this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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Words have social meaning but that meaning is easy to twist and corrupt if the words are new and if the meaning is unclear, both of which are true for most liberal slogans tbh, especially ACAB. You can't rely on conservative goodwill to interpret your slogan favorably when 1. you don't agree among yourselves what "favorably" is and 2. conservatives don't have goodwill.
It doesn't have to be a majority, just a significant enough portion that people hearing the phrase will have heard multiple people using it in two different and semi-opposite ways.
Fuck off, and don't put me in a box. If you want to know my opinions you can ask me and I will answer truthfully. If I wanted to troll people and hide my real opinions I'd do something more interesting than arguing normally.
Right, so conservatives don’t have goodwill which means they’ll twist anything regardless, self defeating argument
See point 1.
Wasn’t putting you in any box, just pointing out that generalization is bad, and that you were participating in that behavior. People will think what they want and not being informed enough of what the social implications of words mean is exactly why both sides are at odds. Get it or don’t get it.
Well I appreciate the reasonable response. I do think it's important to reduce the ability of conservatives to twist liberal actions but you are right that a good portion will find a way to do it anyways :/
If you’re interested, and I think you may be, look into the solution to tolerance of the intolerant, cleared a lot of misgivings I had about the concept
The social contract one? Yeah it'a a very elegant way to avoid the issues for sure
Right. But that just means you shouldn't give a shit about making the name look nice for conservatives. They're going to oppose it anyway, so might as well be inflammatory and get the most attention.
It also helps liberals (or moderates, however few remain) who haven't encountered the phrase before get on board more easily so that you don't spend time fighting your own allies.
Maybe, but being inflammatory gets you in the news so that moderates hear about it in the first place, which is where you get the chance to explain the true meaning.