@ApplesauceIrishCream's banner p

ApplesauceIrishCream


				

				

				

					0 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					

					
joined 2022 September 06 20:15:39 UTC
				

				

				

				

				

				

					
				

				

				
				
				

				
User ID: 882


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
ApplesauceIrishCream


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				

				
				
				

				

					0 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2022 September 06 20:15:39 UTC
				


				
					

					
No bio...

				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 882


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
‎

			

				
				

					Hour
					Day
					Week
					Month
					Year
					
				

			


			
‎

			

	
	

	 Hot Bump Top New Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I guess I got lost in the wording, then.  It was not obvious to me that naraburns was speaking about himself.


Even so, I also don't see how the idea that "Biden is not in control" particularly reflects on Joe Biden.  Certainly I have a low opinion of the man from years back, but he's not morally responsible for things outside his control.  On this specific topic, I am particularly irritated with Jill Biden.  She's the one who married the guy, and I do not believe that this charade is in Joe's best interests.  Elder abuse is an ugly thing, and that's what this looks like to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
See Dean's comment below.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 26, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Governing other people is harder than governing yourself.




Eh, I think this depends on cases enough that neither this statement nor the reverse is usefully true.  It is true that very few people are fit to rule others unchecked, without becoming corrupted by having more power than is wise.


Fundamentally, what a government--any government--is, is a methodology for figuring out what rules will be enforced within a society.  Absent a completely anarchic state of nature--which can exist, briefly--there will be rules that are enforced.  Democracy is that class of methodologies where that authority is spread most broadly, unlike, say, monarchy, where the authority is very concentrated.


In a democracy, you get to determine the rules that your neighbor must live by.  But the same applies in reverse, and hashing out what that means in practice is part of democratic negotiation such that the demos arrives at a conclusion.  Can you set some questions aside, such that each follows his own path?  Yes!  And you really really should do that in a number of cases, history is quite clear!  But the agreement to set questions aside, and not make an enforced rule, is itself a rule that may be revisited.


There are a number of ways to decorate decisions-not-to-decide, and paint "we really mean it!" on them.  "This is locked behind a supermajority requirement" or "this concept is culturally set aside as special."  Even then, those protections may erode, and what was once settled becomes unsettled again.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Why Rule Utilitarianism Fails as a Moral Stance
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Your argument would be more sound if you didn't misrepresent one of the most famous lines in the English language.


The line is "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal," etc.  What Jefferson is doing here is declaring his axioms.  He does make several arguments later in the Declaration, but they follow from those axioms; they aren't meant to prove them.  Jefferson is speaking to multiple audiences, some of whom reject his axioms--the Declaration is a bold statement that the American colonies intend to chart a path entirely separated from the monarchical institutions of Europe, from the bedrock assumptions of society up.


You can't rephrase "we hold these truths to be self evident" as "obviously."  Your conclusion, that handing down traditions takes effort, is sound, but Jefferson would likely agree.  Ben Franklin certainly would; when asked what kind of government the Constitution created, he responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."  The conditional displays your point, that traditions and institutions require maintenance, and are not immune to decay if neglected.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 9, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Younger republicans have turned even more sharply against Israel, considering the baseline.




Evidence?  Yes, the baseline support for Israel in the Republican party is very high, but in terms of policy, Trump was a move towards Israel, not away, and I believe he's been reasonably popular among "younger Republicans."  BDS isn't a party plank for the Democrats yet, but it has become a non-fringe (and growing) position within the party.




democrats have been getting further in bed with centrist neoliberal parties that usually want the middle eastern Cold War to end.




Wanting isn't having; policies matter.  In any case, Democrats have also been getting further in bed with the Iranian regime, and while you could fairly say that the mullahs also want the Middle Eastern Cold War to end, they consider a glowing crater where Tel Aviv used to be as a valid means to that end.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Why Rule Utilitarianism Fails as a Moral Stance
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
An axiom is a premise to an argument.  You don't set out to prove axioms within the scope of an argument not because they are obviously true, but because they are outside the scope of the argument by definition.  You use axioms to prove conclusions.  Yes, you may use "self-evident" more or less interchangeably with "obvious," but I never said otherwise.  I said that "we hold these truths to be self-evident" is not the same as "self-evidently."  "We hold" is doing crucial work here, and may not be discarded without changing the meaning of the statement.


Jefferson's use of "self-evident" in the quoted letter to Madison is consistent with the above.  Again, Jefferson is declaring an axiom, or at least offering one for discussion--"I suppose to be" is a somewhat less emphatic phrasing than "we hold," but it serves the same basic purpose.


Jefferson's twenty-year sunset idea is famously nutty[1], but there's a distinction to be drawn between his private writings to Madison, and the public documents he drafted, like the Declaration.  In the Declaration, Jefferson isn't just speaking for himself--after all, there's a long list of signatories, and Jefferson's early drafts got cut down a fair bit in editing-by-committee.


