One of the most confounding peculiarities of contemporary political activism is the broad belief — apparently sincere — that getting along with the average person is a bad thing. Shouting down or assaulting opponents, blockading traffic, actual rioting: these are the modern activist’s sacred tools of persuasion. “Why are you screaming,” a sane person might ask. “Don’t tone police me,” the activist responds. “‘Respectability politics’ doesn’t work.”

But is that true?

While it is often argued that getting along, blending in, and finding points of commonality is the path of the loser, history indicates something entirely different. In fact, “respectability politics” seems to be the only activist tactic that has ever worked. Today, a fascinating, intuitive, and yet highly-controversial dive into the unfortunately (for crazy people) entirely “respectable” history of liberation from River Page.