by jpitney | Mar 6, 2023 | Polarization, Public Opinion
David French at NYT: And where are we now? Has the fever passed? Not by a long shot. America is in the grips of a simply staggering amount of partisan animosity. As I wrote in my newsletter last week, overwhelming majorities of Republicans and Democrats believe that...
by jpitney | Jan 1, 2023 | Civility
David French: {U]nless activists intentionally maintain solid relationships with normal folks on the opposite side of the political spectrum, they soon find that when they interact with their ideological opposites, they’re interacting mainly with opposing activists,...
by jpitney | Oct 10, 2022 | Russia, Ukraine
David French: Brutality isn’t strength. Nor is it masculinity. I should be surprised by right-wing gullibility in the face of “masculine” Russian propaganda, but I’m not. We’ve spent the last seven years watching the MAGA movement absurdly recast Donald Trump as a...
by jpitney | May 22, 2022 | Civility
David French writes that “civility and decency aren’t incompatible with `taking sides.’ It doesn’t require anyone to whither in the face of angry opposition. Kindness doesn’t conflict with conviction, and our commitments to kindness are biblically...
by jpitney | May 2, 2022 | Civility, Religion
David French: The ethos of our modern political culture can be summed up in a single sentence: “Do unto others more than they have done unto us.” This is the essence of cancel culture, for example. Are we bothered (or even hurt) by someone else’s speech? Then they...
