I think you’re focusing on what she could have done differently, and I’m focusing on what I believe will inevitably happen to some people, even if individuals can choose differently. So I’m not saying that “she needed to be on Twitter and engage”. I’m not disagreeing that you can attribute blame to her for engaging in that way, besides blame for her initial opinions.
I’m saying that, from a practical perspective, you can think all of that, but still acknowledge that many people just are not good at disengaging from criticism, and that services like Twitter will inevitably attract people because they’re designed to attract people. So it would be a good idea to try and move away from ways of acting which tend to cause that.
Basically I think we can break down JK’s personality into three initial relevant features:
somewhat bigoted
the kind of person to want to use twitter
stubborn in the face of criticism
Of these, I think only the first is a true flaw and worthy of blame. The second would carry some blame nowadays but back then it wasn’t owned by a Nazi. The second and third both describe a huge portion of humanity. I use Mastodon and other social media, so I don’t feel like I can judge someone negatively for being the same, and I too can be stubborn in the face of criticism, as can many people I know, so same. But bigotry is clearly wrong.
All this means I really only feel like it’s valid to judge JK as if she were the somewhat bigoted person she originally was, rather than today’s turbo-Nazi version of her.
I don’t disagree with a lot of what you wrote, other than the end:
All this means I really only feel like it’s valid to judge JK as if she were the somewhat bigoted person she originally was, rather than today’s turbo-Nazi version of her.
I disagree, we can judge her on the choices she made that brought her to this point. She chose to engage with negative criticism with hostility and surrounded herself with people who validated the beliefs and behaviors that culminated in where we are today.
She could have chosen to remove herself from those situations instead of jumping in with both feet, but there would have been a social/ego cost to it, so she continued letting herself be radicalized into the hateful thing she has become.
And I judge her as someone having almost walked a similar path. I was on the alt-right pipeline over a decade ago when they were getting their feet underneath themselves, and I had a combination of self-awareness/shame that helped me come to my senses.
I think you’re focusing on what she could have done differently, and I’m focusing on what I believe will inevitably happen to some people, even if individuals can choose differently. So I’m not saying that “she needed to be on Twitter and engage”. I’m not disagreeing that you can attribute blame to her for engaging in that way, besides blame for her initial opinions.
I’m saying that, from a practical perspective, you can think all of that, but still acknowledge that many people just are not good at disengaging from criticism, and that services like Twitter will inevitably attract people because they’re designed to attract people. So it would be a good idea to try and move away from ways of acting which tend to cause that.
Basically I think we can break down JK’s personality into three initial relevant features:
Of these, I think only the first is a true flaw and worthy of blame. The second would carry some blame nowadays but back then it wasn’t owned by a Nazi. The second and third both describe a huge portion of humanity. I use Mastodon and other social media, so I don’t feel like I can judge someone negatively for being the same, and I too can be stubborn in the face of criticism, as can many people I know, so same. But bigotry is clearly wrong.
All this means I really only feel like it’s valid to judge JK as if she were the somewhat bigoted person she originally was, rather than today’s turbo-Nazi version of her.
I don’t disagree with a lot of what you wrote, other than the end:
I disagree, we can judge her on the choices she made that brought her to this point. She chose to engage with negative criticism with hostility and surrounded herself with people who validated the beliefs and behaviors that culminated in where we are today.
She could have chosen to remove herself from those situations instead of jumping in with both feet, but there would have been a social/ego cost to it, so she continued letting herself be radicalized into the hateful thing she has become.
And I judge her as someone having almost walked a similar path. I was on the alt-right pipeline over a decade ago when they were getting their feet underneath themselves, and I had a combination of self-awareness/shame that helped me come to my senses.