The quality of discourse in Russian LJ depends almost entirely on your immediate circle of readers. Incredible stupidity and mendacity happily coexist with fantastic blogs and interesting debates. The number and density of the latter has gone down over the years, but then again, blogging as a phenomenon has.
It comes down to this: the main reason I blog on LJ in Russian because I still have lots and lots of readers there who are smarter and knowledgeable than me in the many different areas I’m interested in. There’s no single place I can blog or write in English that would give me as much, and as useful, feedback (and that certainly includes LW).
Do you believe that by living in Israel you are by de facto green-lighting it’s history and current course of action (such as settlements, etc)? If not, can you explain what you believe your involvement/non-involvement entails?
[edit: I think this question might of come off sounding thorny when it’s not supposed to be- espiecially given the charged emotions and such on the conflict there. I just want some perspective on what it’s personally like for you to ‘live in the middle’ of such a well known conflict]
Downvotes without comments are routine. I didn’t vote, but I suspect the downvoter felt that a discussion of Middle-East politics was likely to follow from the question, and likely to be unpleasant or heated.
That would be an assumption and entirely irrational.
I am not going to be unpleasant nor engage in a lengthy debate about anything- least of all expanding the topic to other middle east politics.
I simply wanted to know what it’s like to live in such a controversial topic. Where does he finds himself in it (as in does he feel like it’s in another world or maybe it’s a daily experience?). I really don’t know if the average person there feels like they are part of what is happening or if it is something they see in the news like every one else in the world and feel disconnected from.
I’m an Australian- and I wouldn’t have a problem if someone asked me the same line of questioning based around say the current (anti) refugee policy or even the white invasion and genocide of the indigenous people.
Yes, it’s an assumption. An irrational assumption? No, not especially. In the absence of special information about you, it’s rational enough to assume you are a typical commenter on this site. If they observe evidence of your exceptionality, a rational observer updates based on that information.
Hmm I see your point- but if what they did was called ‘rational’ then there has to be another word for the part where they made the mistake.
The mistake was they came to so much of a conclusion about something that they acted on it. They were wrong. They caused negative utility. It negatively effected the world and also their understanding of it.
What is that called?
lol not negative utility to me- to him!
It hasn’t hurt my feelings or made me feel like a victim, I’m talking about how someone has misinterpreted and acted out on to the world.
Even at that it was such a minor incident that i’m not talking about this in terms of damage done. What i’m really saying is- why is someone acting irrational on a rationality website?
why is someone acting irrational on a rationality website?
The obvious answer is that people here are humans and not Vulcans. But I don’t see the irrationality you are talking about. Rationality doesn’t specify values or goals. You know nothing about the person who downvoted you or the reasons he did it. Given this, your accusation of irrationality seems… hasty. Even irrational, one might say :-)
The way people vote on politically contentious topics on this site is very far from some rational ideal. Politics is the mind-killer and all that. I don’t think it’s changing any time soon, so I’d recommend just getting used to it.
But why do people just accept the status quo?? Politics doesn’t kill my mind. I know how to not ‘cheer for my team’ and to think about topics in a balanced way. I expect people to act irrationally on the comment section of the news website I read- but why are people not rising above it on this website of all places?
Get use to it? It’s very hard to think it’s rare and unexpected for people to talk about a topic rationally. I don’t see why people find it so hard- especially when they’ve apparently read articles highlighting common problems and where they come from.
When we find it hard to think that things are as they are, and we find it hard to see why things are as they are, that’s often a good time to pay close attention to the behavior of the system. Often this has better results than expecting the behavior to be different and complaining when it isn’t… though admittedly, sometimes complaining has good results.
lol ok yes as I typed that I had to ask myself that exact same question- since it’s such a bold thing to say and exactly what someone with a problem might say.
I could explain why I am sure, but I’m not sure anyone is interested in that explanation. I’ve got a ask me a question comment on here so I guess if anyone is interested- they can ask :-)
I work as a software engineer, married with two kids, live in Israel and blog mostly in Russian. AMA.
Why do you even waste time on lj-russians? The level of the discourse is lagging roughly two hundred years behind the western world.
The quality of discourse in Russian LJ depends almost entirely on your immediate circle of readers. Incredible stupidity and mendacity happily coexist with fantastic blogs and interesting debates. The number and density of the latter has gone down over the years, but then again, blogging as a phenomenon has.
