Haidt Crimes: On Moral Foundations Theory and the Normalization of Fascism
Powerful centrists with milquetoast politics are once again demanding we have empathy for people who would destroy us.
I suppose it was inevitable. When Donald Trump was voted back into power—more nakedly authoritarian and backed as enthusiastically as ever by authoritarian Christians—somewhere, some cringe white men with sociology PhDs were going to do it.
They would trim their salt-and-pepper beards, straighten their ties, crack their knuckles, and—by the power vested in them by public intellectual Jonathan Haidt, the creator of moral foundations theory—they’d “well, actually” any American who would listen into treating Trump’s Christofascist supporters with respect and deference. Accolades would surely follow. Maybe even TED conference invitations. Hey, a balding white man with a sociology PhD can dream.