You don’t need to denounce someone that’s demonstrably wrong, you just point out how they’re wrong.
I think you’re misunderstanding the implications of the heresy dynamic. It’s true that people who want to maintain their good standing within the dominant ideology—in the Cathedral, we could say, since you seem to be a Moldbug fan—can’t honestly engage with the heretic’s claims. That doesn’t imply that the heretic’s claims are correct—they just have to be not so trivially wrong as to permit a demonstration of their wrongness that doesn’t require the work of intellectually honest engagement (which the pious cannot permit themselves).
If a Bad Man says that 2+2=5, then good people can demonstrate the arithmetic error without pounding the table and denouncing him as a Bad Man. If a Bad Man claims that P equals NP, then good people who want the Bad Man gone but wouldn’t be caught dead actually checking the proof, are reduced to pounding the table—but that doesn’t mean the proof is correct! Reversed stupidity is not intelligence.
What exactly do people think is the endgame of denunciation?
Evading punishment of non-punishers. Good people who don’t shun Bad Men might fall under suspicion of being Bad Men themselves.
I had hoped that people would be more rational and less pissed off, but you win some you lose some.
I know the feeling.
The evolutionary need for sexual dimorphism will disappear, evolution will take care of the rest.
Um. You may be underestimating the timescale on which evolution works? (The evolution of sexual dimorphism is even slower!)
I specifically said I offered no solution in that post.
That’s a start, but if you’re interested in writing advice, I would recommend trying a lot harder to signal that you really understand the is/ought distinction. (You’re doing badly enough at this that I’m not convinced you do.) You’ve been pointing to some real patterns, but when your top-line summary is “Women’s agency [...] is contrary to a society’s progress and stability” … that’s not going to play in Berkeley. (And for all of their/our other failings, a lot of people in Berkeley are very smart and have read the same blogs as you, and more—even if they’re strategic about when to show it.)
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I think you’re misunderstanding the implications of the heresy dynamic. It’s true that people who want to maintain their good standing within the dominant ideology—in the Cathedral, we could say, since you seem to be a Moldbug fan—can’t honestly engage with the heretic’s claims. That doesn’t imply that the heretic’s claims are correct—they just have to be not so trivially wrong as to permit a demonstration of their wrongness that doesn’t require the work of intellectually honest engagement (which the pious cannot permit themselves).
If a Bad Man says that 2+2=5, then good people can demonstrate the arithmetic error without pounding the table and denouncing him as a Bad Man. If a Bad Man claims that P equals NP, then good people who want the Bad Man gone but wouldn’t be caught dead actually checking the proof, are reduced to pounding the table—but that doesn’t mean the proof is correct! Reversed stupidity is not intelligence.
Evading punishment of non-punishers. Good people who don’t shun Bad Men might fall under suspicion of being Bad Men themselves.
I know the feeling.
Um. You may be underestimating the timescale on which evolution works? (The evolution of sexual dimorphism is even slower!)
That’s a start, but if you’re interested in writing advice, I would recommend trying a lot harder to signal that you really understand the is/ought distinction. (You’re doing badly enough at this that I’m not convinced you do.) You’ve been pointing to some real patterns, but when your top-line summary is “Women’s agency [...] is contrary to a society’s progress and stability” … that’s not going to play in Berkeley. (And for all of their/our other failings, a lot of people in Berkeley are very smart and have read the same blogs as you, and more—even if they’re strategic about when to show it.)