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Do those who support Curtis appearing at the talk (wisely?) refrain from posting out of (legitimate?) fear of career repercussion? This. It also has the perver

Do those who support Curtis appearing at the talk (wisely?) refrain from posting out of (legitimate?) fear of career repercussion? This. It also has the perverse effect of leaving the defense of "racists" to actual racists (e.g., [1]), thereby leading to guilt by association: "See, only racists are willing to defend this guy, so he's obviously a racist!" [1]: https://twitter.com/B8GodDante/status/607201146017615872 https://twitter.com/B8GodDante/status/607201146017615872

theorique 11y ago
More recently, perhaps within the past year or two, I've been seeing online a polarization and evaporative cooling effect in action. There doesn't seem to be as much middle ground and nuance as there has been in the past. Any support or acceptance for an officially disapproved entity is tantamount to total or unqualified support or acceptance. Many moderates - in this case, moderate supporters of Yarvin, as shown in the comments here - appear to be fearful of getting tarred with the scarlet "R" and facing career threat. The scarlet "S" and "M" are also significant. In contrast, the "C" is not threatened nowadays, if it ever was. Left-wing extremism is given a pass, while right-wing extremism is always tarred with the "R" brush. People rarely use the "F" word - they just default to "R", which is far more damaging. (I mean: racist / sexist / misogynist / communist / fascist above.)
- hga 11y ago
  You can expand the above a bit by distinguishing between "c", "I, Steven Klabnik, am 'a communist' as the simplest thing to describe me", vs. "C", "I, Julius Rosenberg, became a member of the US Communist Party when it was popular, required careful vetting and submission to party discipline, which by definition made me a traitor." And this reminds me of a quote by the not moderate Jim Hightower, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos."

theorique 11y ago

More recently, perhaps within the past year or two, I've been seeing online a polarization and evaporative cooling effect in action. There doesn't seem to be as much middle ground and nuance as there has been in the past. Any support or acceptance for an officially disapproved entity is tantamount to total or unqualified support or acceptance. Many moderates - in this case, moderate supporters of Yarvin, as shown in the comments here - appear to be fearful of getting tarred with the scarlet "R" and facing career threat. The scarlet "S" and "M" are also significant. In contrast, the "C" is not threatened nowadays, if it ever was. Left-wing extremism is given a pass, while right-wing extremism is always tarred with the "R" brush. People rarely use the "F" word - they just default to "R", which is far more damaging. (I mean: racist / sexist / misogynist / communist / fascist above.)

hga 11y ago
You can expand the above a bit by distinguishing between "c", "I, Steven Klabnik, am 'a communist' as the simplest thing to describe me", vs. "C", "I, Julius Rosenberg, became a member of the US Communist Party when it was popular, required careful vetting and submission to party discipline, which by definition made me a traitor." And this reminds me of a quote by the not moderate Jim Hightower, "There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos."