Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

I think you're on level 1 of this analysis. I'm not saying I'm on some kind of next level. But I am saying that I understand that they want to get rid of any immediate, meaningful discussion of their own racism.

But the next question is: Why does (i) the offender choose an outright denial over an admission and taking a course on racial insensitivity (contrast with a public figure getting caught cheating or abusing drugs and their immediate admission and enrollment in sex addiction or drug treatment) and (ii) when caught red-handed, why does a complete denial work to get rid of the issue? What else does this work with?

Is it because most white people have gone through this and are empathetic enough to say, "Yeah, I've said racist shit and I'm not racist, so this will blow over." Is it something else? Given the fact that I've seen non-public people just outright deny any racism after doing racist shit, is it deeper than that?

TM

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

A public figure is using a mass strategy. The denial often works because if you can flood the space, you can confuse for a bit (variant of Goebbels’ Big Lie) and in aggregate the audience has a very short attention span.

Why does a politician do anything? Ask his or her PR people.

Private figures? Who knows. It’s subjective, situational. Like anything else, cornered people will often tailor whatever explanation they can to quickly escape the charge, or change the subject.

You can’t rely on anything a person seeking to avoid opprobrium is saying in the moment. This person’s primary goal is to make you forget what was said. They’re trying to rewrite the past inauthentically. Any explanation other than apology is bullshit.

And to Hank’s point, if you drop a vile slur, you know that no one will believe you’re not a racist. So then you just tell a Big Lie. Or claim alcoholism.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

Thought I was responding to something you said, so sorry not to be helpful.

The public-figure response works both because it mirrors what a lot of people would say in a private conversation and because it ends the public story. Any other response -- denial, silence, extensive shared introspection -- invites follow-up. The "I'm not a racist" response enables the public figure to move on to other topics instead of digging deeper.

Is it denial? Yes. Is it put good-bad binary? Pretty much -- racists are bad, and most people see themselves as good, or want to, so therefor they can't be racists. Are they let off the hook by other whites? Usually. But it depends on whose opinion they care about.

If you are interested in it, it's not my place at all to tell you to stop. If you want to get at the psychology involved, IMO it's not helpful to parse what are basically press releases. But if you're interested in why the press releases use those particular talking points, then, hey, that's the place to look.

I agree. I think it's possible that some of those people were not so irretrievably racist but that their identification with their cohort has made them less interested in what other people outside their cohort think or care about. As I've said before, conservative is fundamentally about triggering libs, and racism triggers libs, so conservatives more and more see an attraction to racism.

There is so much argument in bad faith coming from conservatives that it's very hard to figure out how to really tell what they care about. Maybe that is the fundamental problem (with trying to understand them better).

eta: I was just looking at the Facebook page of a former partner at my former firm, a very smart woman who is temperamentally conservative and no longer as interested in masking it. Her posts on current events (which is most of them) are, again and again, reacting resentfully to the dominant narrative -- Jussie Smollett, global warming and climate change, etc. It's not stream of consciousness, it's stream of resentment. How does someone who has a shit-ton of money and had a great career get so resentful? I recognize that I've moved off race, but thing is, if you had a conversation with her about this stuff and asked about her views, she wouldn't get at the resentment and grievance that ties it all together. So if you are interested in how someone like her thinks, what do you do to drill down?

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

That's an interesting comparison. The advantage for the shamee of enrolling in sex-addiction or drug treatment is that they can pretend they didn't have agency. Sure they made bad choices, but that was the disease talking.

People don't accept that racism is a disease and everyone is a carrier.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

Blaming substance abuse and accepting it as the cause are two components of a facile pretext constructed to allow people to return from social exile.

If you don’t allow that fiction, there is no speedy reconciliation.

In the old days, one could use the defense they’d been raised in a regressive society (Robert Byrd). Can’t do that anymore, so now it’s removal of agency.

I think your racism as a disease approach will be used in the near future, in as often a counterproductive as productive manner. That paradigm could let a lot of people off the hook.

