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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   35727 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025

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You should ask what couldn't you post on SSC back when the relevant containment measures and splits were taking place.

There was a time when controversial issues got contained first in the Culture War thread on /r/SSC, and then got split off to the Motte. ACX came much later, and Scott was a lot more careful with controversial takes himself.

I don't have a clear memory of the creation of the CWT, but I remember posting in it and the split - I thought Scott wrote fairly clearly in his RIP Culture War Thread that he appreciated the CWT and was sorry to disassociate himself from it, but the hecklers were engaging IRL to veto it and it ultimately wasn't a wise battle to pick.

Right, but it still answers your question, and reaffirms his statements that we're here because Scott kicked us out.

"Scott kicked us out" seems like a dysphemistic way to describe (presumably characteristically nicely) asking the moderators of an independent subreddit named after his blog to stop doing something in association with that name, making this a bit "no true liberal." The top level comment was Is liberalism dying? Scott changed his life to be more liberal online, so, if anything, his online conduct is a pro-liberal trend.

"Scott kicked us out" seems like a dysphemistic way to describe (presumably characteristically nicely) asking the moderators of an independent subreddit named after his blog to stop doing something in association with that name

I don't see anything dysphemistic about it. The moderators theoretically being able to defy him doesn't detract from the fact that he wanted to cut himself off from certain opinions, some of which he held and holds himself. If nothing else, your original question "what can (/could) you say here that you couldn't say on ACX" is 100% answered.

The top level comment was Is liberalism dying? Scott changed his life to be more liberal online,

Is it more liberal? I've just been told by someone else that any act of repressing information is the fault of illiberalism. You're right it all feels very "no true liberal", but probably not in the way you intended.

I don't see anything dysphemistic about it. The moderators theoretically being able to defy him doesn't detract from the fact that he wanted to cut himself off from certain opinions, some of which he held and holds himself.

What would Scott have had to do to avoid being perceived as illiberal?

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