I remember, when cos first posted this, thinking “yup, the fundamental attribution fallacy sucks.”
It seemed rather a lot of words for that insight, but I could sort of imagine how someone for whom understanding the fundamental attribution fallacy and how it applies to the difference between “Sam is a sexual predator” and “Sam performed this act of sexual predation”; “Sam is the sort of person who respects consent” and “Sam noteworthily respected consent the other night”, etc. etc. in the abstract was challenging, it might be valuable to be walked through it more carefully. And the comment thread seemed to suggest that were many such people, which, OK, cool.
Rereading it now, I’m left with the same reaction.
Have I missed anything key about the post, on your view?
I think the post is also a meditation on the SNAFU principle (communication is impossible in a hierarchy—specifically, fear of punishment inhibits communication).
Cos’s approach involves actually lowering the punishment level, not just claiming that whatever people who have the moral edge do mustn’t be counted as punishment.
Huh. Interesting. Sure, I can see that if I focus solely on the fear-of-punishment aspect of hierarchy.
I certainly endorse defining punishment by its effects independent of the moral edge of its initiators, and I endorse factoring in the knock-on effects of punishment (including but hardly limited to inhibition of communication) when deciding whether to engage in it. (Relatedly, I try to remember that punishment is often reinforcing for the punisher.)
I remember, when cos first posted this, thinking “yup, the fundamental attribution fallacy sucks.”
It seemed rather a lot of words for that insight, but I could sort of imagine how someone for whom understanding the fundamental attribution fallacy and how it applies to the difference between “Sam is a sexual predator” and “Sam performed this act of sexual predation”; “Sam is the sort of person who respects consent” and “Sam noteworthily respected consent the other night”, etc. etc. in the abstract was challenging, it might be valuable to be walked through it more carefully. And the comment thread seemed to suggest that were many such people, which, OK, cool.
Rereading it now, I’m left with the same reaction.
Have I missed anything key about the post, on your view?
I think the post is also a meditation on the SNAFU principle (communication is impossible in a hierarchy—specifically, fear of punishment inhibits communication).
Cos’s approach involves actually lowering the punishment level, not just claiming that whatever people who have the moral edge do mustn’t be counted as punishment.
Huh. Interesting.
Sure, I can see that if I focus solely on the fear-of-punishment aspect of hierarchy.
I certainly endorse defining punishment by its effects independent of the moral edge of its initiators, and I endorse factoring in the knock-on effects of punishment (including but hardly limited to inhibition of communication) when deciding whether to engage in it. (Relatedly, I try to remember that punishment is often reinforcing for the punisher.)