I expected to like this (more than 2 years) old piece by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff on the way opposing viewpoints seem to dig themselves deeper and deeper into extremes of overreach. But I was surprised to find in it yet another example of such overreach – one which may provide some insight into how these things often arise.
The section that bothers me is what strikes me as an overly defensive reaction to some readers of ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’ who sent them “hate mail” for allegedly perpetuating the “Charlottesville Hoax” which is how some supporters of DJT characterize the response to his reference to some “very fine people” on both sides at that awful event.
Haidt and Lukianoff acknowledge that it would be wrong to say that “Trump called neo-Nazis and white nationalists very fine people.” But then they go on to say
But that’s not what we wrote. We wrote: “With those three words—‘very fine people’—the president showed that he was sympathetic to the men who staged the most highly publicized march for racism and antisemitism in the United States in many decades.”
Now it may be true that Trump was sympathetic to those organizers, or just that he wanted them to think he was; but neither is unequivocally shown by what he said – unless he used those words in reference specifically to the organizers rather than just to some of the attendees (who may have been potentially decent people motivated by a misguided sentimental attachment to a historical figure about whom they had been misinformed and/or whose evil aspects they were turning a blind eye to).
They go on to say more about Trump’s references to a permit without confirming that he knew that it had been obtained by a “prominent white nationalist”, and to the lack of disorder at the previous night’s rally (whose truly racist nature he may be able to claim he was not yet aware of). These comments could well be part of a more complete argument for the case that Trump was indeed tacitly supporting the racist elements but they don’t support the claim quoted above that the words ‘very fine people’ (applied to “some” of the participants) are themselves sufficient.
Source: The Polarization Spiral (from the ‘Persuasion’ community on Medium)