Lessons Unlearned
Why unchecked certainty is a losing strategy.
I’m a bit late in getting a post out. I wrote an article about DEI for Discourse that I was planning on double-dipping with for this scheduled posting, but it is still undergoing the editorial process. And since I agreed to wait for publication before I posted it here, I’ll push it out then, which I think will be early next week.
In the meantime, I thought I’d highlight a perspective from a LinkedIn post that captures the spirit of my DEI piece and how I generally feel about responding to this political moment. The post is by Ilana Redstone, a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois and the author of The Certainty Trap. She makes the point that as people push back against the illiberal practices of the current administration, it’s important that they don’t memory-hole the illiberal practices of the left that contributed to getting us here.
She urges us to resist the temptation to fight against current policies with sheer moral indignation and no recognition of and strategy for addressing the genuine concerns voiced by some critics of the left. Denying, minimizing, or dismissing critiques does not make them go away; they just continue to fester.
Similarly, doubling down or pushing for a return to the world that got us here will only inflame an already dysfunctional political dynamic between the left and right. The concerns many voiced were not all imaginary. Ironically, in response to a movement that was ostensibly about acceptance for all, many people on the left and right felt disregarded, disrespected, and shut down. People were canceled for innocent acts, silenced/deplatformed for having dissenting points of view, strong-armed into conforming to ideological positions, and had their speech policed.
When a sizeable portion of a population feels alienated in this way, it’s sure to lead to upheaval. Yes, I know that these feelings of alienation also inspired the left’s movement. The point is that for whatever team you’re on, you’ll eventually lose by refusing to engage the concerns of the other side. Crucially, this is also a very ineffective strategy for helping the vulnerable people that the left strives to protect.
As Redstone states, taking her position is far from supporting the Trump agenda. I’d add that it also does not deny the very real emergent threats, like censorship, diminishing health and research resources, challenges to sexual minority rights, and deportation excesses. Instead, it’s about taking seriously what it takes to foster the conditions that will create the world one wants to see.
Anyway, I hope you find Ilana’s words as resonant as I did. See you again next week with the Discourse piece.