i wonder if we're not suffering from a malfunction due to an inability to discriminate between failing to hold power to account and extending grace and tolerance in ordinary exchanges. 1/

people here (correctly!) perceive that failures of accountability, often justified in terms of nice liberal ideals like tolerance, pragmatism, and ostentatious due process, have led us to catastrophe. being more punitive seems justified. 2/

but tolerance really is a great thing, the lubricant of a free civilization. the mistake is that what elites have whitewashed as tolerance has in fact been immunity from formal accountability, sometimes legal, sometimes career. 3/

formal accountability and interpersonal tolerance are different things, belong to profoundly different spheres! 4/

people should be forgiven for confusing them, because those who govern us (democrats as much as republicans!) have intentionally blurred the boundaries. but it is making life a lot less pleasant, and conversations less productive, and is part of why we had a backlash against "wokeness" i think. /fin