I think the problem he is pointing out in your statement is that you effectively just said everyone either agrees with your or is unreasonable. There is no middle ground. I can not be a reasonable person who disagrees with you.
Re:Why Is the NYPD So Powerful?
by dredmorbius on Thursday June 04, 2020 @08:22PM
(#23423665)
My interpretation is reasonable not in the senses of being establishment, elite, or some other socioeconomic signifier, but as in literally amenable to being convinced by reasoned argument, based on evidence and logical relationships between premises, evidence, and conclusions.
Contrasted with insensitive to reason.
So no, not a dog whistle.
Re:Why Is the NYPD So Powerful?
by grandmczeb on Thursday June 04, 2020 @08:24PM
(#23423685)
A more charitable reading: a large subset of all reasonable New Yorkers support the police in general. Not sure if that was what they meant, but it's how I read it.
Where you say reasonable, I think you mean to say mainstream.
Re:Why Is the NYPD So Powerful?
by JumpCrisscross on Thursday June 04, 2020 @08:18PM
(#23423632)
> Where you say reasonable, I think you mean to say mainstream
Able to be reasoned with?
Mainstream pertains to "ideas, attitudes or activities" [1]. A protest probably wants to appeal to those who hold mainstream views. Or bring its supporters' views into the mainstream. But the whole point of the protest is something isn't mainstream that should be.
Reasonable seems valid. With the information they had, those New Yorkers reasoned that the police were doing a good job. Likewise if you were to bring them new information, they might reason that the police are doing a bad job. And there are also reasonable people who think the police are doing a bad job, they were just exposed to a different set of information and/or different values than the people who think the police are doing a good job.
And then on the extremes are the unreasonable people. Those who will support the police regardless of any negative change, and those who will oppose the police regardless of any positive change.
Unreasonable people are not a protest's priority. They are entrenched. If they're with you, you won't lose them. If they're against you, you won't win them.
Note that this bias towards the reasonable only applies at the early stages of organization. When one is building awareness, before specific policies have been mooted. Once policy fronts develop, the unreasonable play their part. They create your battering ram of a base that focusses elected leaders on ensuring your policy remains a priority.
Putting the unreasonable front and centre too early leads to each camp preaching to its choir while the masses disengage.