I don’t speak for all of Less Wrong here, but spending two years at Cambridge has already primed me to have an instinctive tribal urge to attack anyone who attacks elitism, because they tend to be Guardian comment section class warfare types, aka “the other side”. It is a mindkill topic for me, so it’s probably a mindkill topic for a lot of people here. It might even be a mindkill topic for you, I don’t know. But it does mean you need to tread really carefully when you talk about it. There’s a reason I need to consciously shrug off Guardian articles, and make myself not read through 10 pages of comments that will make me angry.
Guardian commenters are at least the more intelligent face of “the other side”; I understand there are many more people in both the US and the UK who share those views but are much less eloquent about them.
The way you use the word “smear” is telling my System 1 that you are on “the other side”, which makes it hard to sympathise with you at all. In fact I can physically feel the indignant mindkill response rising in myself right now, so I’m going to stop talking, but I hope I’ve made my point.
I can physically feel the indignant mindkill response rising in myself right now
I admire how you’ve identified your reaction as a mindkill response. I don’t know whether this is a mindkill topic for me. I am not even sure that we disagree. I care specifically that people do not abuse or take advantage of each other verbally or otherwise, that people should not feel owed something by strangers, and that people should not make excuses to dominate one another. Class and intellect are not excuses for any of these things to me. Aside from those specifics, I don’t feel any tenacious urges to rend anyone’s ideas asunder.
Are we in agreement about this?
Because I have barely read any of the writing by “Guardian comment section class warfare types” I have very little idea what these two sides are like. Your post brings me into an awareness of the fact that there are groups of people who identify as “elitists”. Other than one specific (Mensa, which I view as a place where people who are lonely due to the differences that giftedness causes go to meet kindred spirits, and where people who are suffering from boredom go to alleviate ennui because they have a greater need for a challenge) and a vague sense that there must be overbearing jerks somewhere who call themselves elitists (I’ve met a few abusive intellectuals and I figure they must form groups somewhere) I was not aware that any groups actually identified as “elitists” or would want to defend that.
I have observed though, that mentioning intelligence differences is likely to trigger anger and the word “elitism” appears during those times.
I hate this reaction, so I try to be careful with phrasing.
I admire how you’ve identified your reaction as a mindkill response.
It’s not that hard. If you feel adrenaline/indignance/anger at a Less Wrong comment and/or a compulsive urge to reply then the prior should be that you’ve been mindkilled, since when one takes the outside view people on LW tend to be a pretty reasonable bunch.
Are we in agreement about this?
I am in agreement with your points as I interpret their statement. I am not sure my interpretation of the statements agrees with yours. For example, what do you mean by “not make excuses to dominate one another”? There are many situations (governments, chain-of-command in workplaces, employers) where people can legitimately dominate one another, if that’s what you mean by dominate.
Because I have barely read any of the writing by “Guardian comment section class warfare types” …
Would you mind explaining these two sides?
Sure. I’ll PM you, since I don’t think a detailed description of British politics is very relevant. :)
The point that is relevant is that I’m not defending what you’re calling elitism, nor do I frequently call myself elitist, I’m just opposing people who oppose elitism, since when they use that word the definition tends to include me.
What I meant was just that it’s pleasant to see that someone else was doing that. I didn’t expect it. I know I’m capable of doing that, too. I am beginning to wonder about my response to the elitism thing. I’m asking myself questions like “Would I have responded differently if I was not upset?” and “If so, why did I let being upset influence my reaction to this specifically, when I know I can prevent it from influencing me on other things?”
The point that is relevant is that I’m not defending what you’re calling elitism, nor do I frequently call myself elitist, I’m just opposing people who oppose elitism, since when they use that word the definition tends to include me.
Oh. I didn’t think of the possibility of you being lumped into that outside of your control.
That’s a good point and makes the situation more complex.
Back to the “two sides”—I don’t really want to be on one side or the other. I want to understand both. There’s got to be a way for both sides to get along with each other. It’s a problem worth solving. Do you think a lot of LessWrongers would agree with these statements, or do you think they’re too entrenched in mindkill?
There’s no such thing as “the other side”. There are a variety of arguments for anti-intellectualism, some of which may be more compelling than others.
I meant “the other side” in a blue vs green sense, hence the link. I didn’t claim it was a well-defined political stance, merely that perceived membership of it provoked a reaction in my system 1 and that fact was probably worth pointing out.
