Why is it that conservatives constantly try to attack the Left by accusing them of hypocrisy? Why is it that it never works? How does this relate to the recent selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden's VP?

I shall explain in this thread.

A favorite tactic on the Right is to accuse Leftists of hypocrisy. For example, they say it is hypocritical for Biden to select Harris because she was supposedly an aggressive attorney general and locked up a lot of black people.

Why do conservatives make this sort of argument?

A few reasons:

1. It sounds smart. Midwits (50th - 80th percentile IQ) love identifying contradictions. Makes them feel clever.

2. It allows them to avoid naming and defending their own values.

3. It seemingly appeals to non-conservatives by displaying common ground.

Unfortunately accusing the Left of hypocrisy quite literally never works. The three reasons listed above do not actually help conservatives at all. In fact reasons 2 and 3 are demonstrably bad.

There are three other reasons why accusations of hypocrisy make for bad rhetoric.

1. Very few people actually care about hypocrisy.

2. Conservatives have no credibility to make the accusation.

3. The accusation itself reinforces the Left's worldview.

Point 1:

Hypocrisy is only a damning failing in a high society that takes intellectual consistency seriously. In a purely tribal society that doesn't care about ideas, no one really cares about hypocrisy. It's just "my side good your side bad, me want power."

A brief scan of social media and cable news should suffice to allow any reasonably intelligent person to conclude that we do not in fact live in a high society.

Point 2: Conservatives cannot credibly accuse the Left of being hypocritical regarding Leftist values because they do not share those values.

Who are conservatives to say that Kamala is bad for criminal justice reform? Conservatives don't even want such reform!

This applies to all such accusations of hypocrisy, such as when conservatives call Leftists racist, or anti-woman, or whatever. You can't out-woke these people. The Left has been passionately fighting for these ideals for generations. "ur doin' it wrong!" is a shit argument.

It applies both ways too. Leftists sometimes try to accuse the Right of hypocrisy, such as when they attack Christians with dumb arguments like, "Jesus was a socialist!"

No devout Christian takes these people seriously.

Furthermore, the premise of such an argument from a Leftist, is that I as a Christian *ought* to take my Christian worldview seriously. I *ought* to use my Christianity to decide on my political views.

Umm...you Leftists sure you want me to do that?

Which leads me to point 3: Accusations of hypocrisy reinforce your opponent's worldview.

When conservatives complain that Leftists are undermining their "defund the police" agenda by nominating Harris, they are tacitly endorsing said agenda.

Conservatives are endorsing the Left's entire value system every time they try to lecture democrats about how "Kamala locks up black people!" and "Biden is a racist!"

They are adopting the liberal premise and offering a diluted version of liberalism instead of refuting it.

So what is a better approach than accusations of hypocrisy?

You need something simple - something midwits and dumber people can process. Something pithy.

The solution? Accuse your opponent of extremism.

This one is tried and true - cliche really. But cliches only become cliches because they work.

Why is it effective to accuse your opponent of extremism? Because there are only two ready-made responses and both play into your hands:

1. Play to the center
2. Double down

Call Kamala a far left extremist on everything from abortion to immigration to guns. This gets you talking about YOUR values to YOUR people firing up your base.

If she responds by playing to the center - perhaps highlighting her work as a prosecutor - this demoralizes HER base.

Playing to the center rarely works. In all likelihood the number of people you demoralize in your base is much higher than the number of independents and moderates you win over. You're not going to convert much of the other side either.

The other response to being accused of extremism is to double down. This is even better for conservatives assuming they are even partially right about a so-called "silent majority."

You absolutely WANT Biden and Harris to double down on their views on immigration and abortion.

Get Harris and Biden to explicitly defend chopping up babies in the womb right up to the moment of birth.

Get them to explain in detail why an unsecured border and millions of illegal aliens is a marvelous thing in an era of pandemics and mass unemployment.

Fortunately it seems someone on the Trump team is aware of this given their recent ads: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1293285949917495300

Ending the thread with some music as always.

Have a blessed day, friends.