Go on Twitter and you will see plenty of prominent conservatives attacking each other. Instead of trying to work together they are needlessly causing division. Its frustrating because some of them are the brightest minds in the movement. They should be working together not tearing each other down. But Twitter brings out the worst in people. Its tempting to be clever and snarky when youre safely in your armchair behind your screen.
Some are merely drunk or high and regret their fighting later. But others see nothing wrong with attacking fellow conservatives.
What many may not realize is that they may eventually have to work together. That writer you attack who works at a magazine may end up at the same publication as yourself down the road. That campaign staffer you denigrate may end up working on the same campaign as you. From a practical standpoint alone its a bad idea.
The latest feud between National Reviews David French and New York Post op-ed editor Sohrab Ahmari is a classic example. Sohrab wrote an op-ed for First Things entitled Against David French-ism." He criticized the libertarian leanings of French. Other conservatives piled on. To be fair Sohrabs critique was relatively polite even noting that It isnt easy to critique the persona of someone as nice as French." It was those who entered the debate after his article who took it to the gutter level. French is an easy target because hes a #NeverTrumper which makes some people upset. He responded with an article In Defense of Frenchism" but it was too late the vicious attacks had already started.
The civilized debate era of National Reviews original editor the late William F. Buckley Jr. is over. The magazine was famous for cordial debates between libertarians and conservatives under Buckley. They refrained from attacking each other personally. Jane Coaston of Vox writing about the French-Sohrab kerfuffle admits that decades of cordial friendship among different right-leaning factions" are over."
The lefts factions are constantly feuding with each other which is expected because the lefts identity politics treats everyone as a member of a group instead of as individuals. Those groups naturally conflict with each other. Weve seen it happen on the left between Jews and blacks feminists and men and most recently feminists and transgenders. Its one reason the left has faltered in recent years.
The right has had the advantage of cohesion due to treating everyone the same. Lets not give that advantage up. While French may not be everyones favorite type of conservative he deserves respectful treatment. You can criticize him without getting rude and personal.
The same goes for other conservatives on Twitter. If you dont like what someone says you can block them you dont have to attack them. Granted there will be some people on Twitter who are just plain rude; theyre the exceptions and they need to read this article.
Its one thing to attack someone for being a liberal Republican John McCain was fair game. But to viciously attack other conservative Republicans for small differences is detrimental to conservatism. National Review used to be the bulwark of conservatism. They may not be anymore but theyre not home to liberal Republicans.
I blame social media especially Twitter and Facebook for the demise of politeness on the right. Armchair warriors seem to care more about getting in the last personal insult than advancing the values of conservatism.
I dont even bother reading most of the comments after my articles because there are so many rude ones. Why not leave a comment that doesnt insult my intelligence? Its not necessary to sink that low. Offensive comments arent productive they are demoralizing and cause weaker people to stop speaking out.
Why not save your most vicious attacks for those on the left? Youre not scoring points on the right for tearing each other down. Watch old episodes of Firing Line with Buckley if you want to see how to debate politely. Buckley would be horrified to see how the level of discourse has disintegrated since the advent of social media (he died in 2008).
Its true that the left has gotten more vicious in recent years using Alinsky tactics against us. So theres an argument that we need to use those tactics back (except the lying and violence). But thats the left. We dont need to use those tactics against others on the right. Lets have a return to civility.
Reprinted from Townhall
Go on Twitter and you will see plenty of prominent conservatives attacking each other. Instead of trying to work together they are needlessly causing division. Its frustrating because some of them are the brightest minds in the movement. They should be working together not tearing each other down. But Twitter brings out the worst in people. Its tempting to be clever and snarky when youre safely in your armchair behind your screen.
Some are merely drunk or high and regret their fighting later. But others see nothing wrong with attacking fellow conservatives.
What many may not realize is that they may eventually have to work together. That writer you attack who works at a magazine may end up at the same publication as yourself down the road. That campaign staffer you denigrate may end up working on the same campaign as you. From a practical standpoint alone its a bad idea.
The latest feud between National Reviews David French and New York Post op-ed editor Sohrab Ahmari is a classic example. Sohrab wrote an op-ed for First Things entitled Against David French-ism." He criticized the libertarian leanings of French. Other conservatives piled on. To be fair Sohrabs critique was relatively polite even noting that It isnt easy to critique the persona of someone as nice as French." It was those who entered the debate after his article who took it to the gutter level. French is an easy target because hes a #NeverTrumper which makes some people upset. He responded with an article In Defense of Frenchism" but it was too late the vicious attacks had already started.
The civilized debate era of National Reviews original editor the late William F. Buckley Jr. is over. The magazine was famous for cordial debates between libertarians and conservatives under Buckley. They refrained from attacking each other personally. Jane Coaston of Vox writing about the French-Sohrab kerfuffle admits that decades of cordial friendship among different right-leaning factions" are over."
The lefts factions are constantly feuding with each other which is expected because the lefts identity politics treats everyone as a member of a group instead of as individuals. Those groups naturally conflict with each other. Weve seen it happen on the left between Jews and blacks feminists and men and most recently feminists and transgenders. Its one reason the left has faltered in recent years.
The right has had the advantage of cohesion due to treating everyone the same. Lets not give that advantage up. While French may not be everyones favorite type of conservative he deserves respectful treatment. You can criticize him without getting rude and personal.
The same goes for other conservatives on Twitter. If you dont like what someone says you can block them you dont have to attack them. Granted there will be some people on Twitter who are just plain rude; theyre the exceptions and they need to read this article.
Its one thing to attack someone for being a liberal Republican John McCain was fair game. But to viciously attack other conservative Republicans for small differences is detrimental to conservatism. National Review used to be the bulwark of conservatism. They may not be anymore but theyre not home to liberal Republicans.
I blame social media especially Twitter and Facebook for the demise of politeness on the right. Armchair warriors seem to care more about getting in the last personal insult than advancing the values of conservatism.
I dont even bother reading most of the comments after my articles because there are so many rude ones. Why not leave a comment that doesnt insult my intelligence? Its not necessary to sink that low. Offensive comments arent productive they are demoralizing and cause weaker people to stop speaking out.
Why not save your most vicious attacks for those on the left? Youre not scoring points on the right for tearing each other down. Watch old episodes of Firing Line with Buckley if you want to see how to debate politely. Buckley would be horrified to see how the level of discourse has disintegrated since the advent of social media (he died in 2008).
Its true that the left has gotten more vicious in recent years using Alinsky tactics against us. So theres an argument that we need to use those tactics back (except the lying and violence). But thats the left. We dont need to use those tactics against others on the right. Lets have a return to civility.
Reprinted from Townhall