“It’s perfectly reasonable to judge others by standards of basic decency”

Laurie Penny

You may remember James Damore, the former Google douche-bro who was fired after circulating a company-wide memo that mangled science to try and argue that it’s unfair to men for companies to push for diversity because women are naturally worse at computers, or something. Now that his fifteen minutes of fame are up, he’s back with a lawsuit accusing Google of “discriminating” against conservative men, even though men make up 80% of the company’s technical workforce. (But remember, liberals are snowflakes.)

Over at the The Guardian, Laurie Penny has a response for Damore and everyone else who cries “oppression” whenever they’re judged for their behavior: They deserve to be judged.

Conservatism is a behaviour, a set of opinions, not a fixed identity. Biology is not destiny, and it is certainly not ethics. Nobody tumbles out of the womb with decent politics. No, not even in Sweden. Nobody is born believing that people who die young of preventable diseases because they are unable to afford private healthcare have only themselves to blame for not working harder. That’s a learned, developed standpoint, and one that says a great deal about who a person is, and the choices they’ve made about the world they want to live in.

The new right loves to harp on about “meritocracy”, but it seems to believe that merit can be judged entirely by the market – that human worth is a matter of what you produce, rather than how you behave towards others. In his suit, Damore compares the qualities of “liberal” and “conservative” individuals in the language of a household instruction manual – as objective qualities. Liberals, for example, value “compassion”, whereas conservatives value “authority”.

Even if we countenance this Fisher-Price political analysis, one of these things is not like the other. Worship of authority is not morally equivalent to compassion and concern for your fellow beings, not unless you live in a world where the only thing that matters is the cash value of your raw talent.

It’s perfectly reasonable to judge others by standards of basic decency. Martin Luther King, in his “I have a dream” speech, spoke of his desire to see his children grow up in a world where they would not be judged on the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Some conservatives today seem to inhabit a universe where those judgments are morally equal.

Trying to equate discrimination against someone’s background (be it ethnic, sexual, etc.) and their behavior (which absolutely includes political and ideological affiliations) is a non-starter, the frustrated cry of someone trying to divert accusations of bigotry or assholery by pointing at someone else. Prejudice is dismissing people, especially entire groups, before any consideration is given to their conduct; refusing to tolerate the intolerants involves the exact opposite: judging people based entirely on their conduct. I don’t give a damn about your skin color, religious denomination or preferred sexual partner, but if you treat someone else as a second-class citizen based on those traits, you will be criticized and shamed until you realize it’s not acceptable to behave towards people that way.

I wasn’t born with contempt for Republicans, ethno-nationalists, MRAs, and all the assorted trash that conglomerates on the Right. I condemn them because those people represent actions and beliefs that are contrary to what I see as the fundaments for a healthy society, and indeed basic decency itself. It’s because they oppose treating minority groups with dignity and allowing them fair representation; they ignore or actively plunder the impoverished and the unfortunate in order to lavish ever more benefits upon the wealthy ruling class; they deride and shame victims of abuse and foster a climate where the aggressors can flourish. Liberals certainly have their own demons, but even at their worst they pale in comparison to the majority of the ills wreaked upon society by the Right. (And though this is especially prevalent in the US, the same can be said of almost any country.)

Of course, there are plenty of decent, honorable and honest people who identify as conservatives; to claim otherwise makes you as much of a hyperpartisan fool as those who say the same about the Left. And the vast majority of people in any group will genuinely believe they’re doing the right thing. But actions done with good intentions can still cause harm, and one person’s definition of “good” differs from the next. And so, it’s entirely fair to ask well-meaning conservatives, especially if they’re card-holding members of the modern Republican Party, why they choose to align themselves with the political ideology whose every action and piece of legislation aims to make the world a worse place for everyone who doesn’t fit within a certain mold.

(via @KyellGold)