I mean, making dubious consequences apply to the “in group” is a vital step in getting rid of those consequences. Most conservatives were fine with treating addiction as a crime in the 80s when it was black folks getting arrested for crack, but when it was white, working class folks getting arrested for opiates, we were able to start talking about addiction as the medical condition it is. It’s a shitty road towards progress, and I wish we could better… but changes in a democracy require convincing people of the need to change, and sometimes that just can’t happen until they fall through the cracks in society personally.
Nancy Reagan was personally soft on abortion, but she knew it played to the base, so she was gung ho to overturn Roe V. Wade. That was until she found out stem cells might be able to help Ronnie’s dementia, then she was all for using corpses to make medicine.
I mean, making dubious consequences apply to the “in group” is a vital step in getting rid of those consequences. Most conservatives were fine with treating addiction as a crime in the 80s when it was black folks getting arrested for crack, but when it was white, working class folks getting arrested for opiates, we were able to start talking about addiction as the medical condition it is. It’s a shitty road towards progress, and I wish we could better… but changes in a democracy require convincing people of the need to change, and sometimes that just can’t happen until they fall through the cracks in society personally.
It’s the classic conservative condition: I didn’t see it was a problem until it happened to me. So let’s start making it happen to them.
Nancy Reagan was personally soft on abortion, but she knew it played to the base, so she was gung ho to overturn Roe V. Wade. That was until she found out stem cells might be able to help Ronnie’s dementia, then she was all for using corpses to make medicine.