A core liberal/left principle for decades is we shouldn't just denounce people who do bad things -- criminals, terrorists, etc. -- but try to understand the underlying social causes, both to understand it intellectually & improve our ability to fix it.

Seems that's out, too:

Economic deprivation, downward mobility & the unraveling of the social fabric are so pervasive and deepening in the US (not for media elites, but generally) that it's likely to be a cause in virtually every social pathology -- not *the* cause but a cause. https://theintercept.com/2020/08/28/the-social-fabric-of-the-u-s-is-fraying-severely-if-not-unravelling/

It is just bizarre how eager many media elites and establishment liberals are to deny the degrading effects of material deprivation and erase class analysis, replacing it with an exclusive focus on culture & identity demonization. Downward mobility is a central fact of US life.