4 ms·

This article is a great example of what I'd call "mindless problematization" From what I've seen, this is you're trained to do in modern humanities departments

This article is a great example of what I'd call "mindless problematization" From what I've seen, this is you're trained to do in modern humanities departments. Take any seemingly obvious claim and "problematize" it. It's telling that they do not say "nuance" it, rather it has to be made a _problem_. e.g. if you think "wilderness" is a thing you subscribe to a racist idea for "white male elites", if you think social media is affecting childhood development you're just caught up in the religious fervor of "scientized version of the biblical story of the Fall". A whole lot of BS gets written this way, because these arguments have the superficial air of being subversive and contrarian.

ad-astra 5y ago
In some cases it reminds me of my fundamentalist religious upbringing where everything was “of the world” and even trivial things like Pokémon, Christmas Trees, and Teletubbies were viewed as problematic and sinister
ghostbrainalpha 5y ago
'the superficial air of being subversive and contrarian.' I like this idea, its a great filter for BS.
LeftHandPath 5y ago
Spot on. “Meretricious” is the ten-dollar word for this.
- ptsneves 5y ago
  Never saw this word employed as anything else than euphemistic "whoreish". One never ceases to learn!
alexpotato 5y ago
In Mary Roach's book "Packing for Mars" [0], in the section where they talk about the psychological impact of going into space, there is an interesting anecdote about the history of trains. As trains began to become more commonplace, there were concerns in England that the speed at which trains traveled would cause passengers to panic given that humans had never experienced both the speed and the motion parallax. This of course, all turned out be for nought and was best summarized by a Russian cosmonaut in the book "This is problem only concern for psychologists". 0 - https://amzn.to/3yMBtVb https://amzn.to/3yMBtVb

ad-astra 5y ago

In some cases it reminds me of my fundamentalist religious upbringing where everything was “of the world” and even trivial things like Pokémon, Christmas Trees, and Teletubbies were viewed as problematic and sinister

ghostbrainalpha 5y ago

'the superficial air of being subversive and contrarian.' I like this idea, its a great filter for BS.

LeftHandPath 5y ago

Spot on. “Meretricious” is the ten-dollar word for this.

ptsneves 5y ago
Never saw this word employed as anything else than euphemistic "whoreish". One never ceases to learn!

alexpotato 5y ago

In Mary Roach's book "Packing for Mars" [0], in the section where they talk about the psychological impact of going into space, there is an interesting anecdote about the history of trains. As trains began to become more commonplace, there were concerns in England that the speed at which trains traveled would cause passengers to panic given that humans had never experienced both the speed and the motion parallax. This of course, all turned out be for nought and was best summarized by a Russian cosmonaut in the book "This is problem only concern for psychologists". 0 - https://amzn.to/3yMBtVb https://amzn.to/3yMBtVb