Platner and The Purity Trap
Feel like these last few days in Maine can be a teachable moment. What we are seeing play out is political information warfare that could be branded a "purity trap".
Purity trap tactics have their roots in the swift boating of John Kerry and the destruction of Al Franken. Purity traps were run effectively against 'Genocide' Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
So, let's talk about 'purity traps'...
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Purity Trap (cont)
A 'purity trap' can be defined as a deliberate, concerted and sustained effort by the opposition utilizing the media to amplify and characterize some political vulnerability as absolutely disqualifying.
The goal of a purity trap is to shift focus entirely from all other issues such that the subject vulnerability becomes dispositive.
This is done through blanketed coverage and repetition.
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Purity Trap (cont)
It is important to point out that the subject vulnerability can be either real or made up. It can be a kernel of truth and exaggerated, or it can actually be something truly awful. Most often there is at least some truth.
The term 'purity' here simply relates to establishing the subject vulnerability in the target's minds as politically disqualifying.
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Purity Trap (cont)
Once the purity trap has been established, nothing else matters for those who have been successfully captured. For instance, it does not matter that the people in Gaza would be much worse off under a GOP administration, Biden's support for Israel was disqualifying.
Once a purity trap has been sprung you will hear statements like, "I could never vote for..." said person.
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Purity Trap (cont)
Purity traps don't work on GOP candidates. GOP voters are much more inclined to ignore such vulnerabilities in the interest of winning party power. Also, purity traps utilize control of the media and the GOP billionaires control the media.
Democrats are more susceptible because they inherently believe their leaders must be good people too. It is much easier to convince Democratic voters their candidate is disqualified, even if the opposition is much worse.
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Purity Trap (cont)
The most crucial thing about purity traps is that they collapse the political stakes. There may be huge consequences in the election, like in this case, winning a majority in the US Senate. But, because we are caught in a purity trap, what is literally an existential issue for democracy in this country takes a back seat to these accusations.
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@mastodonmigration USAmericans whining about how opposing infinite genocide forever is a "purity trap" tactic will truly be the reason that the world experiences infinite genocide forever.
Your point about purity trap politics does a tailspin the moment you start comparing "infinite genocide forever" Biden with "hey maybe we shouldn't be doing genocide at all" Platner. It's clear that you're not interested in purity, you're interested in the status quo. How can you possibly pretend that Biden was a harm reduction choice that got scuppered by a "purity trap"? He objectively wasn't.
This logic has killed an awful lot more of the people you profess to support. Biden was awful on Gaza, and this administration has been an unimaginable catastrophe.
No, that's not it at all. We should avoid Genocide Plus at all costs, because that kills a lot more people. You willingness to sacrifice these people and not take responsibility for it is what is messed up about your argument.
@mastodonmigration But what if going to Genocide Plus helps us avoid going to Genocide Plus Max?
See how trying to make a delineation between Infinite Genocide and More Infinite Genocide just becomes sophistry if your end conclusion is "we should settle for Infinite Genocide"?
If the Trump admin, theoretically, was to utterly collapse USA hegemony and ruin its status as a superpower, that's *preferable* to a world where Genocide Joe and his predecessors get to do a "lesser" genocide to the Palestinians for the next 200 years. Accelerationism tends to be a pretty myopic and inconsistent worldview but it just so happens to be a good counter to the myopic and inconsistent one you are advocating for.
This is just nonsense.
@mastodonmigration It's a "Purity trap" to hold sex pests accountable? Are you being serious here?
Al Franken had six accusers. Platner has them coming out of the woodwork. Comparing that to the Swift Boat attack on John Kerry is massively disingenuous as that was literally made the fuck up. The claims against Franken, Platner and yes Joe are real.
If we cannot nominate people who at the very fucking least do not support genocide and abuse women what the fuck are we even doing?
As expressed in the thread, the subject vulnerability can range from completely fabricated to absolutely true. It can also be something in-between with exaggerated elements.
The point is the tactic is to establish the vulnerability as absolutely disqualifying through concerted media coverage.
You may think this is entirely appropriate and justified given the nature of the vulnerability. Nevertheless, there is a political tactic in play.
@mastodonmigration Nominate a sex pest and I will fucking work to block them from office. Spent my entire time as chair driving sex pests out of WA state politics.
A good read: https://truthout.org/articles/why-misogynists-make-great-informants/
Would also call your attention to the part about collapsing the political stakes. The success of the purity trap in disqualifying Biden for many supporters of the people in Gaza, helped Trump win, which resulted in many more of the people they intended to support dying. So, things are not always so black and white simple.
The intention here is not to render a determination on any of the cases, but rather to call out a specific type of deliberate political information operation tactic, so that we recognize it when we see it.
@mastodonmigration The intention here is to believe women and take their humanity as seriously as we take our own.
