That’s actually very interesting. Up until this reply I didn’t realize that you would go as far as to call it counter-signaling, implying that the intent of the comment wasn’t to be mean (?). I assumed that your model was “the person was mean but also funny, and that makes it ok”. (When you said it’s important to be able to laugh at oneself, did you mean to say that vV_Vv’s comment was doing that? That doesn’t seem right given that they’re not really a part of the community.)
I tend to think that I have unusually good sensors for whether someone did or didn’t intend to be mean. (I think it’s related to having status-regulating emotions.) Even after rereading the comment, I still get fairly strong “this person was trying to be mean” vibes.
In general, I think being easily offended correlates with not being successful in life, as does feeling status-regulating emotions. I have this pet theory that both are underrepresented among rationalists, which would make me an extreme exception. So maybe what was going on is that most people read it and misinterpreted it as counter-signaling, whereas a few unlucky easily-offended people like me interpreted it correctly. But it’s also possible that I’m totally wrong.
Hah, seems like I was wrong after all! Wow, I am a little disappointed—not for being wrong, but for the comment not being as funny as I believed it was. :( Because people should sometimes make jokes in situations like this, in my opinion.
That’s actually very interesting. Up until this reply I didn’t realize that you would go as far as to call it counter-signaling, implying that the intent of the comment wasn’t to be mean (?). I assumed that your model was “the person was mean but also funny, and that makes it ok”. (When you said it’s important to be able to laugh at oneself, did you mean to say that vV_Vv’s comment was doing that? That doesn’t seem right given that they’re not really a part of the community.)
I tend to think that I have unusually good sensors for whether someone did or didn’t intend to be mean. (I think it’s related to having status-regulating emotions.) Even after rereading the comment, I still get fairly strong “this person was trying to be mean” vibes.
In general, I think being easily offended correlates with not being successful in life, as does feeling status-regulating emotions. I have this pet theory that both are underrepresented among rationalists, which would make me an extreme exception. So maybe what was going on is that most people read it and misinterpreted it as counter-signaling, whereas a few unlucky easily-offended people like me interpreted it correctly. But it’s also possible that I’m totally wrong.
Hah, seems like I was wrong after all! Wow, I am a little disappointed—not for being wrong, but for the comment not being as funny as I believed it was. :( Because people should sometimes make jokes in situations like this, in my opinion.