Originally a comment by iknklast on Just ask women.
It seems possible to me that Linehan (and I don’t know much about him, except what I’ve read here) may be falling victim to the same problem so many people have: the idea that all goodness must be manifest in those you agree with (even on one issue) and all badness must be manifest in those you disagree with (even on one issue). The inability to tolerate the nuances of political and social issues, where someone you disagree with vehemently on many issues may actually have one or more issues where you agree with them, seems to be the order of the day anymore.
I felt that once, when I found myself agreeing with Dubya on something important. Then I discovered I agreed with Jonah Goldberg on something. It disturbed me, until I realized that there are none of us who are perfect, and no one I am in perfect alignment with on all issues (and that includes everyone here, and I hope you can understand that those places where I disagree do not make you nazis in my mind). I find I don’t even agree with myself all the time; some of my views have changed over time, and I wince at things I have thought, or written, or said, in the past.
There is a great deal of discussion on whether we should align with our enemies on any issue where we agree, even though we disagree on almost everything else. I think we should; we should keep our opinions nuanced, and able to disagree with those people on everything else, and be willing to be outspoken about that. There are many places where I agree with the left, and several places where I think they are absolutely bonkers (trans, for instance, and many of their more extreme environmental views). That doesn’t prevent me from considering myself leftist, progressive, but not ‘woke’, at least not in so far as it requires adopting the entire package, including the nutty beliefs.
As for aligning with the right on the trans issues, I think we should be in uneasy alliance with them, accepting that they are our only allies right now on this issue, but recognizing that they have vastly different, and dangerous, reasons for their anti-trans views, and that they are not really being pro-woman. I don’t believe you always get up with fleas if you lie down with dogs, but I do think you need to be assured you have adequate flea medicine handy, because fleas do tend to jump around.
It is a shame that the ability to work across the aisles on areas of agreement, while maintaining disagreement with all other issues, has given way to purity politics. I retain the right to disagree with anyone about anything, even while agreeing strongly with them about others. This ‘with us or against us’ and ‘purity or death’ mindset is destroying us.
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