3 ms·

One of my biggest fears with this line of rhetoric: Extreme is a relative descriptor. From the blog post: I am not for the emerging progressive Robin Hood nar

One of my biggest fears with this line of rhetoric: Extreme is a relative descriptor. From the blog post: I am not for the emerging progressive Robin Hood narrative. I am certainly not for the entrenched conservative Let Them Eat Cake narrative. I am for a new narrative that understands that everything must change if we are to find ways to support everyone in our society. As far as I can tell, all societies have some form of redistribution as well as some form of Pareto distribution. This is because the Pareto distribution just appears everywhere in the same way the Normal distribution appears everywhere. However, the social instincts of Homo sapiens operate on a relative basis. Social unrest can well be brought about from relative poverty. Evidence indicates that crime is strongly correlated with relative poverty, not absolute poverty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3XYHPAwBzE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3XYHPAwBzE Calling Pareto outcomes "immoral" is insanity. It's ideology denying historical and scientific facts. However, denying the social effects of relative poverty is also ideology denying historical and scientific facts. We do need a new narrative, or perhaps an old narrative updated for today. (We need to stop the squeezing of "everyone" pastimes for luxury profits.) Great wealth is only stable in a society where people feel the rising tide lifting all boats. In any case, a narrative that vilifies entire groups of people is the last thing we need in 2019.

squirrelicus 8y ago
See that's kind of the schtick. There's strong incontrovertible evidence that capitalism is the hitherto only discovered thing that causes the tide to actually lift all boats in reality. The contention is how equally it should lift (and if that's even possible and even desirable, if possible)
- stcredzero 8y ago
  There's strong incontrovertible evidence that capitalism is the hitherto only discovered thing that causes the tide to actually lift all boats in reality. The contention is how equally it should lift (and if that's even possible and even desirable, if possible) Everyone should be able to take their family to the park, the museum, the movies, or the ballgame. Doing so shouldn't make you choose between feeling lesser/2nd rate or paying some big fraction of your entire paycheck. "Everywoman" and "everyman" should have their own nobility and feel they belong. That's how you know if a society works. The wealthy should rightly fear the unrest of the masses. That's simply how Homo sapiens have worked throughout all cultures and all of history. There should be virtuous works for the public which include the entire community. Basically, either they fill the populist role, or someone else will step in and do it for them. The 1st option is not only the best for them, it's the best for society as a whole.
  - squirrelicus 8y ago
    I don't understand. It's difficult to not read the straw man "all seats should be equidistant from the baseball diamond" I hear you saying a lot of shoulds which need justification by themselves, but even if I accept them, there's nothing we know of that can provide that. A core contention between us is likely to be "how much of our current lives are we willing to risk to speculate toward the feel-good shoulds?" My answer is "all steps should be dramatically small and take a long time to make sure we can back out if we misstep." That's the core of what it means to be conservative, to me. In other words, Hell is a long way down, we, all of us, have it too good to speculate dramatically in large ways or in fast ways.

squirrelicus 8y ago

See that's kind of the schtick. There's strong incontrovertible evidence that capitalism is the hitherto only discovered thing that causes the tide to actually lift all boats in reality. The contention is how equally it should lift (and if that's even possible and even desirable, if possible)

stcredzero 8y ago
There's strong incontrovertible evidence that capitalism is the hitherto only discovered thing that causes the tide to actually lift all boats in reality. The contention is how equally it should lift (and if that's even possible and even desirable, if possible) Everyone should be able to take their family to the park, the museum, the movies, or the ballgame. Doing so shouldn't make you choose between feeling lesser/2nd rate or paying some big fraction of your entire paycheck. "Everywoman" and "everyman" should have their own nobility and feel they belong. That's how you know if a society works. The wealthy should rightly fear the unrest of the masses. That's simply how Homo sapiens have worked throughout all cultures and all of history. There should be virtuous works for the public which include the entire community. Basically, either they fill the populist role, or someone else will step in and do it for them. The 1st option is not only the best for them, it's the best for society as a whole.
- squirrelicus 8y ago
  I don't understand. It's difficult to not read the straw man "all seats should be equidistant from the baseball diamond" I hear you saying a lot of shoulds which need justification by themselves, but even if I accept them, there's nothing we know of that can provide that. A core contention between us is likely to be "how much of our current lives are we willing to risk to speculate toward the feel-good shoulds?" My answer is "all steps should be dramatically small and take a long time to make sure we can back out if we misstep." That's the core of what it means to be conservative, to me. In other words, Hell is a long way down, we, all of us, have it too good to speculate dramatically in large ways or in fast ways.