Pointing out the pushback effect and noting that it should be factored into our tactics is not the same as condoning the things that we want to discourage.

Saying that certain actions against bad people don't have the effect we want isn't the same as saying that we should ignore when the bad people do those things to people we're trying to protect.

So much of the internal conflict on the left comes not from what an interlocutor says, but the perspective that we infer from what they're saying. And that's how people who ultimately agree think they're saying completely different things.

Bringing up adjacent points can be done synergetically instead of pit against each other https://twitter.com/QuestingRefuge/status/1265683780435664896?s=19

Pointing out that a specific punishment, or even punishment in general, doesn't work as a preventative, isn't the same as condoning the thing that would be punished.

Someone saying transphobia is bad isn't an invitation to defend that you're not transphobic.

Saying "but we also need to consider the other people affected" isn't automatically saying that you're a bad person for not focusing on it in previous statements.

I'm disappointed in a lot of how the discourse over the last few days has been handled, including by people I generally respect and whose insights I find valuable.

We had some really good, thoughtful response, but a lot of needless cruelty and finger pointing mixed in.

A lot of people getting excessively defensive,

A lot of people accusing others of holding positions that they in no way have indicated,

A lot of reminders that we need to keep our priorities in check,

And a lot of cruel accusations of having twisted and broken priorities.

And then that spiraled and compounded.

Past trauma made some people act in a way that I see as painfully counterproductive and even toxic,

And ignoring that these responses came in part from trauma made people see that as purely villainous.

Let's be kind to each other when we know that we're fighting for the same root things,

To protect people from poverty,
To protect people from bigotry,
To minimize suffering,
To maximize support for people who need it.

Let's try to work to align each other to do good, not hunt out who we can see as bad and try to purge them.