An 'op' that reveals true information about a person that reflects poorly on their comparison is an 'op' I do not care about, I care about the information, the person and their victims.
Understood. You think that the tactic is justified given the nature of the vulnerability.
@mastodonmigration I think that women are fully human and their humanity is a baseline value that any party I support must uphold. This is especially true in an era where women's rights and autonomy are massively eroding.
You are complaining about the tactic and looking past the information because it is inconvenient to your political goals, and you are willing to sacrifice women to win elections.
If we are to believe the women (we are) in Platner's case are we to be selective in which women we believe? Is it only the ones who reported Platner had some serious shit going on (he admits he did, untreated PTSD), or only the ones who reported he was a lovely person (PTSD ebbs and flows, so that's consistent) or both and add to that the full history of his returning to Maine, getting treatment and the long process of learning how to not have it run/ruin his life?
it's the maine *primary* election.
you can simply choose to not rank the nazi guy.
you can even have your cake and eat it too by voting for the blue person who is not a nazi abuser guy.
@reflex
@badtux @mastodonmigration If we vote in people who are a bit racist, sexist, transphobic, etc all we have accomplished is making our government more racist, sexist, transphobic, etc. To win elections.
In other words, we aren't actually the better alternative. We are conceding that sexism, racism, transphobia, etc are valid tactics to gain power. Just like the fascists.
So would you hand power to the fascists who are much worse in every way, rather than compromise on these lofty principles? This is the essence of the purity trap.
Your arguments against voting for the flawed Democrat sound great, but there are only two choices.
So what are you advocating to do?
Vote for the fascist party? Or, not vote?
There are no other options.
@mastodonmigration @badtux Attempt to replace him. If we cannot, stop supporting him and focus our efforts elsewhere.
Supporting an abuser is always wrong.
@mastodonmigration @badtux Do you understand how utterly offensive it is to keep labeling refusing to support abusers a 'purity trap'?
This shit is why we lose elections we should win. Nobody believes our rhetoric because we claim moral superiority and then abandon it the moment it *may* cost us an election.
If you don't live in Maine he isn't on your ticket. You have hundreds of important races across the country. You could focus on the ones not running abusers.
Unfortunately, every race matters and the Maine Senate race is absolutely crucial because control of the majority hangs in the balance. Harris losing the presidency certainly was a catastrophe. Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of just moving on when the choices are both bad. That's what politics almost always is. The least bad of two bad choices.
So choosing to move on, to not vote, is a choice. And one with consequences.
@mastodonmigration @badtux We did this dance in 2018 and 2020. The end result was 2 years of tenuous control, Dems who could not even pass a voting rights act, and who empowered a genocide, and a loss of congress and the return to power of the fascists.
Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is idiotic. We either establish who we are, JUST AS THE REPUBLICANS HAVE, or we get at best, very temporary gains.
@mastodonmigration @badtux My position is we must actually BE better to win elections sustainably. Compromising our principles for short term gain costs us in the long run, and the past 30 years are proof of that. If we don't rebuild now our losses will only become more catastrophic.
Continuing to pretend we can hold back the tide while compromising on our values increases the cost of doing the real work needed for a sustainable party.
@mastodonmigration @badtux Again, it is my position that taking short term hits builds a long term movement. And we need a long term movement, not one senate seat this one time.
Most of the time these men turn out to be pretenders anyway. Do you *really* think a privileged white boy who talked online about joining the military rather than going to college to kill people, has an active kik account and is a sex pest is going to be better than Fetterman? He won't.
Understood. In this case you think it is better in the long run that the Democrats do not win the Senate majority than elect Platner. In 2024 it was better that Trump win than elect Harris due to her support for Israel. In the long run these defeats will make the party better. Again, that is a logical position. A lot of people will suffer for it, but it is not an inconsistent stance. It is also precisely why purity traps are so effective.
@mastodonmigration @badtux It's not about electing Platner or not. It's about putting our resources into candidates who uphold our stated party values. It's about those values demonstrating the importance of the humanity of each and every person we claim to be representing, in full.
Again, it works, it can cause short term pain, but you know what we don't have in WA now? Back and forth districts. We have gained every single election, even ones where Reps were ascendant nationally.
@reflex @mastodonmigration Long term movements? In American politics? BWAHAHAHA! You sound like some 60s radical ranting about how things will be different once the revolution happens.
There are no long term movements in American politics. Never has been, never will be. Because. Americans.
There is only the short term in American politics. Until you stack enough of the system to destroy democracy, anyway. Which the GOP is doing.
@badtux @[email protected] Democrat electeds worked with the GWB administration to create Homeland Security and ICE. Since it's creation they have not done a single thing to limit or undo it, they have only ever increased it's funding, size and scope. Obama holds the record for the most deportations of any US president.
Every single thing ICE is doing right now the Dems are complicit in. And none are running on abolishing ICE and Homeland Security.
Everything you see today was always happening
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