People do lots of silly things to signal commitment; the silliness is part of the point. This is a reason initiation rituals are often humiliating, and why members of minor religions often wear distinctive clothing or hairstyles. (I think I got this from this podcast interview with Larry Iannaccone.)
I think posts like the ones to which McArdle is referring, and the beliefs underlying them, are further examples of signaling attire. “I’m so committed, I’m even blind to whatever could be motivating the other side.”
A related podcast is with Arnold Kling on his e-book (which I enjoyed) The Three Languages of Politics. It’s about (duh) politics—specifically, American politics—but it also contains an interesting and helpful discussion on seeing things from others’ point of view, and explicitly points to commitment-signaling (and its relation to beliefs) as a reason people fail to see eye to eye.
People do lots of silly things to signal commitment; the silliness is part of the point. This is a reason initiation rituals are often humiliating, and why members of minor religions often wear distinctive clothing or hairstyles. (I think I got this from this podcast interview with Larry Iannaccone.)
I think posts like the ones to which McArdle is referring, and the beliefs underlying them, are further examples of signaling attire. “I’m so committed, I’m even blind to whatever could be motivating the other side.”
A related podcast is with Arnold Kling on his e-book (which I enjoyed) The Three Languages of Politics. It’s about (duh) politics—specifically, American politics—but it also contains an interesting and helpful discussion on seeing things from others’ point of view, and explicitly points to commitment-signaling (and its relation to beliefs) as a reason people fail to see eye to eye.