According to the New York Times's Kathleen Kingsbury, we are living in a period of political division. In June, the newspaper published an op-ed by Tom Cotton, sparking weeks of debate over the politics and practices of mainstream media. Looking for a silver lining in the fallout over Cotton's racist screed, Kingsbury, recently appointed the acting opinion editor at the Times, wrote that it "generated a necessary dialogue" and "elevated a conversation worth having and will help inform what discourse looks like in a polarized world."
Kingsbury's proposed solution to the polarization she identified—namely, conversation—is telling. The claim felt pointed, particularly now as establishment media and political personalities are concerned about the consequences of radical demands for systemic reinvention, restructuring, and abolition in the wake of the covid-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter movement. This is neither accidental nor benign. It is the deliberate project of what I call the Having Conversations Industrial Complex: a loose assemblage of professional speakers, non-profit organizations, astroturfed activists, diversity consultants, academic advisory boards, panelists, and politicians who are paid to generate a "conversation" that doesn't need to show tangible results. Rather, the only role of the conversation is to generate more conversations. And while they profit off of the Having Conversations Industrial Complex (professionally, socially, financially, and ideologically), those at the frontline are injured, arrested, and labeled "terrorists." The Having Conversations Industrial Complex exists to enrich the powerful and defuse radical demands.
From Google to Target, to Tim Hortons, to L'Oréal Paris, to Coca-Cola, to Spotify, even corporations are having conversations. In the lingo of the Having Conversations Industrial Complex, companies are "listening," "learning," and striving to "do better," without doing much beyond posting a black square or a vague statement about racial justice on social media. But brands are not the only ones "having conversations" right now. Educational institutions that spent the last several decades harming and policing students and faculty of color are suddenly recommitting to "diversity" and "dialogue," absent any material, structural changes. School boards are ostensibly ready to learn about the dangers of racism, even as they've been ignoring evidence of racism for years. Even police departments are "listening" as well. Politicians are excited to have conversations, too, so long as those conversations don't require them to take a stance. The conversation is continuing, with no end in sight.
The Emptiness and Inertia of 'Having Conversations'
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