Of all the stupid phrases popularized in online discourse in the last ten years or so, I think "Read the room" is one of the worst. It really reveals how lib/prog politics are, at root, based on the desire to stay within what's perceived as being a stable consensus. /1

The "Room" in question is an imaginary place in the lib/prog's head, full of a phantom audience of cool, influential people whom the lib hopes to ingratiate himself to. He carries this imaginary audience everywhere, & it constantly approves/disapproves of every deed & thought. /2
The Room is a carefully choreographed dinner party, with all the right social ornaments on display and all the right shibboleths being said. It provides a measure of reassurance and belonging, but is constantly menaced by an undercurrent of anxiety, because... /3
...directly below the room is the basement, where all of the lib's fear, regret, shame, rage & secret desire is stashed. It's a cluttered, damp, humiliating place, & it's also the origin of the Room. /4
In fact, the Room is really a hallucination the lib has while he crouches ankle deep in the basement's filthy water. In his horror, he thinks that only he has a basement, and believes that the Room's inhabitants are simple and clean. /5
But really, the lib's entire social order is the basement, and they are all trapped in it *alone and together.* The lib is a deeply isolated person, alienated from himself and terrified of everyone else. His hatred for you is his inability to accept and forgive himself. /end

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