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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   30131 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 14, 2023

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This place has made me more anxious, more prejudiced, more frustrated, more hopeless, less compassionate, less able to appreciate beauty, less joyful.

For what it's worth I sympathize, and I have found myself participating less and less of late for much the same reasons. I find myself wondering why I'm wasting my time arguing with idiots and assholes here when I could be playing with my kids or spooning with their mother. The counter is that little voice in the back of my head that tells me that the righteous are in no need of a priest, and that a physician goes where the sick are. Maybe that's arrogant of me but that's what it is.

Edit to Elaborate: "Be the change you want to see" is one of those stupid fucking cliches that is also a deep wisdom. One that people in general, and rationalists in particular, seem to shy away from out of fear of appearing stupid or being taken for a sucker. Why "cooperate" when "defect" is an option? they ask. The answer takes many forms depending on context but what it ultimately boils down to "people like you are why we can't have nice things".

When @BurdensomeCount asks Are you stupid or am I evil? the answer is "yes". We are all at least a little bit stupid, we are all at least a little bit evil, but that doesn't mean you should be the sort of guy who wears flip-flops in the foundry.

FWIW I hope you stick around but will wish you well if you don't. Do what you must.

I was really hoping that hyperlink was to a story about some idiot wearing flip flops at a foundry because that would prove to me the multiverse theory!

I like this place, but I think it's gotten too right-dominated since the move from Reddit. I come here to be challenged by people to my left who are both smart and intellectually honest, a rare breed. The only other place where I could find them was the SSC Discord, and they permabanned me. (The adjacent servers also have a uniform rule to ban me if I ever talk politics.) So I'm stuck here regardless of my criticisms, but I wish it was leftier.

Agreed. It feels like there's a lack of new blood and new ideas. Not an unexpected problem, but still there's no solution.

We need to hire paid shills. Not to advertise this site, but to post on it. Maybe we can find some Correct the Record or JIDF alumni!

I must be getting old because the idea of someone standing out as "new blood" just sounds annoying. As for new ideas, I suppose you're right, but it's not like they can be found anywhere else.

Come to think of it there seems to be a distinct lack of energy at the moment. As much as I hated it, back during the rise of BreadTube it was undeniable the energy was there. I tend to think it's for the better, the last decade was a wild ride, I don't think you can do anything constructive in that kind of atmosphere.

Do you see the irony in "I wish we had more leftists, like that other place where they ban anyone who isn't leftist"?

They didn't ban me for not being a leftist, bro. They banned me because of my significant personality problems that made me impossible for the management to deal with. They had a number of right-wingers there as of the last time I checked (which is admittedly over 3 years ago), and I hear the new admin is an anti-woke libertarian (so basically right-wing).

I just want to be challenged more.

More lefty people would be nice, but even more than that I'd just like more perspectives, and more topics, whether about tangential political issues or even nonpolitical ones.

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