Not understanding your opponents goes both ways

It's clear that the Left does not understand Donald Trump or how he works.  As a result, he is able to keep them focused on whatever his tweet-du-jour is, rather than what he's working to accomplish.  He's racked up a fair record of wins so far doing this, and will continue to do so as long as his opponents refuse to take him seriously on his own terms.

But that applies to us as well.  Peter points out the latest idiocy du jour from the Left, and idiotic it is:

Yet another example of the blithering idiocy that has overtaken so much of academe in this country is provided by an organization calling itself "the BABEL working group", which earns our Doofus award today.

A prominent association of medieval studies scholars has pledged to boycott the discipline’s largest annual conference over a lack of social justice programming.

The first reaction is: the stupid, it burns!  But that's reacting to the BABEL Working Group the same way that the Media reacts to Donald Trump.  If we look at these people from their own perspective, we find something rational (and sinister):

The letter, which has been signed by more than 600 people as of press time, argues that by rejecting workshops such as “How to Be a White Ally in Medieval Studies 101,” “Toxic Medievalisms,” and “Intersectionality and the Medieval Romance,” the ICMS organizers are hurting scholars of color and excluding their perspectives.

“The rejection of multiple sessions co-sponsored by Medievalists of Color (MOC) in particular minimizes the intellectual guidance that scholars of color would provide at the conference, when these scholars are already severely underrepresented in the field,” the letter protests.

They have a rational goal - get more leftie/Social Justice Warrior representation in this academic field.  Their goal isn't scholarship, it's power.  And they mean business.

Quite frankly, the biggest knock against conservatives is not that they are standing athwart the march of history yelling "stop", but that they don't  analyze demands from the left in terms of power.  The idea that the GOP establishment is basically in favor of open borders is a great example of this.  Their donors want cheap illegal workers who can be bossed around without making much of a fuss, but the Democrats want voters.  It's about power.

And so when you see something that looks idiotic, consider that the Left is doing to you what Trump does to them.  Don't look at what they say, look at what they want to do.

So my (hopefully gentle) disagreement with Peter is that these aren't doofuses.  They are serious, and mean to do exactly what they say because it gets power for them.