I think the lesson we can draw from climate and animal rights that you mention—the radical flank effect—shows that extreme actions concerning an issue in general might make incremental change more palatable to the public. But I don’t think it shows that extreme action attacking incremental change makes that particular incremental change more likely.
If I had to guess, the analogue to this in the animal activist world would be groups like PETA raising awareness about the “scam” that is cage-free. I don’t think there’s any reason to think this has increased the likelihood of cage-free reforms taking place — in fact, my experience from advocating for cage-free tells me that it just worsened social myths that the reform was meaningless despite evidence showing it reduced total hours spent suffering by nearly 50%.
So, I would like to see an activist ecosystem where there are different groups with different tactics—and some who maybe never offer carrots. But directing the stick to incremental improvements seems to have gone badly in past movements, and I wouldn’t want to see the same mistake made here.
Thanks Tyler nice job explaining, I think I’ve changed my mind on the specific case of attacking a small positive incremental change. Like you I struggle to see how that’s helpful. Better to praise the incremental change (or say nothing) then push harder.
Have retracted my previous comment.
I’m heartened as well that you have had experience in animal campaigns.
I think the lesson we can draw from climate and animal rights that you mention—the radical flank effect—shows that extreme actions concerning an issue in general might make incremental change more palatable to the public. But I don’t think it shows that extreme action attacking incremental change makes that particular incremental change more likely.
If I had to guess, the analogue to this in the animal activist world would be groups like PETA raising awareness about the “scam” that is cage-free. I don’t think there’s any reason to think this has increased the likelihood of cage-free reforms taking place — in fact, my experience from advocating for cage-free tells me that it just worsened social myths that the reform was meaningless despite evidence showing it reduced total hours spent suffering by nearly 50%.
So, I would like to see an activist ecosystem where there are different groups with different tactics—and some who maybe never offer carrots. But directing the stick to incremental improvements seems to have gone badly in past movements, and I wouldn’t want to see the same mistake made here.
Thanks Tyler nice job explaining, I think I’ve changed my mind on the specific case of attacking a small positive incremental change. Like you I struggle to see how that’s helpful. Better to praise the incremental change (or say nothing) then push harder.
Have retracted my previous comment.
I’m heartened as well that you have had experience in animal campaigns.