Friday, May 21, 2021
The seven-sentence rule
The Persuasion substack is run by leftists who claim to be trying for a calmer public discourse. Some of the articles are consistent and objective, without any poke-throughs of the underlying purpose.
When I started reading this one, I had a feeling it would revert to the norm, perhaps because it was written by currently employed academics.
Sure enough, the poke-through came quickly.
Taking stock of our public sphere today is a sobering exercise. Righteous indignation abounds. Everyone shouts; no one listens. The sides share one trait: the conviction that they are absolutely right and their enemies are stupid, misguided, or evil. Perhaps worst of all, their certainty makes facts irrelevant: No evidence could possibly persuade them that they are mistaken. We understand why so many are so upset. A year in lockdown doesn’t exactly bring out one’s humanity. Having witnessed a decades-long rise in wealth inequality, dramatic changes in climate,Bingo! Okay, let's count sentences. How many periods before CLIMATE? Seven. The authors prove their own point. When we're accustomed to treating a belief as a flat assertion, and everyone around us treats the same belief as a flat assertion not requiring any explanation, it becomes an absolute fact. Fortunately the rest of the article returns to objectivity, and concludes with a truly persuasive point that should be obvious by now to self-righteous witch hunters of the 1500s or the 2000s:
With influence comes responsibility. Those who acquiesce to violence and intimidation because it is invoked in the name of justice in fact invite it. Actions inconceivable one year become fringe the next, and soon they’re mainstream. Once the intelligentsia condones such excesses, the slide begins. The cancellers are soon canceled. There is no limit to how far that process can go.The flame starts with the noble mission of burning poor and powerless peasants, but sooner or later the flame flashes back on the nobles. Later: One of the commenters on the article also caught the CLIMATE dissonance. ¶ 4:54 AM
