If Condemnation Ever Solved Our Problems, There’d be a Line Around the Block
Political discourse is not as simple as condemning someone for their views.
I’m really sick of condemnation politics. Biden condemns Hamas. He condemns Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. American policymakers want other countries to condemn Hamas and Russia. I see people on social media condemning each other for being, “wrong”, “anti-semitic”, a “closet terrorist”, or a “Putin poodle”.
I have never, ever, seen a problem solved by condemning someone. When I see people in a disagreement over something, whatever that might be, and one side condemns the other (“You can go to hell!”), I translate it like this:
“I got nothing.”
The act of condemning someone is euphoric and cathartic. It is indicative of the condemner’s own thinking about themselves and their own mistakes, their misfortune, or how they rolled their ankle this morning while getting out of bed.
Condemnation is a great way to distract or deflect attention from ourselves to the other guys. As a tactic of debate, condemnation does not inform us as to the cause of the problem that gave rise to the debate, or the solution to any problems to be solved.