[1] Well, they are famously nutty now, with the posthumous publication of a great many letters and documents that were private at the time they were written.  As I recall, Madison's response was more or less, "what a fascinating idea; you should definitely not mention it to anyone else."  Madison was considerably more sensible than Jefferson, admittedly not the highest of bars.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 31, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Have you tried the "save comment/post" functionality?  That seems like the logical place to hang a notification flag, if one isn't already there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for December 22, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've generally heard it described as "imperial units are superior for human-scale measurement; metric is superior for much larger or much smaller scales."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 23, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think this is an example of progressives holding on to a particular Christian value arbitrarily; rather, I think it's the case that rape-as-a-major-bad-thing fits particularly cleanly into a philosophy organized around an oppressor/oppressed dynamic coupled with avoidance-of-harm as a major value.  A Christian who retains the values of his heritage would agree that rape is a particularly bad thing, but his philosophical basis is different (e.g. the strong should protect the weak and sex is sacred).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 14, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
MIT isn't full of socially astute individuals, but it's not short of them either.  Essentially, MIT filters for high-IQ (though to be more precise, its filter is a high baseline requirement for math aptitude and prior education--if you're not ready for a hardcore dive into calculus when you show up, you're in the wrong place).


There isn't much of a filter for social competence.  You'll get stereotypical nerds who have issues with interpersonal obliviousness or maturity, but you'll also get cheerful, outgoing cheerleader-types who happen to like tutoring statistics and casually nailing at least a standard deviation above class average on their upper-division chemical engineering exams.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 20, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, I accidentally crossed up the ICJ and the ICC, though as it happens, the US has some issues with both.  One of the difficulties with the ICJ is that it can't really bind permanent members of the UNSC, since they can just veto enforcement of its rulings.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 13, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Another complication is that this right vs. left judgment is context-dependent, based on the particular society you're looking at.  In a lot of cases, each individual judgment may be more directional than absolute--for example, a rightist might say "our society is too error-prone in judging individual rich people guilty of exploitation; it should do that less," while a leftist in the same society might draw the opposite conclusion.  Move the same people to a different society, and they may both find themselves on the same side of a relative center that is positioned differently.


(Also, the leftist critique here is a classical Marxist economic-centered view; the woke left seems to have no particularly strong view of wealth per se, as their societal critique is identity-centered.  ...I admit, I'm amused by the the potential question of whether someone identifies as a rich person.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Mainstream Media is Worse Than Silence: If your Big Picture is wrong, say nothing.
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Another situation that is sort of like the inverse of your ADHD meds is intoxication, often drunkenness.  It is common for the law to distinguish between voluntary intoxication (I went to the bar and got drunk) and involuntary intoxication (I was at a party and someone spiked my nonalcoholic drink without my knowledge).  With some edge-case exceptions, you're considered responsible for wrongdoing if you voluntarily became intoxicated, but not responsible if it was involuntary.


By a parallel construction, even if unmedicated ADHD causes a loss of agency, you might be considered responsible if your meds were available and you chose not to take them.  (I think the Kanye situation is related--he's pretty severely bipolar, but unmedicated by choice, as the meds negatively affect his creativity.  In my opinion, he gets to take the good with the bad in terms of being "publicly creative.")


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of January 16, 2023
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I presume you mean "Germany would have already supplied tanks to Ukraine"?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 7, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, I meant it more in terms of recreational reading, not a fully-general "other people's opinions don't matter."  They do.  And not all low-status things are created equal--some things are low status  for justifiable reasons.  Even in terms of recreational reading, I'm not going so far as to say anything goes.  But "the important books" is not a good limiter.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of November 7, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For the most part, screw status.  Unless it's something that feeds negative habits, enjoy the stuff you enjoy.  There's plenty of high status stuff that is either trash or not useful to you.


One series that I love is trashy paranormal romance, and it's hard to get lower status than that for a guy.  There are legit reasons that I love the series, but "no, seriously, this is quality trashy paranormal romance!" is not a status-enhancing line when said sincerely.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
One issue with reducing AAQC to a button is that button will likely get pushed much more often than people currently go through the "report-->AAQC" process, which would add a bunch more content to the mod stack for filtering into the AAQC report.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


accelerationist




Are you describing FC's post as accelerationist?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The original must have the quality "created first."  Doesn't that impose a limit on how perfectly identical any copy can be?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 17, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, very much so.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 16, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I expect that a cultural emphasis on validation, everyone-gets-a-trophy style, leads to a poor tolerance for sustained disagreement.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm just saying it's not completely ruined and that I'll rewatch it no problem.




Sure, and if you choose to rewatch it, I hope you enjoy yourself.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
But does it count as a petard if it doesn't identify as a petard?


Yes, obvious joke, but there's also a point--what are the consequences of not acknowledging the existence of bad actors, and who can and will enforce the consequences?


There was a bit of earlier discussion about kids pushing boundaries, and how that's normal, but it's the job of adults to set boundaries.  I fully agree, but this is yet another case of those with the power to set boundaries refusing to do so.  That petard ain't gonna set itself.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Gnomes in the brain is an obviously crazy argument, though, whereas dementia in an elderly person is not.  That has a bearing on whether the argument is sincere, and therefore whether it's an attack on Guy at all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I agree that this is also one likely possibility, and mentioned it above as "resigns peacefully," though I was agnostic on whether he'd retain enough control of the process to choose a successor (and whether or not that successor would be effectively a puppet).