I’m involved in a lonely war against the deployment of particular abstractions. I call it RPM theory. I believe “Religion,” “Politics,” and “the Media” are perhaps the three most catastrophically unexamined abstractions in the English language.
There is no there there.
There’s people. But there is no the religion or the politics or the media. Just people making decisions.
Most of these people can be addressed as people. It can take time and effort and fancy footwork. But addressing people as persons can be done.
It works. Maybe it’s the only thing that works.