As a person who enjoys getting out of his head, I don’t buy it. In 30 plus years of indulgence, no substance has caused me to use slurs. I’ve seen it. But I think it only occurs among those who already have such thoughts on the tip of their tongue.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

Look, I'm trying to have a conversation. I am purposefully asking open-ended questions. You seem to be responding to them as if you know the answers or you think I'm asking for your wisdom. This is a discussion. If you want to discuss this stuff, I'm here for it. But your dismissal of the topic because there is nothing of interest to you in a press release is fucking annoying.

Why is it that you can instantly look into this excuse and come to a conclusion about why it's used (removal of agency), while any discussion of an outright denial when it comes to racism is a pointless waste of time because it's just an empty press release?

Clearly there are reasons why one approach is taken over the other. If the goal is simply to get beyond it, why wouldn't a straight denial of drug use have the same effect?

I think when it comes to a public figure being caught in a racist moment it depends on who that person is addressing--his or her intended audience. If it's mostly white people, it's a straight denial. If it's not, I often see the person say they were misquoted, or misspoke, or were taken out of context. When the public figure wants the support of PoC, I've also seen them appear with a member of the black community to prove that they've sought some kind of absolution. There is significance (which I am focused on) in these differences. And I think it's sad that they can simply deny it to move past it easily when it comes to white audiences (even if it's just their perception that that's all they need to do). If I were a white person I'd be offended if some asshole thought that shit would fly. Or maybe I wouldn't since I think white people are conditioned to accept these types of bullshit responses when it comes to explaining away racism.

_____________
That's an excellent question. I've found that the common theme for people who hold this type of resentment is that they think they are being blamed for all of our country's ills. That's where the resentment springs from.

TM

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

You asked questions, like, is it denial? Yes. I think it's denial. Massive, systemic denial. Is that an over-generalization? Sure. But so is your characterization of how white people act. We both know it's not all white people. Adder, for example, will confess to acting out of latent racism even when he hasn't said anything, nttawwt. But we're having a conversation with high-level generalizations, so I thought that was appropriate. I wasn't being dismissive. I tend to agree with almost all of what you've said, so the room left to discuss between us is more about emphasis on the margins.

Because I've been involved in drafting too many press releases to believe that they are an honest reflection of anyone's real state of mind.

People put out press releases copping to drug abuse or saying racist things when they've been caught and they don't want to try to keep denying that it happened. My two cents. YMMV.

If it's a political figure and it's a conservative, they really don't have to worry about anything because most conservatives don't give a shit. So that is a very real difference between left and right on these issues. It takes years of Steve King-like behavior for a Steve King to lose his committee assignments, and IMO that's more a punishment for causing trouble than a principled reaction to the substance of what he has been saying all these years.

I don't get that, because I don't see that blaming.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

Uncle. Anyone who reaches for "But so is your characterization of how white people act" doesn't really want to have a conversation. I'm not going to put in the qualifiers when it's so blatantly obvious that they exist. Whatever.

Right. Because I haven't gone further by asking why the different approaches when it comes to choosing which response works for which audience and why. Whatever.

Enough. Your ability to boil something down from what I'm addressing to what you would rather talk about is impressive. And yet, I'm not interested. So, whatever.

Me either, and yet all these Trump supporters felt like they were being attacked and/or neglected before they were Trump supporters.

TM

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

So in other news, I'm not sure a congressperson saying she shouldn't be asked to pledge allegiance to a foreign country is the same as asserting that Jewish people in general have such an allegiance. And while I'm trying to listen to people who feel it is another example of hewing to close to a bigoted trope, I do not think any other elected official would attract significant attention for that particular comment.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

It took a minute to think this one through. It once was more common that people "caught" would take some "training." Not so much a course, but you had to meet with Al Sharpton or someone. Don Imus met with Al and the Rutgers team and learned? It was likely not educational but the box was checked. I don't know that it does work. Do you think it does usually? If you are an entertainer you may be toast (other than Mel Gibson). Same with a lot of politicians (I suppose we'll see with the Va. mess).

