re: #88 SanFranciscoZionist

I went to a training on pro-Israel advocacy some weeks ago, and the man teaching it had some interesting things to say about reaching out to people whose minds you could change, rather than fighting endless duels with unreachable counter-activists.

I understand the desire to simply batter on the people who say things that upset you, to try to shame them, make them change their minds, make them look bad. But that’s not useful, it’s merely emotionally satisfying.

I think that in the abortion debate, we need to keep that in mind as well. It’s more important to move toward goals than to maul one another.

The desire to maul, though, is very, very strong.

The pro-life stance has become a tribalist stance, like being part of the NRA, it’s become a cultural identifier

The pro-choice stance is far less of a cultural identifier, because it also encompasses the majority of americans who have no opinion except that they would rather have more freedom than less freedom

I honestly don’t think there’s anything America can do with states that are de-facto outlawing abortion and intimidating women into silence, I think we’re going to see a far more balkanized USA in the coming decades in that regard. There are just going to be some states where women aren’t as equal