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<blockquote data-quote="Alsos" data-source="post: 1179171" data-attributes="member: 8894">This is not who we are. We're better than this. We shouldn't stoop to their level.Ignoring it is the right way to go. It's childish and intellectually dishonest.It's wasting time better spent writing white papers and strongly-worded letters to the editor. This Buckleyite propriety is the other part of what we've been doing for the past thirty years that hasn't worked. As with any form of bullying, what does work is punching back - in this case metaphorically, humiliating them by holding up their own words as indictments of their hypocrisy for everyone to see. No, the leftist thus exposed will not feel shame over their remarks, but given how obsessed they are at a fundamental psychological level with social acceptance and being part of the in-group, making sport of them and inspiring others to laugh at or shun them can be viscerally traumatic because of the outgrouping threat it represents. It's also effective on the other side of the field. One of their own strategists famously observed that what works in activism is what your people enjoy doing. It's impishly fun to do and read this stuff, and especially to see the reactions to it.ETA: That said, the tweets themselves aren't nearly as funny or provocative as they could be. Or ought to be for this purpose.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Alsos, post: 1179171, member: 8894"] [i]This is not who we are. We're better than this. We shouldn't stoop to their level. Ignoring it is the right way to go. It's childish and intellectually dishonest. It's wasting time better spent writing white papers and strongly-worded letters to the editor.[/i] This Buckleyite propriety is the other part of what we've been doing for the past thirty years that hasn't worked. As with any form of bullying, what does work is punching back - in this case metaphorically, humiliating them by holding up their own words as indictments of their hypocrisy for everyone to see. No, the leftist thus exposed will not feel shame over their remarks, but given how obsessed they are at a fundamental psychological level with social acceptance and being part of the in-group, making sport of them and inspiring others to laugh at or shun them can be viscerally traumatic because of the outgrouping threat it represents. It's also effective on the other side of the field. One of their own strategists famously observed that what works in activism is what your people enjoy doing. It's impishly fun to do and read this stuff, and especially to see the reactions to it. ETA: That said, the tweets themselves aren't nearly as funny or provocative as they could be. Or ought to be for this purpose. [/QUOTE]

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