Twilight of American Sanity by Allen Frances

Author:Allen Frances
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

“The Extremist Effect” describes the powerful propaganda strategy of calling someone an “extremist” even if what he is saying is perfectly mainstream and commonsensical. Someone expressing middle-of-the-road support for women’s rights can be discredited as a “feminist” (or, if you are Rush Limbaugh, as a “feminazi”). Preferring not to have the environment degraded by global warming or pollution is discounted with the now strangely pejorative term “environmentalist” (if you really want to make them look foolish, call them an “extremist environmentalist”). And “liberal,” which, not so long ago, was for many a term of considerable pride, has now somehow become an insult, connoting moral laxity and economic naiveté. You don’t have to counter a position with contrary evidence, just vilify the person making it.

If there are any Trump fans reading this book, they can rightly accuse me of repeatedly and enthusiastically taking advantage of “the Extremist Effect.” My only excuse is that Trump is about as extreme as any American politician has ever been, and sometimes you need fire to fight fire. Truth is not always in the middle of any two opposing arguments—and it is never in the middle when one side espouses an extreme view. The strategy of the Republican Party, since its takeover by the radical right, has been to start with, and stick to, inflexible and one-sided positions. This has worked brilliantly. Democrats are usually less ideological, more flexible, more willing to compromise, and more open to all practical solutions. Most Republicans were more like this before the party was shanghaied by the fake populism of plutocrats. We will be able to cure societal delusions only when we recognize that facts are facts, scientific evidence is scientific evidence, and “alternate” realities are self-serving lies, and not realities at all.

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