Thanks for the question as it caused me to reflect. I think it is bad to intentionally misrepresent your views in order to appeal to a broader audience, with the express intention of changing their views once you have them listening to you and/or involved in your group. I don’t think this tactic necessarily becomes less bad based on the degree of misrepresentation involved. I would call this deceptive recruiting. It’s manipulative and violates trust. To be clear, I am not accusing anyone of actually doing this, but the idea seems to come up often when “outsiders” (for lack of a better term) are discussed.
Thanks for the question as it caused me to reflect. I think it is bad to intentionally misrepresent your views in order to appeal to a broader audience, with the express intention of changing their views once you have them listening to you and/or involved in your group. I don’t think this tactic necessarily becomes less bad based on the degree of misrepresentation involved. I would call this deceptive recruiting. It’s manipulative and violates trust. To be clear, I am not accusing anyone of actually doing this, but the idea seems to come up often when “outsiders” (for lack of a better term) are discussed.