Racism and the tragedy of the commons
"Incidents like this really reinforce the long held belief by non-leftist that leftist have long since stopped caring about racism and instead just reflexively use it as a thoughtless bludgeon to attack anyone who disagree with them. Watching the Clinton’s and their supporters being savaged as racist was darkly amusing as schadenfreude but given their track record as solid leftist it really just shows that few on the left actually care about real victims of racism. If they did, they wouldn’t trivialize the accusation of racism in this manner.
Years ago, I use to stammer and make denials when someone called me a racist. Now I don’t even blink. I’ve come to accept the accusation as merely part of conversation with leftist."
The tragedy of the commons has eroded the shaming power of the word racist. The word racist used to have lots of power, so it was an effective word to deploy. But every time it was used, it lost a little meaning because the more activities and people that are defined as racist the less stigma attaches to the word.
The natural equilibrium for the word is probably one in which many people "come to accept the accusation as merely part of conversation with leftist." For if this was not so then the benefit of using the word racist would be high, meaning more people would use it, meaning the power of the word would soon decline.
