Grandstanding: the Use and Abuse of Moral Talk | Brandon Warmke & Justin Tosi

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Business, Government

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2020

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 144 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with philosophers Brandon Warmke and Justin Tosi about the phenomenon of grandstanding, which they define as "the use and abuse of moral talk for the purposes of self-promotion."

Although moral grandstanding is a spectacle most commonly associated with those on the political left, the practice of grandstanding is an entirely bipartisan phenomenon. Its increased prevalence in public discourse has dangerous implications for politics and society.

For grandstanders, it isn't the pursuit of virtue that motivates them. They aren't concerned with doing good; they're concerned with looking good; they want others to think that they are morally superior, and they're willing to go to great lengths in order to do it, including using moral talk as a tactic for punishment and intimidation.

The irony is that grandstanders accomplish all of this by free-riding on the moral behavior and good intentions of others. They turn civil discourse into a moral arms race, weaponizing language, and silencing their enemies with threats of doxing and humiliation.

Our society is currently going through a seismic transition. Norms are being radically upended and Americans are experiencing levels of political polarization arguably unseen since at least the 1970s. If we want to make it through this period in one piece, as one nation, undivided we need to reclaim the moral high ground in our discourse. Otherwise, I'm afraid we're in danger of losing control of our country to the darker forces of our nature, and this would not bode well for the future of our republic.

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Episode Recorded on 06/30/2020

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode of Hidden Forces is made possible by listeners like you.
0:04.4	For more information about this week's episode or for easy access to related programming
0:09.7	visit our website at hidden Forces. I.O. and subscribe to our free email list.
0:16.4	If you listen to the show on your Apple Podcast app, remember, you can give us a review.
0:21.5	Each review helps more people find the show and join our
0:24.9	amazing community. And with that, please enjoy this week's episode. And the What's up everybody? My guests on this week's episode of Hidden Forces are philosophers Brandon Warmkey and Justin Tosey.
0:56.7	They are the authors of a new book titled Grandstanding, which they define as quote the use and abuse of moral talk for the purposes of
1:07.0	self-promotion. The book describes a spectacle that has become increasingly
1:12.4	prevalent in and destructive to public discourse.
1:16.6	And though it's most commonly associated with those on the political left, the practice of
1:21.1	grandstanding is an entirely bipartisan phenomenon.
1:25.0	For moral grandstanders, it isn't the pursuit of virtue that motivates them.
1:30.0	They're not concerned with doing good, they're concerned with looking good.
1:35.8	They want others to think that they are morally superior, and they're willing to go to great lengths
1:41.8	in order to do it,
1:43.2	including using moral talk as a tactic for punishment and intimidation.
1:49.3	The irony is that grandstanders accomplish all of this
1:52.4	by free riding on the moral behavior and good intentions of others.
1:56.9	They turn civil discourse into an arms race, weaponizing language and silencing their enemies with threats of doxing and humiliation.
2:06.5	In this sense, the marketplace of ideas suffers today from a tragedy of the Commons.
2:12.4	Grandstanding pollutes the information landscape
2:15.0	by incentivizing bad moral behavior at the expense of the common good.
	...

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