i agree, with respect the protagonists (our antagonists). but i think with respect to the broad, inchoate public, the blob that becomes the marginal voter, the annoyance was very real, and laziness about weighing harms left them vulnerable to salience bias. 1/

during the post George Floyd period, not immediate, say 2022, i remember a conversation with a friend in general intelligent and of good will. he was so annoyed by netflix’s “representation matters” era, by the sense every new films was leavened with clumsy social justice didacticism. 2/

of course i tried to guide him into thinking about priorities, is this *really* the problem that should recruit your political passions. he, genuinely of goodwill, quickly assented no, you’re right, plutocracy and its incentive to sew just this kind of division is a more important source of ills. 3/

but viscerally, immediately, that’s what he went for. and i think he was hardly alone. /fin