ETA: While the first half of the article you linked was interesting and informative, the rest of it plus the comments was precisely a demonstration of the kind of rhetoric that happens when people are motivated by what I referred to as “mindkill”. This time it’s surrounding the word “intellectual” rather than “elitism”, but my point still stands.
I don’t speak for all of Less Wrong here, but spending two years at Cambridge has already primed me to have an instinctive tribal urge to attack anyone who attacks elitism, because they tend to be Guardian comment section class warfare types, aka “the other side”. It is a mindkill topic for me, so it’s probably a mindkill topic for a lot of people here. It might even be a mindkill topic for you, I don’t know. But it does mean you need to tread really carefully when you talk about it. There’s a reason I need to consciously shrug off Guardian articles, and make myself not read through 10 pages of comments that will make me angry.
Guardian commenters are at least the more intelligent face of “the other side”; I understand there are many more people in both the US and the UK who share those views but are much less eloquent about them.
The way you use the word “smear” is telling my System 1 that you are on “the other side”, which makes it hard to sympathise with you at all. In fact I can physically feel the indignant mindkill response rising in myself right now, so I’m going to stop talking, but I hope I’ve made my point.
I admire how you’ve identified your reaction as a mindkill response. I don’t know whether this is a mindkill topic for me. I am not even sure that we disagree. I care specifically that people do not abuse or take advantage of each other verbally or otherwise, that people should not feel owed something by strangers, and that people should not make excuses to dominate one another. Class and intellect are not excuses for any of these things to me. Aside from those specifics, I don’t feel any tenacious urges to rend anyone’s ideas asunder.
Are we in agreement about this?
Because I have barely read any of the writing by “Guardian comment section class warfare types” I have very little idea what these two sides are like. Your post brings me into an awareness of the fact that there are groups of people who identify as “elitists”. Other than one specific (Mensa, which I view as a place where people who are lonely due to the differences that giftedness causes go to meet kindred spirits, and where people who are suffering from boredom go to alleviate ennui because they have a greater need for a challenge) and a vague sense that there must be overbearing jerks somewhere who call themselves elitists (I’ve met a few abusive intellectuals and I figure they must form groups somewhere) I was not aware that any groups actually identified as “elitists” or would want to defend that.
I have observed though, that mentioning intelligence differences is likely to trigger anger and the word “elitism” appears during those times.
I hate this reaction, so I try to be careful with phrasing.
Would you mind explaining these two sides?
It’s not that hard. If you feel adrenaline/indignance/anger at a Less Wrong comment and/or a compulsive urge to reply then the prior should be that you’ve been mindkilled, since when one takes the outside view people on LW tend to be a pretty reasonable bunch.
I am in agreement with your points as I interpret their statement. I am not sure my interpretation of the statements agrees with yours. For example, what do you mean by “not make excuses to dominate one another”? There are many situations (governments, chain-of-command in workplaces, employers) where people can legitimately dominate one another, if that’s what you mean by dominate.
Sure. I’ll PM you, since I don’t think a detailed description of British politics is very relevant. :)
The point that is relevant is that I’m not defending what you’re calling elitism, nor do I frequently call myself elitist, I’m just opposing people who oppose elitism, since when they use that word the definition tends to include me.
What I meant was just that it’s pleasant to see that someone else was doing that. I didn’t expect it. I know I’m capable of doing that, too. I am beginning to wonder about my response to the elitism thing. I’m asking myself questions like “Would I have responded differently if I was not upset?” and “If so, why did I let being upset influence my reaction to this specifically, when I know I can prevent it from influencing me on other things?”
Oh. I didn’t think of the possibility of you being lumped into that outside of your control.
That’s a good point and makes the situation more complex.
Back to the “two sides”—I don’t really want to be on one side or the other. I want to understand both. There’s got to be a way for both sides to get along with each other. It’s a problem worth solving. Do you think a lot of LessWrongers would agree with these statements, or do you think they’re too entrenched in mindkill?
There’s no such thing as “the other side”. There are a variety of arguments for anti-intellectualism, some of which may be more compelling than others.
I meant “the other side” in a blue vs green sense, hence the link. I didn’t claim it was a well-defined political stance, merely that perceived membership of it provoked a reaction in my system 1 and that fact was probably worth pointing out.
ETA: While the first half of the article you linked was interesting and informative, the rest of it plus the comments was precisely a demonstration of the kind of rhetoric that happens when people are motivated by what I referred to as “mindkill”. This time it’s surrounding the word “intellectual” rather than “elitism”, but my point still stands.