It comes down to this: the main reason I blog on LJ in Russian because I still have lots and lots of readers there who are smarter and knowledgeable than me in the many different areas I’m interested in. There’s no single place I can blog or write in English that would give me as much, and as useful, feedback (and that certainly includes LW).
Do you believe that by living in Israel you are by de facto green-lighting it’s history and current course of action (such as settlements, etc)? If not, can you explain what you believe your involvement/non-involvement entails? [edit: I think this question might of come off sounding thorny when it’s not supposed to be- espiecially given the charged emotions and such on the conflict there. I just want some perspective on what it’s personally like for you to ‘live in the middle’ of such a well known conflict]
Why would someone down vote me without commenting as to why? Why would my question warrant a down vote anyway?
Downvotes without comments are routine. I didn’t vote, but I suspect the downvoter felt that a discussion of Middle-East politics was likely to follow from the question, and likely to be unpleasant or heated.
That would be an assumption and entirely irrational. I am not going to be unpleasant nor engage in a lengthy debate about anything- least of all expanding the topic to other middle east politics.
I simply wanted to know what it’s like to live in such a controversial topic. Where does he finds himself in it (as in does he feel like it’s in another world or maybe it’s a daily experience?). I really don’t know if the average person there feels like they are part of what is happening or if it is something they see in the news like every one else in the world and feel disconnected from.
I’m an Australian- and I wouldn’t have a problem if someone asked me the same line of questioning based around say the current (anti) refugee policy or even the white invasion and genocide of the indigenous people.
Yes, it’s an assumption.
An irrational assumption? No, not especially. In the absence of special information about you, it’s rational enough to assume you are a typical commenter on this site. If they observe evidence of your exceptionality, a rational observer updates based on that information.
Hmm I see your point- but if what they did was called ‘rational’ then there has to be another word for the part where they made the mistake. The mistake was they came to so much of a conclusion about something that they acted on it. They were wrong. They caused negative utility. It negatively effected the world and also their understanding of it. What is that called?
All that about a single downvote..? X-D
I recommend growing thicker skin, quickly.
lol not negative utility to me- to him! It hasn’t hurt my feelings or made me feel like a victim, I’m talking about how someone has misinterpreted and acted out on to the world. Even at that it was such a minor incident that i’m not talking about this in terms of damage done. What i’m really saying is- why is someone acting irrational on a rationality website?
The obvious answer is that people here are humans and not Vulcans. But I don’t see the irrationality you are talking about. Rationality doesn’t specify values or goals. You know nothing about the person who downvoted you or the reasons he did it. Given this, your accusation of irrationality seems… hasty. Even irrational, one might say :-)
The way people vote on politically contentious topics on this site is very far from some rational ideal. Politics is the mind-killer and all that. I don’t think it’s changing any time soon, so I’d recommend just getting used to it.
But why do people just accept the status quo?? Politics doesn’t kill my mind. I know how to not ‘cheer for my team’ and to think about topics in a balanced way. I expect people to act irrationally on the comment section of the news website I read- but why are people not rising above it on this website of all places?
Get use to it? It’s very hard to think it’s rare and unexpected for people to talk about a topic rationally. I don’t see why people find it so hard- especially when they’ve apparently read articles highlighting common problems and where they come from.
When we find it hard to think that things are as they are, and we find it hard to see why things are as they are, that’s often a good time to pay close attention to the behavior of the system. Often this has better results than expecting the behavior to be different and complaining when it isn’t… though admittedly, sometimes complaining has good results.
Or do you have a third alternative in mind?
To be honest, I guess my comment was just a complaint with no expected result. It really had no point other than some kind of emotional release
Heh. Are you quite sure of that? :-)
lol ok yes as I typed that I had to ask myself that exact same question- since it’s such a bold thing to say and exactly what someone with a problem might say.
I could explain why I am sure, but I’m not sure anyone is interested in that explanation. I’ve got a ask me a question comment on here so I guess if anyone is interested- they can ask :-)
That’s standard operating procedure around here. Most up- and down-votes are given without comment.
Your question implies that Israel’s “history and current course of action” are bad/shameful/immoral/etc.