More bitching about (American?) lefties: Some people work really hard to eliminate binaries when talking about gender and attraction, but bake it into many other things. Every post that says things about "Americans", "Republicans", "White people", "Men", "Children", etc. assumes a binary: If you're in this group (by the definition of the writer), then you share all of the characteristics the writer attributes to the group. I get the desire for a punchy, uncomplicated hot take (and I have been guilty of this), but it's not valid or true. Americans aren't remotely one thing, ever; we're a bunch of cats, dogs, lizards, hamsters, doorknobs, and squids shoved in the same bag. White people, men, women, children, autistic people, etc.: Similar situation: There is a lot of diversity. In many domains there is more diversity of whatever-you're-talking-about within the group than between that and other contrasting groups. Even Republicans (as much as I hate to admit it) are not the same; they're a bit of a different situation because conformity (i.e., "unity") via authoritarianism is valued so strongly in conservative groups that diversity of thoughts, attitudes, etc. is suppressed and then not displayed, but there are still differences (OK, I regularly say "Republicans" as a global stereotype on FB, trying to punch through the noise of blandness... I'm guilty of this).
Comments like "The constitution was [description]" or "America is basically..." etc. do the same thing: they attribute one set of characteristics to something that is inherently not one thing. No matter what your hot take is about the Constitution or immigration law or the US justice system, you're wrong unless you fold in the fact that these are multidimensional mishmashes of the intentions and actions of many different people and groups.
Most of us have generous character limits here on the
#fediverse, and I think many of us pride ourselves on at least trying to do critical thinking and careful analysis of complex things. There is no exception for things "everyone agrees" are "merely [whatever]".
#subtoot #uspol #politics #binary #criticalthinking
