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The problem we have in the US is we tend to placate to the vocal minority, rather than realizing that they are in fact just a vocal minority. Say you have 10 p

The problem we have in the US is we tend to placate to the vocal minority, rather than realizing that they are in fact just a vocal minority. Say you have 10 parents that let their kids play outside. No one has a problem with this until an 11th parent shows up and it mortified, think the kids will all get hurt if they are allowed to be outside like this. That parent makes a stink, take it to the city council, and a rule is put in place that you can't let your kids go outside without supervision. The folks making the rules think to themselves "well we had to act, there was such an outcry". Meanwhile the outcry is really just the outsized screams of one parent, and you've just screwed the other 10 parents.

foobarian 4y ago
I think it's more subtle than that. If you are the city council member, doing something about it is a lot easier than not. Saying "I don't think we should make our children safer" is politically difficult. So the rules slowly ratchet up.
pessimizer 4y ago
> The problem we have in the US is we tend to placate to the vocal minority, rather than realizing that they are in fact just a vocal minority. I think it's related to trauma fetishization combined with child worship. Trauma fetishization: The person who is most traumatized by a thing should be the one who dictates policy about that thing. People who have lost children qualify, and we literally name the laws after their dead children. Child worship: Children are without trauma, and therefore without neurosis. When you traumatize them or through inaction allow them to be traumatized, you have created neurosis, which is the source of all problems in society.
- unethical_ban 4y ago
  There was a post about an abortion rights rally, with the poster saying "Keep our women safe". Someone came in and said, essentially, "I appreciate the message and the support, but can we drop the possessive 'our'"? It was called out that the "our" was itself supportive and indicative of community. The person replied "I came from a small town where men used 'our women' as a signal of ownership and I shudder when I hear it". My internal response: Okay? You're asking everyone to change a good-faith saying because it triggered a bad memory for you? Get over it.
kevincox 4y ago
I think the media is the worst. They love any controversy so they will pump up whatever side is more dramatic. Then of course once the rules change they will pump up how ridiculous they are. People think they can win, but they are really just fueling the media.
- stephen_g 4y ago
  It’s so true - even for little, unimportant things. A group of friends and myself made a parody video that went a bit viral about 11 years ago (only like 400K views but this was a different time) got on some shows (state-wide) - breakfast, current affairs etc. It was a comedy music video about council workers (I wish it was still on YouTube, unfortunately I didn’t log into the account for a few years, and the channel seems to have been automatically terminated and I couldn’t find any way to restore it). The current affairs show had obviously tried to create some controversy that workers might be offended, and they interviewed a bunch, literally asking multiple questions to try and get them to say something negative, but they all loved it and thought it was funny. They even got an interview with the mayor and he liked it. But they were still pushing the line. The piece ended with “but at least this time, no one was offended”. It was hilarious just the extent they were trying to manufacture controversy and drama from literally nothing, and how much they failed but still tried to push it! It was so bizarre, absolutely nothing about our song was mean spirited!

foobarian 4y ago

I think it's more subtle than that. If you are the city council member, doing something about it is a lot easier than not. Saying "I don't think we should make our children safer" is politically difficult. So the rules slowly ratchet up.

pessimizer 4y ago

> The problem we have in the US is we tend to placate to the vocal minority, rather than realizing that they are in fact just a vocal minority. I think it's related to trauma fetishization combined with child worship. Trauma fetishization: The person who is most traumatized by a thing should be the one who dictates policy about that thing. People who have lost children qualify, and we literally name the laws after their dead children. Child worship: Children are without trauma, and therefore without neurosis. When you traumatize them or through inaction allow them to be traumatized, you have created neurosis, which is the source of all problems in society.

unethical_ban 4y ago
There was a post about an abortion rights rally, with the poster saying "Keep our women safe". Someone came in and said, essentially, "I appreciate the message and the support, but can we drop the possessive 'our'"? It was called out that the "our" was itself supportive and indicative of community. The person replied "I came from a small town where men used 'our women' as a signal of ownership and I shudder when I hear it". My internal response: Okay? You're asking everyone to change a good-faith saying because it triggered a bad memory for you? Get over it.

kevincox 4y ago

I think the media is the worst. They love any controversy so they will pump up whatever side is more dramatic. Then of course once the rules change they will pump up how ridiculous they are. People think they can win, but they are really just fueling the media.

stephen_g 4y ago
It’s so true - even for little, unimportant things. A group of friends and myself made a parody video that went a bit viral about 11 years ago (only like 400K views but this was a different time) got on some shows (state-wide) - breakfast, current affairs etc. It was a comedy music video about council workers (I wish it was still on YouTube, unfortunately I didn’t log into the account for a few years, and the channel seems to have been automatically terminated and I couldn’t find any way to restore it). The current affairs show had obviously tried to create some controversy that workers might be offended, and they interviewed a bunch, literally asking multiple questions to try and get them to say something negative, but they all loved it and thought it was funny. They even got an interview with the mayor and he liked it. But they were still pushing the line. The piece ended with “but at least this time, no one was offended”. It was hilarious just the extent they were trying to manufacture controversy and drama from literally nothing, and how much they failed but still tried to push it! It was so bizarre, absolutely nothing about our song was mean spirited!