there every day expressing and pushing for what society should be. Make the public square so full of good ideas that the fringe ass holes are drowned out.
And the harassment that you describe is possible because too many of us don’t engage and make clear by our actions and speech what isn’t socially acceptable.
It is an uncomfortable idea that the rise in authoritarianism around the world is somehow our fault. No snowflake and avalanches and all that. But if we are sleepwalking into a world where garbage in the public square isn’t fought against by overwhelming numbers of people, we kind of get what we deserve as a whole and everyone suffers, especially those that are disadvantaged. We are responsible.
And no, it is not good enough to simply hand over the responsibility to “fix” this to the state-sanctioned-violence branch and your local paramilitary police force. The hearts of men can’t be legislated away; they must be won. With hard work and public display. And if we try to coast and just “keep it out of the public” these ideologies will definitely fester in private.
And I would argue that if these ideas are gaining any kind of foothold broadly, the rest of the citizenry is abjectly failing to meet their social obligations. Society doesn’t get to just coast; we all have to be out there every day expressing and pushing for what society should be. Make the public square so full of good ideas that the fringe ass holes are drowned out.
And the harassment that you describe is possible because too many of us don’t engage and make clear by our actions and speech what isn’t socially acceptable.
It is an uncomfortable idea that the rise in authoritarianism around the world is somehow our fault. No snowflake and avalanches and all that. But if we are sleepwalking into a world where garbage in the public square isn’t fought against by overwhelming numbers of people, we kind of get what we deserve as a whole and everyone suffers, especially those that are disadvantaged. We are responsible.
And no, it is not good enough to simply hand over the responsibility to “fix” this to the state-sanctioned-violence branch and your local paramilitary police force. The hearts of men can’t be legislated away; they must be won. With hard work and public display. And if we try to coast and just “keep it out of the public” these ideologies will definitely fester in private.