We do of course need to worry about the flip side: plenty of times (especially in political groups) you see people being told not to criticise the group’s positions because it will make it less likely that the public in general will buy the overall picture (which the critic probably still agrees with). This can be pretty toxic.
I don’t think Richard is advocating for that, but I think it’s a risk once you legitimize this kind of argument.
Right, that’s why I also take care to emphasize that responsible criticism is (pretty much) always possible, and describe in some detail how one can safely criticize “Good Things” without being susceptible to charges of moral misdirection.
We do of course need to worry about the flip side: plenty of times (especially in political groups) you see people being told not to criticise the group’s positions because it will make it less likely that the public in general will buy the overall picture (which the critic probably still agrees with). This can be pretty toxic.
I don’t think Richard is advocating for that, but I think it’s a risk once you legitimize this kind of argument.
Right, that’s why I also take care to emphasize that responsible criticism is (pretty much) always possible, and describe in some detail how one can safely criticize “Good Things” without being susceptible to charges of moral misdirection.