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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   37782 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 20, 2023

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The reason I said that liberal science men and rational free thinkers are not in a position to do anything about that is not because of their real world political power or influence. It's because they are at their core liberals who at every turn have fought for people to have more control over their environments. And that's the elephant in the room. Because the problem isn't specific mechanisms. It's people. When you give people control over their environments they will mold it to form feedback loops.

Ah, my misread. Sorry. I have less to quarrel with in this.

Another issue I take with people like Haidt and the like broaching the topic the way they do is that it is inherently self serving. I mean, what a coincidence that the guy who doesn't like 'woke' politics is talking about how 'woke' women are mentally ill. Sorry, but I put about as much stock in the sincerity of the endeavor as when progressive science men create studies about how stupid racists are. To say nothing about the truth value of those claims, nor the actual sincerity of those involved. There are just too many arrows pointing in one direction, for a lack of a better explanation.

This I'm not particularly sympathetic to.

But then, I think we have very different views of the "people like Haidt" category. For one: he's pretty liberal himself (he is a social scientist, I mean...). These are his people, to be set right. For another: this topic is actually in line with his previous publishing. He's not just overreaching to own the wokes as some might be accused.

But I guess I'm just more optimistic about his motives. I've heard him beating the drum on the rising mental illness in young girls for years now - without emphasizing the woke element (he distrusts smartphones for kids and really hammers on limiting that as a solution, not merely "owning wokeness").

YMMV.

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