chat

The focus on rhetoric might have a modicum of positive impact if it had any grounding. Most political rhetoric is rooted in personal cynicism anyway and is meant to express identity instead of impact the world. Rhetoric doesn't actually need to be consistent or effective with this purpose, it just needs to perform the desired identity.

People routinely have positive emotions about negative events, and vice versa, because it validates their identity while violating their claimed principles. Consider a trans person arming themselves in the US in a "liberal" space, people will be confused how to respond because they can compromise the (often online) identity they have curated with virtually any reaction they choose.

And imagine what would happen if the US actually got gun control and shootings still occured at a high rate. Liberal gun control activists would likely double down on gun control as Republicans have doubled down on NRA dogma. We will never address the obvious nature of settler imperial occupation because most libs and even lefties are only trying to perform neo christian non-christianity.

Rhetoric is just a tool of persuasion. It is useless if all we are doing is lying to ourselves to own the (other) libs.