Moral Outrage as a Deliberate Tactic

A while ago I wrote a post about moral outrage being a kind of commitment strategy. It's like staking out a position at the bargaining table and insisting that you won't budge.

This is surely a bi-partisan strategy, but I mostly see it as a tactic of the "social justice" leftists. I have no doubt that the people who bare their outrage are indeed displaying real anger. But most of the time when adults are dealing with other adults they have to attenuate their emotions. We all learn that we sometimes need to do this. So expressing outrage is a choice. People who do so are doing it deliberately.

I think it makes sense to point this out. It's perfectly fair to call people out when they are doing it. The result is usually that you become the target of the person's outrage. This reaction makes sense, even if the outrage is cultivated and deliberate. The person might sound like they are so unhinged that they can't think straight. But I imagine them saying, "Look, I have this super-weapon, and it's working for me. So if you attempt to disarm me, I'm going to use it on you." So when someone starts to denounce me for allegedly sympathizing with racists, or denounces me for allegedly being a sexist, I try to view it as an intentional, cynical debating tactic. When somebody starts cursing me out, not for taking a specific policy position but for insisting on an even-handed, thoughtful, outrage-free discussion (as happened to me on Facebook recently), it's simply hard to take such childish outbursts seriously. We need to look this in the eye and see it for what it really is. The response should be, "I see exactly what you are doing, and I'm simply not going to engage with such immature behavior."

(This old Slate Star Codex post is relevant. Scott responds to someone who argues that intentionally fighting dirty is justified. So at least in some cases the moral outrage we see is a carefully cultivated strategy.)

The "outrage as deliberate strategy" framing may be accurate even if the outraged party doesn't realize it. Evolution instilled emotions into us to serve specific purposes. Sadness to advertise to our community that we deeply regret a recent misfortune, as opposed to planning to opportunistically benefit from someone's untimely death. Happiness and merriment to bond with our allies and advertise that, indeed, they are our allies. Anger to warn our enemies that we will fight if slighted, even seek revenge (a costly endeavor in a one-off, forward-looking "cut-your-losses" sense) if attacked. Moral outrage warns the community that certain affronts will not be tolerated. Evolution gave us all this emotional baggage, but how we carry it is up to us to decide.

I said in my earlier post, linked to above, that baring your moral outrage is sometimes justified, and I still think that. If you're on the brink of some important policy change and you need to fight dirty just this one time to push it through and you're 100% confident that you're right about this one, fine. I understand. Just be careful that you don't get to used to doing this, so you think an angry outburst will win every argument. ("Hey, that was easy! That guy really shut his mouth. I'll remember this for next time.") Doing it too often invites blow-back, poisons your moral credibility, and backs you into a corner.