More recently (and with the lady here) Trump has taught us that "fuck you. that's my excuse," works, so maybe the game will change.

I am getting the Fragility book* but have yet to read it- I take it a main point is that progressives are big violators. So you might break down white people into some that don't care so much about addressing racism. And maybe this group has that thought. But all those progressives? They strike me as more likely to be less empathetic**, until it's them? Fry the racist, no gray.

And when it is them? Maybe it is devastating to hear that they aren't so squeaky perfect? "Partner X, do you realize you give black associates what amounts to clerk work and your good projects always go to white associates?"

It is easy to post here that my first thought would be introspection about if that is true. But the fact is, we are all so egotistic that my first thought might be more about the harm to my rep than the harm I've done to the black associates. "Okay, sure let's talk about fixing the problem, but first you gotta know I'm not a racist. I mean you know that right?"

I take it a lot of the stuff that bugs you is partners who can't do what needs to be done? You understand WANTING to sit in a NYC partner office requires ego that would choke a normal person?

*I do not read non-fiction, but will this time.
** how did your bar owner friend react to the old drunk guy? I suppose he has a financial interest?

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

huh?

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I believe Young Adder is trying to impress all the cute chick lurkers who are looking for a boyishly-handsome yet woke professional by (1) asserting that the accusations of anti-Semitism hurled at Rep. Ilhan Omar for saying “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it’s ok to push for allegiance to a foreign country” are stronger than they would be for, oh, Mitt Romney or someone like him because she’s a Muslim, while (2) not wanting to turn off lurker Gal Gadot by hedging with his “hey, but I’m just a WASP, so maybe it is anti-Semetic because of the ‘Jews are Globalists, Not Really Citizens of Our Country’ trope.”

Query - would Jonathan Pollard be prosecuted today? Magic 8 Ball say “Very Doubtful.”

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

Adder and I agree on little, but he's right about Omar being targeted. First, her comment was not anti-Semitic. Or at least not on its face, as the right wing media is claiming. You have to read into what she said with a jaundiced eye to assert it was clear anti-Semitism.

But that's no matter, because everything is a purity test these days. The broader your definition of what constitutes an offense against a group, the more credibility you have. Any common person can label a man saying "Jew it down" as an anti-Semite. The truly enlightened man is the one who can read between the lines of a statement like Omar's and see that it stems from anti-Semitic sentiment. Or that even if it doesn't, even if she only means no US citizen should hold allegiance to any other nation, because it could be technically viewed as criticizing a historically targeted group of people, it's nevertheless bigoted.

A famous philosopher whose name escapes me once noted that, among the faithful, the more unbelievable a thing is, the more attractive it is. To believe in the most extremely improbable thing is to demonstrate the greatest faith. This process is working itself out in various ways in all of the purity tests taking place in our politics, and all of the accusations taking place in our culture. To assert the most extreme zero tolerance position, to recognize the most granular of alleged offenses, is a badge. You are enlightened above others, the most faithful of the adherents.

The polarization at work in our society has the whiff of religion to it. The right has its purity tests, the left has its. As the people engaged on both sides dig in deeper, there emerges a competition. Who is the most committed to MAGA? Who sees the greatest number of social injustices?

I'm not paving any new roads here to suggest these things are new secular religions. Alain de Botton's done that, among numerous others, I believe. But when you wonder why a person would accuse Omar of anti-Semitism on such thin grounds, it might be worthwhile to evaluate the statement as a signalling act... a public devotion in one of our new competing secular religions.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

Dude, I agree with you about how most white people act. You complained that I was overgeneralizing. So were you, because that's the sort of conversation we were having.

Right. And I haven't answered about why white audiences react the way they do.

It's massive denial that prejudice and racism permeate how people act. You don't disagree. Trump is President because his racism is a feature to so many people, not a bug. WTF?

