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tortasaur | 5 years ago

Not sure what the parent was talking about specifically, but the ACLU has fallen into the trap of pursuing partisan politics. They have leaned hard into anti-Trump rhetoric to the point that it consumes almost all of their messaging, and at the same time they have distanced themselves from ideals they once defended (in particular, they have stopped providing legal defense support for free speech court cases if they find the speech sufficiently reprehensible).

The problem I personally have with this shift is that organizations like the ACLU, FSF, and EFF are really only useful if they defend a core set of ideals rather than towing the ever-shifting partisan line. There are plenty of ways to fund Democrat/Republican causes, but strikingly few ways to fund civil liberty defense, software freedom, and the rest of the values with less mind share.

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Daho0n|5 years ago

Being pro-democracy can be neutral one year and not the next if a facist leaning president gets elected. ACLU is neutral as in pro-democracy and pro-human rights. Changing political landscapes being for or against what the ACLU stands for has nothing to do with it suddenly not being neutral. Neutral doesn't mean "in the middle of the political spectrum".

Today we have a president that is firmly against the core set of ideals you speak of. That doesn't mean the ACLU should suddenly change their ideals.

>organizations like the ACLU, FSF, and EFF are really only useful if they defend a core set of ideals rather than towing the ever-shifting partisan line

Which are exactly what they are doing. Trump is against those core set of ideals.

eeZah7Ux|5 years ago

> ACLU is neutral as in pro-democracy and pro-human rights. Changing political landscapes being for or against what the ACLU stands for has nothing to do with it suddenly not being neutral.

You described the incredible shrinking and shifting of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

pessimizer|5 years ago

Nazis in Skokie are also against that core set of ideals. Only pursuing justice for people who you agree with is the essence of fascism. You have to be consistent to your own values, not evaluate victims to figure out whether you like them or not.

In fact, defending victims who you hate isolates and illustrates the principle.

cameldrv|5 years ago

The change at the ACLU happened way before Trump. When Romero replaced Glasser, the priorities and philosophy of the organization changed dramatically.