Anonymous #1 22h

This is total bullshit. The right absolutely 100% also has purity testing, and I'd argue the American right wing version of purity testing is much more harmful because it's bodily, and relation. Transvestigation and anti-merit racism are forms of purity testing.

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Anonymous #2 22h

*relational

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Anonymous #2 22h

The left specifically has a problem with weaponizing vague academic language to purity test to create an in and out group. The right will take any Joe and boils their policy down to the most basic of arguments. The right also has incredibly effective messaging. Some prominent left wing politicians who beat out this issue in the party are Talarico, Al-Sayed, and Mamdani.

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Anonymous #1 22h

Tokenism is also a form of purity culture and the right is insanely guilty of it.

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Anonymous #1 22h

You're not wrong about the left but that does NOT mean you're right about the right. There is nothing "simple and effective" about demonizing the existence of others. It's a two way street. Re-writing the narrative to make one side look better is not exclusive to EITHER SIDE because it's an AMERICAN thing, not a partisan thing.

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Anonymous #2 22h

The right has it but they are simply just more willing to look past detractors and congeal around a candidate. They’ll explain away every shortcoming and contradict themselves to the grave. Does it lead to cults of personality forming? 100%, but in American politics it works. The problem is that American politics is less a game of who actually has the best policy, it’s a game of who can create the best political culture around themselves.

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Anonymous #1 22h

I'd argue that simplification IS how they do their purity testing. Simplifying systemic issues into false binaries is exactly how they control culture. They configure definitions that disqualify detractors simply for detracting. It's the exact same in-group/out-group dynamic running on a different set of rules.

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Anonymous #2 22h

As shitty as it is, hate is a very powerful motivator politically. Plenty of people hate other people. Giving them a tangible reason to (not saying these are right, they’re examples) “illegals are stealing your jobs” “the democrats want to take your guns” “Muslims want to genocide Jews” will get people to vote because it plays into their fears and hatred. As deplorable as it is, queerphobia, xenophobia, and racism are extremely easy topics to produce messaging around.

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Anonymous #2 22h

A set of rules that is much easier for the average person to follow and understand. It’s the issue with asking the normal American on their opinion of Israel/Palestine vs asking them their opinion on the price of gas. Ppl just understand “simple” systems more. Intersectionality and systemic issues are just not salient in the average American’s mind. It’s only become very recently that any left winged politicians have left behind the complex messaging for simple messaging.

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Anonymous #1 21h

This is a loaded framing that excludes the people their ideology explicitly targets in their "simple" rules. The problem is that even the systems behind gas ARE NOT SIMPLE. Forcing them to be more simple than they truly are is a form of deceitful manipulation. Complexity is not new. What's new is the war against it. Catering to anti-intellectualism is a very bad idea.

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Anonymous #1 21h

Systemic issues definitely are salient in the minds of Americans but what isn't there is accuracy. Understanding is typically clouded by bias and simplicity is a trap to catch people who don't have nuanced understanding of our objectively complex social structures. Pushing for simplicity is the problem. It's even the mechanism that enabled and sanitized Manifest Destiny.

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