While I find Venkatesh Rao to be insightful, his writing can be quite frustrating. He seems to be allergic towards speaking plainly. Here is a possible re-write of the above quote:
Slytherin-adepts use human ideals—like justice, fairness, equality, talent—to deceive people. They employ these ideals in rhetoric, often to turn attention away from conflicting evidence.
The impression I got is more that Slytherin adepts believe that human ideals such as justice, fairness, equality, and talent distort reality because they rely on the assumption that humans hold a special place in the universe which Slytherin adepts believe not to be true.
Yes to both this and the grandparent—though in principle, a Slytherin might try to produce an environment where those ideals make sense, out of personal preference.
Actually, in addition to the sibling comment, I should point out that “rhetoric” implies people claiming all the time that they’re serving justice or what have you. Mostly (as I understand the quote) they just need to hide contrary evidence from view. Provide a distraction, and people will continue to believe their existing ideals determine reality.
While I find Venkatesh Rao to be insightful, his writing can be quite frustrating. He seems to be allergic towards speaking plainly. Here is a possible re-write of the above quote:
The impression I got is more that Slytherin adepts believe that human ideals such as justice, fairness, equality, and talent distort reality because they rely on the assumption that humans hold a special place in the universe which Slytherin adepts believe not to be true.
Yes to both this and the grandparent—though in principle, a Slytherin might try to produce an environment where those ideals make sense, out of personal preference.
Actually, in addition to the sibling comment, I should point out that “rhetoric” implies people claiming all the time that they’re serving justice or what have you. Mostly (as I understand the quote) they just need to hide contrary evidence from view. Provide a distraction, and people will continue to believe their existing ideals determine reality.