22 ms·

Social Justice as Social Leverage

greggarious 4y ago
This article reminded me of the last evolutionary psychology lecture I attended, and not in a good way[1]. It was a public lecture hosted by the Carnegie Mellon Social and Decision Sciences Department ~2009... they had one of those "pick up artists" detailing his techniques. Bad psychology, watered down for... well, not philantropists. One of his books talked about how he convinced Britney Spears to hook up with him, but to someone with what was then called Asperger's, it sounded like he just kind of... sexually harassed someone until they gave in, and the only reason I'd shown up was I'd just broken up with someone and felt puzzled why someone like... that had such a following. I suspect I wasn't the only one there for that reason. One of the women in that room went on to get tenure partly due to me putting in a good word for her. Another built up a fabulous publication list and a nest egg then semi-retired to raise her kid(s). And me? After that, I, a lifelong antifascist, jumped from precarious position to ever more precarious position, forever having folks not willing to admit that true allyshipl, not just link sharing and fearless adversarial... tweeting... will absolutely not give you any kind of "leverage". It is the ultimate in career limiting moves, and absent inherited wealth or a partner to help you in your quest, you need to be very careful who you help. (Especially in the field of psychology, where folks who could be neither doctors, lawyers, nor engineers go to toil for the power they dreamed that a six figure salary would have brought them not understanding the powers they are up against.) People are altruistic in that they might sometimes clue you in to a special promotion that will save you a bit of cash if you tip them on your Starbucks or whatever, but in the long term, they're irrational, greedy, and cruel. They will forget the types of thing you can't point out in a public forum, and then feel aggrieved when you so much as hint that you know exactly what they've actually done with their wealth, privilege, and power. [1] Full disclosure -- I applied to and was rejected by CMU, so I might be biased :-)

This article reminded me of the last evolutionary psychology lecture I attended, and not in a good way[1]. It was a public lecture hosted by the Carnegie Mellon Social and Decision Sciences Department ~2009... they had one of those "pick up artists" detailing his techniques. Bad psychology, watered down for... well, not philantropists. One of his books talked about how he convinced Britney Spears to hook up with him, but to someone with what was then called Asperger's, it sounded like he just kind of... sexually harassed someone until they gave in, and the only reason I'd shown up was I'd just broken up with someone and felt puzzled why someone like... that had such a following. I suspect I wasn't the only one there for that reason. One of the women in that room went on to get tenure partly due to me putting in a good word for her. Another built up a fabulous publication list and a nest egg then semi-retired to raise her kid(s). And me? After that, I, a lifelong antifascist, jumped from precarious position to ever more precarious position, forever having folks not willing to admit that true allyshipl, not just link sharing and fearless adversarial... tweeting... will absolutely not give you any kind of "leverage". It is the ultimate in career limiting moves, and absent inherited wealth or a partner to help you in your quest, you need to be very careful who you help. (Especially in the field of psychology, where folks who could be neither doctors, lawyers, nor engineers go to toil for the power they dreamed that a six figure salary would have brought them not understanding the powers they are up against.) People are altruistic in that they might sometimes clue you in to a special promotion that will save you a bit of cash if you tip them on your Starbucks or whatever, but in the long term, they're irrational, greedy, and cruel. They will forget the types of thing you can't point out in a public forum, and then feel aggrieved when you so much as hint that you know exactly what they've actually done with their wealth, privilege, and power. [1] Full disclosure -- I applied to and was rejected by CMU, so I might be biased :-)