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Racial Essentialism and the 2020 Election
We should think of America’s divisions more in terms of class and ideology, and less in terms of race
I am not a fan of MSNBC. Like a lot of leftists, I find the network almost as annoying as centrist liberals and their Never Trump allies find Fox News and OANN. Given the choice, I’m far more likely to listen to Chapo Trap House or watch the Weekends show on the Jacobin YouTube channel than watch Joe Scarborough or Lawrence O’Donnell.
That’s probably not a good thing. While I’m happy that independent media outlets exist to promote perspectives not found on mainstream cable news channels — shameless plug: check out my show Give Them an Argument — losing track of how other political factions see things can be dangerous, especially for those of us who subscribe to less popular positions. If nothing else, it’s important to know what your adversaries are saying if you want to craft the most effective arguments for your own views.
On the Saturday afternoon when the 2020 presidential election was finally called for Joe Biden, I ended up watching the coverage of the event on MSNBC for the most stereotypical reason that a Millennial (or in my case “Xennial”) leftist might end up watching that network: My wife and I were visiting my parents.
