Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
So, what are you reading?
I'm still on Herzog's Citizen Knowledge. I can't say I care much for the discussions of actual events, but there are a lot of interesting references, and its position is very clearly written.
I'm also reading papers found in New Directions in the Ethics and Politics of Speech, edited by J.P. Messina (also open access). Currently, Cohen and Cohen's The Possibility and Defensibility of Nonstate "Censorship." This collection at least seems much more self-aware of censorship issues raised in recent times.
I'm about halfway through Eisel Mazard's No More Manifestos. I wish I could find a good review online because I can't do it justice, but it's hard to put the book down and hard to scoff at even if the ideas he's proposing are very radical.
In the last chapter I read he proposed that much of the abuses perpetrated by faceless bureaucrats and cops alike are largely the result of boredom, which induces callousness. He proposes as a solution an expanded version of Aristotle's notion of democratic equality (where civil functions are allocated by lot and any citizen can be called upon to serve say any function of the court) whereby any citizen can be called upon to serve as a policeman for a short period, or any policeman to serve a teaching function, or any surgeon a role as a nurse (suited to their abilities of course, a janitor wouldn't serve as a surgeon and a cop might only be suited to teach very basic subjects).
The goal isn't income equality or even a transfer of skills, but a disruption of the boredom induced by specialisation and a way to inject into the workplace a very practical notion of equality without falling into the terrible traps of aiming for income inequality or equality of status. The doctor will have more appreciation for the hard parts of a nurses job if he has spent at least a short time performing them himself, he will also have a more accurate idea of when they are being lazy and can hold them to the same standards he holds himself. The minor corruptions that are wilfully ignored in any job will be subject to more scrutiny if say cops have to allow regular citizens to work alongside them, and people will have more productive interactions with the police if they understand first-hand how difficult a job it is. The type of loyalty that allows police officers to coordinate on a lie covering up a bungled arrest would likely be disrupted if 2 of the 5 officers present during the incident were just normal citizens on a job rotation.
There's an anecdote about his attempt to join the Canadian military, and how as an artillery officer he would not be expected to know how to operate the guns himself. The lack of hands on experience here deprives officers of the ability to really know when their troops are working their hardest and when they are just being lazy, and the same goes for every type of institution.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link