I never got the sense that she felt attacked, and I don't get how a successful partner at one of the largest law firms in the world can feel neglected. I think it's a cultural resentment, but the ability of people who are wildly successful to nonetheless feel a sense of resentment is baffling. In individual cases, maybe not. My father, now retired, went to an Ivy League school and had a fine career as a doctor. Nonetheless, he has always felt like an outsider, for reasons that IMO have to do with his family history and then going to an Ivy League school as a non-affluent public-school kid from the rural West at a time when that was more unusual. But he's always been a Democrat.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

What she said used an anti-Semitic trope, which is troubling, even if you agree with her about Israel policy. As I am inclined to. There is no doubt that many people are seeking to use the reaction to the anti-Semitic overtones to what she said to squelch disagreement about US-Israel policy. That fact that so many people are looking to rebuke her but have said nothing about repeated use of anti-Semitic tropes by Republicans, including Trump's campaign, is telling.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

This thread contains some history I did not know and I think is useful for trying to understand where Jewish critics are coming from.

You are rightly distinguishing the right wing media from that group of people.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

My Catholic grandmother is rolling over in her grave...

(The Methodist one probably isn't.)

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

"It's all about the Benjamins, baby!" in regard to Israel and AIPAC is not a bigoted trope. Unless one thinks reference to Israel's use of money to further its interests is automatically anti-Semitic because it alludes to The Merchant of Venice. How else does one effect lobbying goals? And should we also rethink use of "pound of flesh" as an expression?

This is where the "enlightenment" of being hyper-sensitive to all potential slights turns into bad comedy. If one is woke to every tenuous potential grievance, half of everything he is exposed to becomes an offense of some sort. That's the problem with the zealotry we're seeing on these issues. Omar has said nothing anti-Semitic so far as I can see, but to the uber-woke, she's not only a bigot, but a bigot with the temerity to double down and defend herself.

Ms. Omar, this is not up for debate. The enlightened have judged you unenlightened. You do not get a reply.

Accusing Jews generally of having dual loyalties is a trope. Accusing AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbies of having dual loyalties is not a trope. That's a fact. Those groups openly lobby our govt on behalf of Israel and openly acknowledge their dual loyalties.

Omar is wrongly "in the barrel" here. But right or wrong doesn't matter much in social or moral panics. What matters is that the most enlightened, most sensitive, most pure, are allowed to judge her, to get their pound of-- Oh, my. Sorry about that near offensive comment. Well, you get the point.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

The fact that a group has been subjected to so many horrors over so many years does not require that all comments regarding the group should be hyper-critiqued with an assumption that they are bigoted toward that group.

My initial interpretation of Omar's comment was that it was related to US aid to Israel, which is substantial. Given the context and wording, it's a stretch to assume she was referring to a stereotype regarding Jews and money. I think that's a purist's reading, one seeking to "call out" Ms. Omar.

"Call out culture" is an excellent name for it, by the way. It captures the essential irrational and emotional component of a lot of what happened to Omar, and has happened to so many others in recent years. The first reaction isn't to apply a circumspect view to Ms. Omar's comment. The First reaction is to assume the worst, so she can be judged, and thrown in the barrel for a bit. Yay! I called her a bigot on Twitter, and signaled my moral superiority and purity on these matters!

I can't abide much of organized religion because I think moral judgment is the currency of people who haven't any others. It's cheap, and any man can print as much of it for himself as he likes. By judging and calling out his judgment to others, he can elevate himself at no cost or effort. In reality, however, he's just a yawp in the peanut gallery, a faceless wine drunk screaming for blood at the Coliseum circus games.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

"Jews have all the money and use it to control things" is an anti semitic trope.

Also, I thought I read that AIPAC doesn't give directly to candidates (but can nonetheless get supporters to).

One of the things that was weird about that particular line is that AIPAC and stridently pro-Israel groups' outsized influence is as much about evangelical end times beliefs as money. It very much is not only about the benjamins.

