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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   31584 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023

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Ah, I actually think that kind of "you will eat the bugs bigot" doomposting follows the recognition of that truth, but also the next step - that consent can be manufactured and 90% (charitably) of the populace are incapable of seeing through it.

After living through Australian covid I know that it doesn't matter if you sit someone down and walk them through it - 'yes Anastasia Palecek said masks and lockdowns and vaccine mandate, but she can't actually stop you from going to the shops, let alone force you to get drugs injected - and the only reason she is getting away with it currently is because you let her, if everyone walked outside right now and set their masks on fire she would have to accept that Queensland no longer tolerates masks.' they might agree with you in principle, but they will turn around two minutes later and tell you you need a mask if you are going driving.

Did I consent to any of that shit? No, the closest I got was malicious compliance when absolutely necessary. Did it change anything? Yes, dozens of people I once considered friends now refuse to talk to me on the grounds that I am The Joker. Anything in the nature of covid management? Not a thing. None of the people in charge will ever be held responsible.

And if it happens again - maybe this time China weaponises eczema and we all have to handcuff ourselves behind our backs so the infected don't scratch themselves to death - everyone will do as they are told and give me disappointed looks when I tear my hair out wondering why they play along. What else can I do but doompost?

I think the "illegal = flat out impossible" conceit is much more common here than you give it credit for. At the very least it seems to be a reasonably common failure mode of the "systematizing" personality type in general, and rationalists in particular. I actually think it's a large part of the whole "rationalists as quokka" meme. There seems to be this endemic belief in the fundamental correctness of "systems" and "inductive reason" that is simply not supported by observed reality because any scenario involving multiple actors/agents is by its nature going to be anti-inductive and actively resist systematization.

Yeah that's fair. I always assume they are getting carried away with their arguments and forgetting is/ought, because I do that a lot, but that's the other thing I do too much - typical minding.

Yeah that's fair. I always assume they are getting carried away with their arguments and forgetting is/ought, because I do that a lot, but that's the other thing I do too much - typical minding.

I sympathize.

I think a lot of people end up cowed because they at least perceive they have something to lose by defecting. If you’re PMC especially, the prospect of jail is much more scary because it’s not just jail, but a complete economic and social death sentence. You’ll lose most of that comfortable lifestyle, the good job as an apperachnik, the nice house, the nice car, respect and social standing. Rebellion takes that, if you’re arrested. Felons have very few options— most of them terrible— for work. Respectable places don’t want you. The wages (n.b. The felon generally must take an hourly wage) is generally barely a survival wage. Most respectable people don’t hang around with felons either.

With that much to lose, most of those raised PMC are raised with a very strong dose of “obey the law and be a good boy.” Other classes don’t. Someone who’s in the working class thumbs their nose at authorities all the time. They aren’t really the worse for it. If you worked for a survival wage at QuikTrip before you got arrested, you aren’t that much worse to work at QT afterwards. Your shitty house and car aren’t going to get worse. As such the hold the system has on you is much lighter. And at least in America, the bulk of the COVID rebellion came from such stock — people with nothing much to lose.

If you’re PMC especially, the prospect of jail is much more scary because it’s not just jail, but a complete economic and social death sentence.

And quite possibly a literal one, depending on which facility they decide to put you in. Defend yourself too vigorously during the trial and you might find yourself becoming the newest bitch at Five Points.

It is possible both to be above the law, and below it.

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