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I don't think Diamond is asking you to make choices that improve society. He's attempting to analyze systemic changes in society accurately. And from that persp

I don't think Diamond is asking you to make choices that improve society. He's attempting to analyze systemic changes in society accurately. And from that perspective, it is not only appropriate but absolutely required that you look at overall shifts, not just one city in isolation. The extent to which a particular city's improvement is "internal" vs. just zero-sum shifting at the expense of other cities, is pretty relevant to that. If college graduates vs. non-graduates are self-segregating and this explains a large part of the wealth changes in both directions (the places that get more graduates get richer, the places with fewer get poorer), then I think it is not really accurate to say that "college graduates are improving their cities", or at least it is not the whole story. It would be more accurate to analyze it as a migration, something like: college graduates are concentrating in some areas and not others, and wealth flows accordingly. Assuming, again, that systemic flows of educated people are the main causal factor in wealth changes, as Diamond claims.

probablycorey 12y ago
> He's attempting to analyze systemic changes in society accurately. s/He/She
- pooper 12y ago
  We can probably replace many instances of (s)he or he/she with a singular they. As the Wikipedia article says[1], this is not a recent phenomenon. If using he in a gender-neutral way or in gender ambiguous situations is somehow not politically correct, we should use the word they to replace all instances of he/she or (s)he or he or she where the gender is not important. This is probably the case in over half of our usage of he/she or (s)he or he or she. Instead of: Barack Obama is the current president of the United States. He was born in 1961. Say: Barack Obama is the current president of the United States. They were born in 1961. Fight the madness of people getting mad over gender of pronouns with a greater degree of madness. It is the only way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
  - graeme 12y ago
    I feel like you're making a good argument but have chosen a singularly poor example. Use of "they" is most justified when the gender is unknown. Barack Obama is a very known male. At some point, we may use "they" for everyone, even if known. But at present, it's not accepted even for cases when gender is unknown. It's likely better to argue for its usage in unknown cases first before making a case for its usage even when gender is known. The latter is a far more radical proposition. (I use "they" when gender is unknown".)
    - A_COMPUTER 12y ago
      Consider that like Chelsea Manning, at some point in the future Barack Obama may announce she has always been a woman. Also like Chelsea Manning, at that point you would be obligated to alter all past and present references to Barack Obama as "she," or else be guilty of a hateful and cruel misgendering slur. So as a matter of practicality it's probably easier just to use the singular-they in every case so you are being respectful. On the other hand, it still wouldn't be considerate to leave it at "they" if Barack Obama had clearly stated her preferred pronouns, so you might have to change it anyway so now I am not actually sure what advice to give.
      - dasil003 12y ago
        Do you realize that you just jumped headlong onto the slippery slope of complete subjectivity that can only lead to a paralyzing inability to set a coherent thought to paper?
      - davidtanner 12y ago
        You sound very unlike someone concerned about trans issues and very much like a pedant with poor intentions.
        A_COMPUTER 12y ago
        Fine, I'll say it plainly. Using singular-they in all cases is in my mind a reasonable accommodation if you live in a world where there are two or more genders and you are obligated to use someone's gender-identification rather than their society-assigned gender. But during the Chelsea Manning trial, a group of serious people very "concerned about trans issues" demanded unreasonable accommodation, that all references to Manning as "he," even ones made in the past and which referred to her when the world identified her as male, had to be altered. My point is that using singular-they in every case, even if you think it could be a reasonable accommodation, is already not good enough for a significant number of people, both people that will still demand that you retroactively erase all reference to prior gender, and people for whom "they" is offensive and demand you memorize and use everyone's personal pronouns. I was not intending to mock trans people, I was mocking extremists in that group. It's really fucking annoying when you were for gender-neutral pronouns your whole life, took shit for that because nobody wanted to use "clumsy grammar," then you get shit from some trans people who claim that you're erasing their identity: <quote>Look, if you take gender neutral pronouns and start using them for people that aren’t gender neutral, you are appropriating my and other non-binary people’s pronouns, whatever way you cut it. You’re also erasing and devaluing both binary and non-binary trans* people, who have to fight every single day to be recognised and treated as their gender. This smacks of that whole ridiculous ’gender is irrelevant’ shit. That sentiment ‘gender is irrelevant’? Yeah, it’s trans* erasure.</quote> I am not the pedant. These people are the pedants. But these are the people you are going to be dealing with when you talk about what pronouns you should use in writing, so you better be aware of it.