I don't think that's even remotely an accurate summary of what's happened. She said a thing that is within the realm of anti semitic trope. The Israel lobby, some proportion of American Jewish people and the right wing outrage machine went after her, pretty much for entirely different reasons.

She listened to the middle group and then apologized and then, arguably, did it again, causing the same groups to push it for the same reason. One wants to discredit/silence criticism of Israel, one has legitimate concerns about growing, sometimes violent, antisemitism and one sees a away to score political points and demonize a back, muslim woman.

The uber-woke seem to me to be mostly on the sidelines.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I'm not sure I agree, but that's not what I was talking about.

This is what I was talking about:

But I hadn't focused on the details, and now that I have read Paul Waldman's column, from which the above is taken, I am going to change my tune and agree with you when you say that Omar is wrongly in the barrel. Waldman says it better than I could, so read him.

I think people are attacking her because they disagree with her on Israel policy, not to signal moral superiority. Waldman:

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

Again, that is not a fair summary of the point. The point is the Jewish people have been targeted for a lot of nasty stuff explicitly because they are alleged to have allegiance to a foreign power. Given that, the argument goes, let's avoid alluding to split allegiances when we're talking about policy toward Israel.

I see a distinction between "I don't owe allegiance" and "all Jews owe allegiance" but I get how concerned Jewish people think it's thin.

And to be clear, I don't have any sympathy at all of the other two groups griping on this.

Interpret all you want, but she tweeted "AIPAC," as clarification, so you're interpreting it wrong.

Re: I bet She's Colorblind
 

This may be the right answer. I tend to think that white people of all kinds deny their racism no matter the level. And I think many white people have been in a position where they were accused or looked at sideways and felt a compulsion to explain that they are in fact not racist, so when they hear another white person desperately try to explain the same thing, there's some kind of knee-jerk empathy.

Once you read the book, you'll read about how DiAngelo breaks down when someone is accused of racism (even minor shit) and all the white people around that person rally to his/her rescue. "She's a good person, she's not racist," "He didn't mean it like that," etc. Hell, there's a whole chapter on the power of white women's tears.

This is not the main point.

Yes. This is the whole point, right? When it comes to this topic, it is impossible for someone accused of racism to step back and think about it. There is no introspection. There is only defensiveness, accusations, explanations, excuses, avoidance.

That is very little of what bugs me.

That's a good question. I'm not going to have him act out of some sense of loyalty to me. The guy was a regular and my friend's superficial, business relationship with him shouldn't be put in jeopardy because I'm done with the guy.

TM

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I'm as pro-Israel as any one here and I have never heard the "allegiance elsewhere" as a thing. I give a pass on something she might not have realized. I do think there are some real haters in the new crop of congress, just not this one statement.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I mean, I'm not well placed to be especially sensitive to anti-jewish stuff, but the first thing that "dual allegiance" conjures to my are mind anti-Catholic tropes used against Kennedy, referring to the Vatican.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I’ve heard it before. It’s an argument that Jews’ first loyalty isn’t to the US.

These bigots clearly don’t know any US Jews.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

Omar was simply citing a fact. If a powerful lobbying group has allegiances to a foreign country, it has split loyalties.

She did not say Jews have split loyalties. That was a characterization of what she said. An unfair one looking for a justification to call her a bigot.

And let’s be clear, it’s all but inescapable that people are assuming her motives and bias because she’s a Muslim. Why give her a benefit of the doubt when we can play identity politics with her!

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

That article is perfect.

But on your last line, I think there is also a more broad psychological malfunction in society at work. We’re in a moral/social panic. There is an obsession with victims, grievance, and retribution at the moment. Much of it is warranted, but much of it is not. Much of it is people seeking to exert power through moral and social judgment. Omar is a victim of her own party’s strategy, true. But also of right wingers seeking to repay left wing tactics of the past few years, where social and mainstream media mobs would kneejerk to “Racist!” or “Sexist!” or “Bigot!” when given the thinnest of justification to do so.

