Yeah IDK. There’s a slippery slope from “This is the interface this institution has with the world, so of course we should use it” to “Our enemies use tactic X, so there’s nothing wrong with us using tactic X too,” which then becomes “Our enemies used tactic X once, so now we are justified in using it a lot.” We need to find a shelling fence or avoid the slope entirely.
Here is a brainstorm of suggestions:
--Our petition should have a clause talking about how terrible it is for the NYT to bow to mobs of enraged internet elites but that it would be hypocritical of them to choose now as their moment to grow a spine. At least this gets the right ideas across.
--We also take some action to encourage them to grow a spine, so that they become more resistant to this tactic in general in the future. That way, we are using tactic X now while making X less viable for everyone in the future.
--We don’t do our petition at all, since that’s an example of the tactic we dislike, but instead we do some tactic we like, such as challenging the NYT to a third-party moderated public debate on the matter, or simply raising tons of awareness about what’s happening, with the goal of convincing third parties of the rightness of our cause rather than the goal of directly influencing the NYT.
--We take some steps to make our petition a non-mob. Like, maybe we require that everyone who signs it restate it in their own words or something, or that everyone who signs it be someone initially skeptical who changed their mind as a result of hearing both sides.
Our petition should have a clause talking about how terrible it is for the NYT to bow to mobs of enraged internet elites but that it would be hypocritical of them to choose now as their moment to grow a spine. At least this gets the right ideas across.
Another way to look at this is that it’s offered information; our culture has some rules, and their culture has some rules, and they’re proposing a massive rule violation in our culture, and in the interest of mutual understanding we’re telling them that we would view it as hostile.
Now, you might say “this is a symmetric weapon!”; the people who claimed that Bennet’s decision to print Tom Cotton’s op-ed was a massive rule violation in their culture are doing basically the same thing. I reply that we have to represent our culture if it want it to be present; competing views are more reason to defend the core principles of our society, not less.
[Of course, I am not arguing for doing anything against your conscience, except insofar as I think your conscience is mistaken about what should be unethical.]
We take some steps to make our petition a non-mob. Like, maybe we require that everyone who signs it restate it in their own words or something, or that everyone who signs it be someone initially skeptical who changed their mind as a result of hearing both sides.
Petitions allow for intellectual specialization of labor; specialists create a position, and then others choose whether or not to sign on. This allows for compression and easy communication; forcing everyone to restate it taxes participation and makes the result harder to comprehend. (Suppose many of the comments actually include disagreement with planks of the petition; how then should it be interpreted?)
Similarly, restricting it to people who are “initially skeptical” is selection on beliefs, not methodology, and is adverse selection (as people who initially picked the right answer are now barred).
I signed the petition myself. I think our disagreement is smaller than it seems. I think partly my concern is that this is a symmetric weapon, but partly it’s simply what I said: There is a slippery slope; we would do well to think about fences. Does our culture have a clearly defined fence on this slope already? If so, I’m not aware of it.
Our petition should have a clause talking about how terrible it is for the NYT to bow to mobs of enraged internet elites but that it would be hypocritical of them to choose now as their moment to grow a spine. At least this gets the right ideas across.
Something in this space feels approximately right to me. (This feels supererogatory rather than obligatory, and I think it is more important to be able to defend yourself than to get all the nuances exactly right. But, it is good to look for ways to defend yourself that also improve civilizational norms on the margin)
Yeah IDK. There’s a slippery slope from “This is the interface this institution has with the world, so of course we should use it” to “Our enemies use tactic X, so there’s nothing wrong with us using tactic X too,” which then becomes “Our enemies used tactic X once, so now we are justified in using it a lot.” We need to find a shelling fence or avoid the slope entirely.
Here is a brainstorm of suggestions:
--Our petition should have a clause talking about how terrible it is for the NYT to bow to mobs of enraged internet elites but that it would be hypocritical of them to choose now as their moment to grow a spine. At least this gets the right ideas across.
--We also take some action to encourage them to grow a spine, so that they become more resistant to this tactic in general in the future. That way, we are using tactic X now while making X less viable for everyone in the future.
--We don’t do our petition at all, since that’s an example of the tactic we dislike, but instead we do some tactic we like, such as challenging the NYT to a third-party moderated public debate on the matter, or simply raising tons of awareness about what’s happening, with the goal of convincing third parties of the rightness of our cause rather than the goal of directly influencing the NYT.
--We take some steps to make our petition a non-mob. Like, maybe we require that everyone who signs it restate it in their own words or something, or that everyone who signs it be someone initially skeptical who changed their mind as a result of hearing both sides.
On the question of whether we should have one:
Another way to look at this is that it’s offered information; our culture has some rules, and their culture has some rules, and they’re proposing a massive rule violation in our culture, and in the interest of mutual understanding we’re telling them that we would view it as hostile.
Now, you might say “this is a symmetric weapon!”; the people who claimed that Bennet’s decision to print Tom Cotton’s op-ed was a massive rule violation in their culture are doing basically the same thing. I reply that we have to represent our culture if it want it to be present; competing views are more reason to defend the core principles of our society, not less.
[Of course, I am not arguing for doing anything against your conscience, except insofar as I think your conscience is mistaken about what should be unethical.]
Petitions allow for intellectual specialization of labor; specialists create a position, and then others choose whether or not to sign on. This allows for compression and easy communication; forcing everyone to restate it taxes participation and makes the result harder to comprehend. (Suppose many of the comments actually include disagreement with planks of the petition; how then should it be interpreted?)
Similarly, restricting it to people who are “initially skeptical” is selection on beliefs, not methodology, and is adverse selection (as people who initially picked the right answer are now barred).
I signed the petition myself. I think our disagreement is smaller than it seems. I think partly my concern is that this is a symmetric weapon, but partly it’s simply what I said: There is a slippery slope; we would do well to think about fences. Does our culture have a clearly defined fence on this slope already? If so, I’m not aware of it.
Something in this space feels approximately right to me. (This feels supererogatory rather than obligatory, and I think it is more important to be able to defend yourself than to get all the nuances exactly right. But, it is good to look for ways to defend yourself that also improve civilizational norms on the margin)