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I& #39;m seeing some calls for olive branches & empathy from the left, to try and "get back to normal". There& #39;s at least three problems with this, two of them justice/ethics-based, one of them game-theory based. 1/8
Nearly every PoC I& #39;ve read has said the last 4 years mostly *were* normal - just way more visible to white folks. "Get back to normal" means "Throw PoC under the bus to buy white comfort".
The "normal" many folks want to get back to is an illusion. 2/8
The "normal" many folks want to get back to is an illusion. 2/8
There& #39;s also some things that aren& #39;t in "agree to disagree" or "let& #39;s have a discussion" territory, like fascism, or whether a person deserves to be treated as human. 3/8
Completely aside from those, there& #39;s a game-theory argument against olive-branches now: the Prisoner& #39;s Dilemma. ("Cooperate" or "self-advantage" with someone. Mutual cooperation is 2nd-best for both of you; betraying a cooperator is best for you + worst for them.) 4/8
If you& #39;re repeatedly in a Prisoner& #39;s Dilemma with someone, you need a strategy that adapts to theirs.
The most critical adaptation is to ***not repeatedly choose "cooperate" when they keep choosing "self-advantage"***. It doesn& #39;t get you cooperation, it gets you exploited. 5/8
The most critical adaptation is to ***not repeatedly choose "cooperate" when they keep choosing "self-advantage"***. It doesn& #39;t get you cooperation, it gets you exploited. 5/8
One simple strategy does well: "Start with cooperate, then do what the other side did last". Obama *tried* olive branches & empathy, and the Republicans took advantage of it. Then they came into power and *kept* flogging self-advantage. Choosing "cooperate" now is a bad idea. 6/8
This model is vastly simpler than real politics, but points at an important truth. And more sophisticated Iterated Prisoner& #39;s Dilemma strategies may occasionally unilaterally cooperate to break tit-for-tat competition streaks - but that& #39;s NOT where we& #39;re at, politically. 7/8
To be clear: I support compassion as a general principle, and support addressing systemic problems impacting Republican voters (on both ethical & pragmatic grounds).
But neither means we should "get back" anywhere, or waver in affirming that certain actions are intolerable. 8/8
But neither means we should "get back" anywhere, or waver in affirming that certain actions are intolerable. 8/8
