2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: While I support the overall BLM movement, the group's so-called "representatives" have lost me. [View all]Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Tone actually matters, whether you're a 'group', a 'movement', a 'candidate' or anyone else.
Different tones allow you to communicate to different audiences. Bernie's 'tone' when it came to speaking to black voters simply wasn't working, and he needed an upgrade. He had never said all racism could be eliminated by economics, a strawman frequently thrown around when talking about him, but because his 'tone' was to talk mostly about economics even when discussing racism he wasn't communicating with a lot of black folks.
Can talking about tone be used as an attack? Sure. But it isn't automatically so. Sometimes it's simply a discussion of the best way to communicate a message you want to communicate.
BLM's protest was, metaphorically, slapping a bunch of highly preoccupied people in the face. Some people said 'Hey, why did you do that?' - which is what BLM wanted - for people to actually pay attention to them. Others immediately started punching and slapping back without asking why they got slapped. And even after having it shouted at them that they were slapped for a reason, stayed pissed over having been slapped at all. And that's the danger of such an approach. Different people respond differently.
BLM got what they wanted from Sanders and many of his followers, but alienated others. Sanders matters more, given his position, so overall, their tone was effective, when his had not been.