This is one of those threads that is so damn good we really don’t have much to add … that of course, won’t stop us from rambling on and on but yeah.
This is how the elite stays elite, at least in their small minds.
It’s long but well worth the time to read so grab a snack.
Thread:
When the evangelical elite talk about "persuasion" in the public sphere, they usually assume the following ethos:
1) Punch Right; thoughtfully engage Left.
2) Ascribe good faith to the Left (despite many reasons not to) and ascribe bad faith to the Right.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
This.
Keep going.
3) Attack the Right to gain credibility with the Left, especially when it's about the Right's "hypocrisy".
4) "Credibility" with the Left is always the form that shapes the rhetoric.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
And they love bringing on any Republican who has turned against their party.
See Liz Cheney.
See Adam Kinzinger.
See Mitt Romney.
5) Persuade the Left not of ideas, but of your worthiness for toleration and willingness to be "respectable."
6) Treat every accusation or moral condemnation from the Left, no matter how crazy, as an opportunity for public self-criticism.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
It’s your fault you don’t like their ideas so you should be a better person or something.
7) Theologize every concept of the Left to the extent that you can gaslight those who call it a leftist concept.
8) Never morally condemn the Left; always morally condemn the Right.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
!!!
9) Assert a fantastical moral political theory that would magically appear without the use of civil power.
10) Assert only those narratives of history or events that CNN would air.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
11) Never lead or begin an outrage mob; always join it and Christianize your wing of it. Condemn Christians who do not express outrage.
12) Conceal cowardice and passivity with words like "prudence," "wisdom," and "Christian witness."
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
13) Question the motives, hypocrisy, principles, and winsomeness of every Christian who might act or speak politically for some end that bothers the Left.
14) Act in confidence and with resolve only when criticizing the Right or when advocating for something the Left agrees with— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
15) Whenever you attack the Left, always morally equate them with the Right, which effectively redirects your criticism from the Left to the Right or your fellow Christians.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
Always.
16) Every condemnation of the Left must include a condemnation of the Right. And if you can’t do the latter, then you stay silent about the former.
(Variation of 15)
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) August 29, 2020
The Right made them do it ya’ know!
17. Moral outrage directed to the Right includes specific names/institutions; moral outrage to the Left is non-specific and contains only lament over general social ills and the (Christian) Right’s complicity/hypocrisy in it.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) September 10, 2020
Bingo.
18. Purge the Right; placate the Left.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) September 11, 2020
This. So much this. ^ Dude nailed it.
19. Right-wing sins are unique and specifically condemnable; left-wing sins exhibit the world’s general “brokenness”.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) September 16, 2020
It’s the world’s fault when the Left screws up.
20. Critical analysis from the right is dismissed as a "grand conspiracy"; critical analysis from the left deserves a charitable hearing.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) December 30, 2020
A lot of those grand conspiracies from the Right seem to be coming to fruition. Crazy, we know.
21. Unqualifiedly validate all the feelings from left; validate the feelings of the right, if you must, only in a highly qualified sense–in light of whatever claims the left makes concerning those feelings. Better yet, ignore them or reject them as racist, classist, or sexist.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) December 30, 2020
The ‘ists.’
22. When the right abuses their power, it is wrong (evil) in principle. When the left abuses their power, it is wrong (or concerning) only because it could empower or embolden the right.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) January 11, 2021
Told you guys this is good.
23. When someone from the Left dies (e.g., RBG), say that you "strongly disagreed with but respect" him/her. When someone from Right dies (e.g., Limbaugh), stay either silent or express disdain (preferably indirectly, or with retweet or passive-aggression).
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) February 19, 2021
Austere scholar ring any bells?
24. Harsh denunciation to the right; “good discussion” and “demonstration” for the left.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) June 24, 2021
25. When left comes for your friends, stay silent. When the right comes for your friends, swiftly come to their defense, praise them for their "courage," and mock and ridicule the right.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) September 23, 2021
26. Accuse fellow Christians of “complicity” in social ills in order to redirect criticism of the left to the Christian right.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) January 27, 2022
27. Imprecatory prayers for the right. Empathetic, understanding prayers for the left.
— Stephen Wolfe (@PerfInjust) May 5, 2022
Told you.
Spot freakin’ on.
***
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