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I am fond of the immune system analogy, myself, when it comes to putting environmental (i.e. social) pressure on bad ideas in real time. Like anything else, how

I am fond of the immune system analogy, myself, when it comes to putting environmental (i.e. social) pressure on bad ideas in real time. Like anything else, however, striking the right balance and behaving ethically are vital companions to the application of this pressure. There was no balance here, and the vitriolic mob response was full of unethical behavior. I’m usually at least somewhat amenable to the “but the bad actors are mostly just the outliers” position, as well. In most cases, that’s true. Again, however, not here. Anyone who read the manifesto and the “response” post by Zunger while practicing even a nominal amount of epistemological integrity would have immediately recognized that Zunger’s post was wildly dishonest, did not deal directly with the content of the post at all, and apparently even thought that fantasizing violence against the manifesto author was an acceptable way to respond. It wasn’t. I was and remain extremely disappointed in Bay Area tech culture right now. This “manifesto” —a ridiculous and politically expedient moniker— was a crucial opportunity to have a culture-wide teaching moment and we blew it spectacularly. We could have had a nuanced, intelligent discussion about an extremely personal and difficult topic while also demonstrating to Mr. Damont why his application of the very real, widely accepted science he cited was wrong-headed and possibly even oppressive[1]. But no. We didn’t want to acknowledge the facts at all, and our aversion to doing so was so strong that a witch-hunt was executed instead. Meanwhile, we still seem largely oblivious that we made Mr. Damont’s broader point for him. And for the alt-right. They’re having a field day with this, and it’s all the more infuriating because they’re not wrong this time. [1] e.g. https://contemporarysex.tumblr.com/post/163876071377/doing-anti-diversity-wrong https://contemporarysex.tumblr.com/post/163876071377/doing-a...

someguydave 9y ago
As someone on the right, I fear that this episode will be interpreted by folks on the right as extremely threatening. People who feel cornered and threatened and silenced are exactly the kind of people who would give themselves over to an authority who promises to rescue them from threats. They might think something like this: "The very wealthy people who control a sizable portion of the Internet and hold vast influence in society hate me. They would gladly ruin me even if I gently express a rational and benign version of what I really think." My point: be very careful about making threats in reaction to benign speech. People might take you seriously.

someguydave 9y ago

As someone on the right, I fear that this episode will be interpreted by folks on the right as extremely threatening. People who feel cornered and threatened and silenced are exactly the kind of people who would give themselves over to an authority who promises to rescue them from threats. They might think something like this: "The very wealthy people who control a sizable portion of the Internet and hold vast influence in society hate me. They would gladly ruin me even if I gently express a rational and benign version of what I really think." My point: be very careful about making threats in reaction to benign speech. People might take you seriously.