It goes back to the 90s, to Newt using any mean necessary to destroy the Clintons. But now it’s left the political arena and the general public has a taste for it. It’s an impulse to elevate one’s self and destroy others not unlike the rage informing the Terror. Robespierres of Main Street, squabbling among themselves, armed with smartphones and Twitter, enabled by a compliant Fourth Estate.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I was a baby, but I'm sure wonk can confirm- I think the Kennedy/Vatican thing was a new piece of hate- namely a Catholic will listen to what the Pope wants above what the country needs. I'm not aware there was a history of such hate.

On the other hand it seems with the new stuff, she isn't being hit for saying we shouldn't be loyal to Israel. She is being hit for the thought that Jews have always been accused of such misplaced loyalty, and that is what she is playing into. It seems clear to me that she was talking about people in politics not being beholden to allegiance to Israel, not that we can't trust Jews for that reason.

That said she should get the fuck up to speed and clean up her shit. (And this sock right here think she is an anti-semite so know- I got my eyes on her)

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

People said the same thing about Al Smith in 1928.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

Lots of good stuff here (says the long-time fan of Delong, but he seems to be having a moment).

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

So the FB meme hating on Green Book? Essentially it is asking what if Anne
Frank was instead told from the stand point of the guy who hid them.

I have not seen the movies it won over. But think Green Book can't be the best? Still:

A movie from the standpoint of the guy who hid Anne Frank would be a valid story. I really don't get this controversy. Green Book was very flawed, and the lack of detail about the doctor (what is with the throne etc.) is a real question/weakness. If you want to say it shouldn't have won, fine. But from what I see, pushing the Italian guy to the front seems a valid choice. Wouldn't a movie from the doctor's perspective have to focus on how he despises the poorly spoken/educated? Would that have been better? A white guy drove this asshole around the south? I don't know the "actual story" hinted at in the meme. Something about how the reality was left out. Any idea what was left out of that actual story?

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

As a movie, I thought it was a nice bit of fluff. As a piece of history, I thought it was a mediocre piece of fluff, but then, most movies are. As a political statement, it's somewhere between "guess who is coming to dinner" and Bernie Sander's civil rights policy, and either way kind of 50 years behind the time. Still, I'm more upset by the stereotypes of Disney than the sort of retro-white-liberal vibe of Green Book (not that what I think is particularly relevant, but there it is).

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I dunno, I see it as a story of two people in alien surroundings. A movie for the multiplex isn’t needing to meet too many of the tests you throw out.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I think she does need to raise her sensitivity and awareness on these issues, and avoid falling into the tropes and stereotypes, just as she would resent those who apply tropes and stereotypes about Muslims to her.

At the same time, I'm more concerned than ever about the path Israel is going down these days, and that there is a deep affinity between the racists of the Israeli right and the racists of the Christian right in the US that should get more attention, and that the increasingly partisan shape of organizations like AIPAC needs to be seen as a problem. And it is almost impossible to discuss those issues in the US without being charged with antisemitism; it is easier to talk with my Israeli friends about the racism of Netanyahu and his supporters than it is just about anyone in the US.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

The latest GOP talking point seems to be that she is unfit to serve on the Foreign Relations committee and get intelligence briefings. Presumably because she has suspect loyalties...

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

The Academy seemed to think it was a movie about the white guy, with the black guy as a supporting actor.

I didn't see it.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

When you are being attacked in bad faith, raising your own sensitivity to try to avoid being attacked is not going to help.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I'd ask if I'm on ignore other than you're replying to what I wrote.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

When there is a mixture of good faith concern about intended or unintended connotations of your words and bad faith opportunistic attacks, raising your sensitivity level may avoid the former and better allow you to take the moral high ground against the latter. I mean, you're not going to change this guy's opinion -

https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/s...09389392498688

- but you may give him less ammunition.