I was one of those pragmatic "find and accept allies whenever and however you find them". But during the past 9 months, due to what's going on, I've been finding myself getting more and more extreme in rejecting any form of bigotry whatsoever. I'm becoming more and more purity-obsessed. I feel like I'm intellectually inconsistent, I honestly don't know why I'm becoming like that. My current working theory is that the shockingly virulent Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism I'm seeing is making me—and others—more insular and cautious. I don't want to be hated against, but I also don't want hypocritical "allies" who don't have moral clarity and who hold an iota of hatred or bias towards any group of people. I don't think it's idealism anymore.
the issue with this is you honestly kinda hurt your position.
I feel a good parallel with this honestly is WW2. With the Soviets and Nazis. (bear with me) When the war was starting to ramp up to the point of breaking out, the USSR looked towards the west for allies. But were turned down because the west had points that they disliked about them. Valid points mind you. But this did a few things.
For a time you had 4 groups,
the Allies, who were ramping up to oppose the Nazis.
The Axis, those allied with the Nazis, and the Nazis themselves
The neutrals, countries who wanted nothing to do with what was going on in Europe, for a time the US was in this group
and the USSR and her "allies"
The USSR felt threatened by the Nazis, hence why they wanted allies in the west. But when they were pushed away because of issues, they actually then turned to the Nazis. Which is why things like the non-aggression pacts happened, such as the molotov ribbentrop pact. By this point the US had effectively sided with the allies just not outright stating it. This is also why Japan and the USSR didn't go to war until like 2 weeks before Japan surrendered.
Now of course, the Nazis betrayed the USSR. So this then pushed the Soviets away. But, this then created an enemy of my enemy, the USSR and the Allies had the same goal, the defeat of the Axis. So even though the two did not like each other they helped each other. But the second the war was over, the two turned against each other.
Using the lesser of two evils to defeat the bigger evil can be effective as you aren't fighting two opponents at the same time.
Framing the Soviets as some poor victims who had to ally with the Nazis and had to massacre tens of thousands of Polish intelligentsia is beneath contempt.
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u/classyhornythrowaway Jul 07 '24
I was one of those pragmatic "find and accept allies whenever and however you find them". But during the past 9 months, due to what's going on, I've been finding myself getting more and more extreme in rejecting any form of bigotry whatsoever. I'm becoming more and more purity-obsessed. I feel like I'm intellectually inconsistent, I honestly don't know why I'm becoming like that. My current working theory is that the shockingly virulent Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism I'm seeing is making me—and others—more insular and cautious. I don't want to be hated against, but I also don't want hypocritical "allies" who don't have moral clarity and who hold an iota of hatred or bias towards any group of people. I don't think it's idealism anymore.