Meta: I really really like the ideas in the article, and they are important ones, but the style is… actually also very good, just… uhm… too inflammatory compared with the local norms.
Not sure what to say here, lest I sound like a Muslim saying: “You know, that picture of Mona Lisa is really nice, it just requires a few little modifications to conform to my faith, such as hiding the face of the lady.”
Maybe just: please post on your own blog, then link here; and perhaps try to separate different ideas into different posts or at least clearly titled sections (“why are people sometimes prone to believe those who disagree with them are evil, and attribute them the worst reasons ignoring the obvious ones”, “choose your identity wisely”).
I was wondering why it got downvoted so much. Did you mean the post over at my blog, or this post here? I’m really not sure what’s so inflammatory about this post—I was just trying to explain an idea.
I meant this post here, because this is the one you have posted here. However, if you would post here the other one, I would mean that one too.
Essentially, you should separate your main point from the specific political examples, and preferably use historical examples that no one cares about deeply. Mixing logic and emotionally powerful political examples together has the effect that people who don’t share your political opinions may stop listening to the logic. Even the people who do share your political opinions may stop listening to the logic and just enjoy the fact that they found someone who agrees with them.
There is an evolutionary reason for this—when politics get debated, joining the winning side makes you more likely to survive and reproduce than focusing on being right; especially in an ancient environment. (Yeah, maybe your leader proposes something that will make you all starve in winter; but if you oppose him now, you may get killed now, which is even worse for you.) As much as we try to avoid this effect, it exists. So it is better to get our points across without activating the “I have to join the winning side or die” circuits of our brains too much.
The downvotes without explanation are probably because people who are offended by your examples (because they disagree with you politically) just downvote and leave, and only those not offended remain and participate in the discussion.
Meta: I really really like the ideas in the article, and they are important ones, but the style is… actually also very good, just… uhm… too inflammatory compared with the local norms.
Not sure what to say here, lest I sound like a Muslim saying: “You know, that picture of Mona Lisa is really nice, it just requires a few little modifications to conform to my faith, such as hiding the face of the lady.”
Maybe just: please post on your own blog, then link here; and perhaps try to separate different ideas into different posts or at least clearly titled sections (“why are people sometimes prone to believe those who disagree with them are evil, and attribute them the worst reasons ignoring the obvious ones”, “choose your identity wisely”).
I was wondering why it got downvoted so much. Did you mean the post over at my blog, or this post here? I’m really not sure what’s so inflammatory about this post—I was just trying to explain an idea.
I meant this post here, because this is the one you have posted here. However, if you would post here the other one, I would mean that one too.
Essentially, you should separate your main point from the specific political examples, and preferably use historical examples that no one cares about deeply. Mixing logic and emotionally powerful political examples together has the effect that people who don’t share your political opinions may stop listening to the logic. Even the people who do share your political opinions may stop listening to the logic and just enjoy the fact that they found someone who agrees with them.
There is an evolutionary reason for this—when politics get debated, joining the winning side makes you more likely to survive and reproduce than focusing on being right; especially in an ancient environment. (Yeah, maybe your leader proposes something that will make you all starve in winter; but if you oppose him now, you may get killed now, which is even worse for you.) As much as we try to avoid this effect, it exists. So it is better to get our points across without activating the “I have to join the winning side or die” circuits of our brains too much.
The downvotes without explanation are probably because people who are offended by your examples (because they disagree with you politically) just downvote and leave, and only those not offended remain and participate in the discussion.
Thanks, that is good advice. Honestly hadn’t thought of that—oh well. Errare humanum est and all that...