Really great article. I know this is somewhat hyperbolic, but extending this, the logical conclusion to the politics of virtue is that we've all done wrong things in our lives and made mistakes so none of us have any business intervening when we see any wrong being committed.
Hey, it’s my first blog post in like 20 years. I feel like I have stuff to say. https://medium.com/@mike.brock/the-politics-of-virtue-versus-the-politics-of-consequence-dfbe6932ab83
Discussion
Well, the politics of virtue is not terribly logical. It’s filled with arbitrary lines being drawn all over.
No it's not. It's a cynical combination of whataboutism and ad hominem - neither of which are logically valid arguments.
I prefer to think of it as a rolling cauldron of incoherent normative ethical claims.
Agreed. Politics of virtue is highly influenceable, and has been for a long time - religion, culture, gov’t, media.
Perhaps why it’s so messy right now is because there is no longer a single source of information - and people are trying to figure out what it means to have other takes.
I think one thing to also consider is that politics of consequence involves a lot of self sacrifice - and so even without politics of virtue, only a tiny fraction will participate it in. Politics of virtue on the other hand has little to no consequence on them.
It’s a good piece Mike. Hope you write more