Messaging

[hokie]

I can’t recall who first brought AOC into the conversation but it may have been me. Anyways, I still stand by this post which I’ll pull over from the other thread:

@hokie

I’ll clarify where I stand on this, because I was one of the ones responding to you but I think we’re mostly in agreement.

I like the messages that Bernie pushes out and his balance of economic vs social justice and think it is a good strategy. Bernie is my #1 candidate and iirc he is yours as well.

Where I think we disagree, and I disagree strongly with what I think you are arguing for, is that I think you are advocating for going silent on social justice issues because that would alienate racist voters who might otherwise be sympathetic to economic messaging alone. That’s where I do not want to pander to their racism, and that is where I actually think AOC is much better at messaging than even Bernie–she is able to hammer economics while also hitting social justice. I do not think dog whistling to social justice is enough, both because I don’t think it would be effective and because I think it is allowing racists to define our messaging in a way that makes it worse.

To expand on the last argument, National Polling numbers are informative but shouldn’t be the sole basis for messaging decisions. Even if polling showed that SJW-style messaging was underwater, social justice is still a legitimate issue in this country and advocating for it is the morally correct position. The comparison to the civil rights era was apt–the messaging may result in short-term pushback, but it is the best way to achieve long-term change.