Elizabeth Bruenig

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

this is such an enormous crisis, and it's going to echo for decades — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

RT @briebriejoy: She was right. https://t.co/ayTpiEnBr3 — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

RT @deapoirierbooks: Went into a mall that was pretty much abandoned today and they put mannequins on the non functional escalators just to… — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@rowdyburns1978 @AliceFromQueens @spaceman317 @SenorBush @ErikLoomis no. i can see how it might shed some doubt on what they consider to be moral tho — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@SenorBush you have not read either one — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

the correct term here, of course, isn't comparison, and certainly isn't conflation. the term is 'analogizing,' which asks the reader to apply the same standard to two different ideas. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

you don't have to wait for next time! you're in luck: i actually wrote an entire article about black lives matter being good. https://t.co/o8JDGAsWgw i also signed an open letter calling on the US Catholic Bishops to attend the march on DC: https://t.co/QHAZIi6VB4 — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@rowdyburns1978 @spaceman317 @AliceFromQueens @SenorBush @ErikLoomis i get it: you would've written an article stating 'this guy totally and completely sucks!' fine by me, that article can coexist in a world with this one. i just wanted to add more to the record than that, in hopes of persuading people who aren't inclined to agree with me. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@rowdyburns1978 @spaceman317 @AliceFromQueens @SenorBush @ErikLoomis i'm sorry that you are upset some Native American Catholics feel things other than blinding hatred for this guy, i don't know what to tell you about that. when i heard about this controversy i thought: why isn't anyone asking Native American Catholics what they think? so i did. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@spaceman317 @AliceFromQueens @rowdyburns1978 @SenorBush @ErikLoomis it's...not an article about that, why would it be? he was canonized in 2015. it's an article about the aftermath of that decision, which we all have to live with. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

RT @jonathanvswan: President Trump eyes new unproven virus "cure" promoted by Ben Carson and the CEO of MyPillow https://t.co/As17B1EaKd — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@trekonomics b-but he was from spain, how was he not white? english-speaking is used here to mean white! — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@rowdyburns1978 @AliceFromQueens @spaceman317 @SenorBush @ErikLoomis i mean i'm not upset, it's just very clear i don't support genocide (come on now, not even you think that) and the article is explicitly written to persuade catholics who are defensive of serra and hostile to BLM. it's okay to not write strictly for PMC liberals lol — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@spaceman317 @AliceFromQueens @rowdyburns1978 @SenorBush @ErikLoomis it's not wishy washy, it's just that 'should he be a saint' isn't the subject under consideration because, as eva walters, who is native american, points out: he is one, now. so the question in the article is what to do with that info. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@grung0r yes. there are three articles here. 1.) 2015 article, not by me 2.) 2020 article, on BLM, by me (contains the phrase) 3.) 2020 article, on serra, by me, which contains the phrase in quotations, because it's a quote (my quote.) — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

15.) so, y'know, as usual, when you see an article described as "saying genocide is good," and you think, 'man that is wild, a national publication publishing a genocide-is-good take,' you're probably onto something. have a good night! — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@jakewertz i have my suspicions but operate in good faith — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@foyer_tweetin it's not meant to reassure people who already think what he did was wrong, it's meant to persuade people who are inclined to think what he did was permissible and are trying to exonerate him of all wrongdoing — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

@maco_nix @lesaboteur87 the culture-cide was intentional, but it seems that the thousands upon thousands killed by european diseases they had no immunity to were not intentionally killed (though certainly culpability is another matter, which is why i feature two professors who disagree on that point.) — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

14.) in my view, this is the point of opinion writing. i write with the hope of changing minds, even if all that means is allowing a person to see an issue in a different way. that was my goal here, and the top is explicit about who the piece hopes to persuade. (donohue et al!) — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

13.) the idea here is to try to establish trust (by using the most objective information available, and and by considering, though not necessarily accepting, the opposition's priors)so that even a deeply opposed reader is willing to hear one's point out. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

12.) instead, it's a take that is actually intended to persuade. it presents information from the historical record, from reputable scholars, from people whose experiences are shaped by the historical events referred to and some who may share some of the opposition's priors. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

11.) i know that this is not the usual format of a take, which instantly rejects all of the opposition's priors, refuses to engage on their grounds, accuses them of the most egregious evil imaginable, and then asserts a conclusion. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

10.) at the conclusion, i point out that it's odd to me that certain catholics can accept that serra was imperfect, made mistakes, etc, whatever you want to call it — but that if protesters against racial injustice do so much less wrong, their *message* is immediately ignored — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

9.) the historians i spoke to pointed out, and i think it's important to acknowledge, that the intentional genocide of native americans in southern california actually began under american rule, not spanish, during the gold rush. that fact can't be elided. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

8.) and it's further the case that the spanish intended to wipe out native american culture, which is stated in the article and commented upon by the Ohlone member i interviewed. i present the fact that the missions created the conditions that resulted in thousands of deaths. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

7.) it's also the case that serra's missions saw native americans tortured, as he writes in his own letters, with whipping, flogging, shackling or being placed in stocks. he also admits in his own letters that this had periodically gone too far even in his view; very disturbing. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

6.) and the historical record, i think, is pretty clear. native americans were enslaved on the grounds of missions, though the slavery was of a different kind than the sort experienced by black people in america. nevertheless, they could not leave and had to work = slavery. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

5.) so i interviewed several historians, read peer reviewed articles, primary sources, etc. i also made sure to interview Native Americans from southern California, where Serra's missions were located. These included Ohlone, Chumash and Quechan people, some Catholic, some not. — PolitiTweet.org

Elizabeth Bruenig @ebruenig

4.) but i also wanted to make a wider point: it seems like whenever we try to talk about the fact that black lives do, in fact, matter, in the catholic world, we always end up talking about something else: statues, vandalism, marxism, any old thing but the thing itself. — PolitiTweet.org