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Aug 4, 2021Liked by John Aravosis

I agree wholeheartedly. But I don't want to fall into the Tucker Carlson lie that liberals demand instant and forever woke-ness and purity politics. You can always find some crazy person on TikTok or Twitter saying something crazy. But in general I find most progressives -- as is their nature -- to put things into context, to forgive, to listen and to appreciate those who are learning and growing and working to be better allies. People like Matt Damon! Now the rapper DaBaby, on the other hand, has a history of obnoxious and anti-gay comments. So when he makes yet another obnoxious comment about people with AIDS and then sort-of apologizes by mocking the idea of apologizing and then when he starts to lose festival bookings tries to really apologize, yes, smart people expect him to do the work and show some growth and remorse before giving him a pass, due to his history. Tucker may think we're unforgiving scolds demanding 100% perfection, but outside the echo chamber of social media, I don't think it's true.

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It's Tucker's job to lie. :) I do, however, in the work I do, run into a lot of purity-politics folks on the left who drive me mad. And we see it in our scandals too. Cuomo is NOT an example - that guy is deservedly toast. But look at Northam in Virginia. All the white people demanded he quit -- his own Black constituents wanted him to stay, to the tune of 60%. He stayed, and no one even talks about it anymore. Or the debate over what Joe Biden did or didn't say about race or busing or whatever back in 1975. Or even the Crime Bill, frankly -- we're all supposed to be pretend like crime was no big deal in the 90s, and the public wasn't absolutely demanding a tough crime bill because violent crime was out of control. Rather, we're supposed to pretend that everybody knew the bill was just crazy!

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Unfortunately, you also have to scroll through social media and twitter comments, which can be really poisonous. it's like having to read graffiti on bathroom walls and starting to think that reflects the real world. I'm lucky enough to just ignore it all. (Wish I could quit facebook.) Happily, Biden is President and the people who matter in Virginia kept Northam right where he is. Sounds like an argument that Dems do NOT demand purity :) But Cuomo has been awful for many years and damaged the health care system in NY state for too long and kept progressives from making progress in a true blue state. Never liked him but even if I loved him, the evidence is damning enough for him to resign. Now.

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Oh, and I don't think regular Dems demand purity. I think the fringes do, and they're loud, and try to convince everyone else that they're bigger than they are.

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And now I have TikTok! It takes its toll on you. There are so many trolls, and so many of them are just liars, and frankly seem organized, someone sent them. After while, you don't know what's real and what's fake.

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