In general, when I see someone give a whole rant that basically ends with “it’s just a sad state of affairs, is all”, I assume they’re doing some underhanded signaling.
No one ever takes the time to write something out just because “it’s sad”. The thing they really want said is there in the subtext. “I’m sad because no one’s surprised that our institutions suck” subtext: “Our institutions suck and it’s really really obvious”. But saying the latter is less sophisticated. If you want to make moves in the culture war while keeping plausible deniability, you hide the message in the subtext.
Zvi reveals the absurdity you get when you try to interpret the message at face value.
Pro-vax Anti-vaxxer Gang wooo
In general, when I see someone give a whole rant that basically ends with “it’s just a sad state of affairs, is all”, I assume they’re doing some underhanded signaling.
No one ever takes the time to write something out just because “it’s sad”. The thing they really want said is there in the subtext. “I’m sad because no one’s surprised that our institutions suck” subtext: “Our institutions suck and it’s really really obvious”. But saying the latter is less sophisticated. If you want to make moves in the culture war while keeping plausible deniability, you hide the message in the subtext.
Zvi reveals the absurdity you get when you try to interpret the message at face value.