points that don’t need to be belabored

We know — we all know —

That people impose standards on their Outgroup that they never impose on their Ingroup.

That politicians do 180º turns on any and every issue, depending on which party controls Congress or the Presidency, or on what direction the Supreme Court seems to be leaning. (A quarter-century ago, when SCOTUS was left-dominated, the right complained about “the judicial usurpation of politics”; now that the composition of the court has changed, it’s the left making precisely the same complaint.)

That people forgive politicians or actors or writers they approve of for sins that they vociferously condemn when committed by their cultural enemies.

That people denounce “cancel culture” when someone they approve of is being hounded but call precisely the same behavior “accountability culture” when they’re hounding someone they hate.

That the most inconsistent people in earth will furiously denounce their political enemies for inconsistency.

We know all that now, we don’t need to keep pointing it out. We also know that pointing it out won’t change anyone’s behavior. So what’s next? What’s the next step, socially and politically, if a common standard for all is no longer on the table?