probablycorey 12y ago

> He's attempting to analyze systemic changes in society accurately. s/He/She

pooper 12y ago
We can probably replace many instances of (s)he or he/she with a singular they. As the Wikipedia article says[1], this is not a recent phenomenon. If using he in a gender-neutral way or in gender ambiguous situations is somehow not politically correct, we should use the word they to replace all instances of he/she or (s)he or he or she where the gender is not important. This is probably the case in over half of our usage of he/she or (s)he or he or she. Instead of: Barack Obama is the current president of the United States. He was born in 1961. Say: Barack Obama is the current president of the United States. They were born in 1961. Fight the madness of people getting mad over gender of pronouns with a greater degree of madness. It is the only way. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
- graeme 12y ago
  I feel like you're making a good argument but have chosen a singularly poor example. Use of "they" is most justified when the gender is unknown. Barack Obama is a very known male. At some point, we may use "they" for everyone, even if known. But at present, it's not accepted even for cases when gender is unknown. It's likely better to argue for its usage in unknown cases first before making a case for its usage even when gender is known. The latter is a far more radical proposition. (I use "they" when gender is unknown".)
  - A_COMPUTER 12y ago
    Consider that like Chelsea Manning, at some point in the future Barack Obama may announce she has always been a woman. Also like Chelsea Manning, at that point you would be obligated to alter all past and present references to Barack Obama as "she," or else be guilty of a hateful and cruel misgendering slur. So as a matter of practicality it's probably easier just to use the singular-they in every case so you are being respectful. On the other hand, it still wouldn't be considerate to leave it at "they" if Barack Obama had clearly stated her preferred pronouns, so you might have to change it anyway so now I am not actually sure what advice to give.
    - dasil003 12y ago
      Do you realize that you just jumped headlong onto the slippery slope of complete subjectivity that can only lead to a paralyzing inability to set a coherent thought to paper?
    - davidtanner 12y ago
      You sound very unlike someone concerned about trans issues and very much like a pedant with poor intentions.
      - A_COMPUTER 12y ago
        Fine, I'll say it plainly. Using singular-they in all cases is in my mind a reasonable accommodation if you live in a world where there are two or more genders and you are obligated to use someone's gender-identification rather than their society-assigned gender. But during the Chelsea Manning trial, a group of serious people very "concerned about trans issues" demanded unreasonable accommodation, that all references to Manning as "he," even ones made in the past and which referred to her when the world identified her as male, had to be altered. My point is that using singular-they in every case, even if you think it could be a reasonable accommodation, is already not good enough for a significant number of people, both people that will still demand that you retroactively erase all reference to prior gender, and people for whom "they" is offensive and demand you memorize and use everyone's personal pronouns. I was not intending to mock trans people, I was mocking extremists in that group. It's really fucking annoying when you were for gender-neutral pronouns your whole life, took shit for that because nobody wanted to use "clumsy grammar," then you get shit from some trans people who claim that you're erasing their identity: <quote>Look, if you take gender neutral pronouns and start using them for people that aren’t gender neutral, you are appropriating my and other non-binary people’s pronouns, whatever way you cut it. You’re also erasing and devaluing both binary and non-binary trans* people, who have to fight every single day to be recognised and treated as their gender. This smacks of that whole ridiculous ’gender is irrelevant’ shit. That sentiment ‘gender is irrelevant’? Yeah, it’s trans* erasure.</quote> I am not the pedant. These people are the pedants. But these are the people you are going to be dealing with when you talk about what pronouns you should use in writing, so you better be aware of it.