The power to set the etiquette of debate is itself political power

Evidence

While we might rightly cheer when ”the little people” rise up to defend their own, very local interests,”’ my point is that without this power to create the etiquette for political participation, citizens are powerless. Without this power to determine what sorts of questions are worth discussing in public, citizens are deprived of an important power, the power to define what is worthy of public debate, what is important, what is good and right, what is changeable and what is just natural - even if they sucessfully promote projects that are in their ’“‘interest” (Laclau and Mouffe 1985). — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 161

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Officials welcome citizen self-interest speech but treat public-spirited debate as rude — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 1369; Consensus is manufactured through the process of debate itself.; Declaring something unpolitical is itself a political decision (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Declaring something unpolitical is itself a political decision #corroborates (0.90)
• Deciding that something is unpolitical is itself a political act. #corroborates (0.90) — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 1088
• Consensus is manufactured through the process of debate itself. #expands (0.85)
• Effective discourse that organizes power relations constitutes a regime of truth. #expands (0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 591
• Choosing what to attend to is itself the core political and ethical act #expands (0.80)
• Power requires an economy of true discourses to function. #complicates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 42