Progressive activists and social scientists talk constantly about advocating for and working with communities in a way that neither demonizes them nor romanticizes them, that neither fetishizes them nor mocks them (check out UC Berkeley’s resource list on critical theory and social welfare). A solid rule of thumb is that if you feel like another way of life is idyllic or hellish, you���re not acknowledging the complexity and you’re missing the nuance. Humans are neither inherently good nor inher...