Accepting self-interest as public speech’s only form can be fatal for communities

Evidence

If Amargo residents accepted the seemingly natural connection between environmental regulation and unemployment, and entered the public arena solely for the purpose of promoting their predefined ”self-interest,” they might advocate keeping local jobs at the expense of the environment. Their lack of political imagination could be fatal. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 160

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Expressions of narrow self-interest are rhetorical performances rather than literal self-reports — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 3; Public forums shrink citizens’ circles of concern toward personal interests. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 93; Treating talk as self-display makes audiences dismiss activists as attention-seekers — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1034 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Treating talk as self-display makes audiences dismiss activists as attention-seekers #exemplifies (0.82) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1034
• Valuing their own talk lets citizen groups grow political knowledge and broaden concern #contradicts (0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 1498
• Talk itself generates communities and power independent of fixed interests #contradicts (0.78)