"If you are wondering how easily a group of humans can be thrown into the same hallucination, consider that half of Americans believes their country just elected a racist, homophobic, sexist and the other half thinks we elected an open-minded guy who is no more sexist than most people. No matter which half of the country is right, the other half of the country is in a deep hallucination. We just don’t know which half. (Yes, I know that you know the other half is hallucinating. But keep in mind that the other half thinks you are the one hallucinating.)"
Trump ("monster") vs Clinton ("crooked")
"Trump has lots of other ways to crack the monster framing in the coming months. He can say more about his “New Deal” ideas for helping African-Americans. He could flip a foreign leader from a critic to a friend. He could come up with some ideas on lowering college costs. He could say more about his plan NOT to deport undocumented citizens who have obeyed the law since coming to this country.
He has lots of levers. Expect him to push one lever after another until the monster framing cracks. By summer the story will be that he’s the most flexible and centrist president in our history.
It is worth noting that Trump and Clinton had very different unframing challenges. If Clinton had won, her job would have been to convince the public she isn’t crooked. But you can’t do that simply by doing some honest things in public. We expect that even crooked people do honest things when watched. Clinton literally had no path to remove her “crooked” label.
But Trump has a more solvable framing problem. Clinton’s team labelled him a racist, homophobic, sexist. Trump can violate that frame enough times to break it over time. But it will take a lot of cracks. You’ve already seen several. Expect more to come.
If I were in Trump’s place I would look for a bigly frame violation and soon. The public is already primed for him to “moderate” away from his campaign promises. This is the time to do it."
La idea más peligrosa del siglo XX
"Para Berlin, los horrores del siglo pasado no fueron producto de la maldad, el miedo ni el odio tribal. Fueron el resultado de una idea: creer que existe una sociedad perfecta a la vuelta de la esquina.
Si uno está verdaderamente convencido de que existe una solución para todos los problemas humanos, de que uno es capaz de concebir una sociedad ideal a la cual el hombre puede acceder si tan solo hace lo necesario para alcanzarla, entonces mis seguidores y yo debemos creer que ningún precio es demasiado alto para abrir las puertas de semejante paraíso.
Esta lógica permite que se cometan crímenes terribles en nombre del orden, el paraíso, la igualdad o la justicia.
Una vez que se expongan las verdades esenciales, solo los estúpidos y los malevolentes ofrecerán resistencia. Quienes se oponen deben ser persuadidos; si no es posible, es necesario aprobar leyes para contenerlos. Si eso tampoco funciona, se ejerce la coacción, tendrá que emplearse la violencia de forma inevitable. De ser necesario, el terror, la carnicería."
"Pero si no existen utopías únicas y evidentes, ¿cuál es la alternativa? La respuesta de Berlin no es dramática. Propone ser tolerantes, buscar compromisos y acuerdos. Te doy tanto orden a cambio de tanta libertad, tanta seguridad a cambio de tanta emoción. La democracia es un malabarismo, parece decirnos, una forma de vivir que no deja a nadie del todo satisfecho. Por eso es que funciona."
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