There have been previous political threads, like here, here, or here. If you search “politics,” you’ll find quite a bit. Here was my response to the proposal that we have political discussion threads; basically, I think politics is a suboptimal way to spend your time. It might feel useful, but that doesn’t mean it is useful. Here’s Raemon’s comment on the norm against discussing politics. Explicitly political discussion can be found on MoreRight, founded by posters active on LessWrong, as well as on other blogs. (MoreRight is part of ‘neoreaction’, which Yvain has recently criticized here, for example.)
I don’t see what you mean by the ‘pros and cons’ of holding a particular ideology. Ideologies are, generally, value systems- they define what is a pro and what is a con.
I’m curious why you’d divert from the historically compelling example of the Blues and the Greens.
For example, the Public Choice theory is a bona fide intellectual topic, but it’s also clearly political.
It’s about politics, but the methodology is not political. The part of politics that’s generally fun for people is putting forth an impassioned defense of some idea or policy. That’s generally not useful on LessWrong unless it’s about a site policy- and even then, the passion probably doesn’t help.
I would also argue that knowing things like the scope of NSA surveillance is actually useful.
I’m curious why you’d divert from the historically compelling example of the Blues and the Greens.
I strongly associate the Greens with, well, the Greens—a set of political parties in Europe and the whole environmentalist movement.
Blue is a politically-associated color in the US as well.
The part of politics that’s generally fun for people is putting forth an impassioned defense of some idea or policy.
True, but LW is VERY unrepresentative sample :-) and maybe we could do a bit better. You’re right in that discussing the “pros and cons” of ideological positions is not a good idea, but putting “Warning: mindkill” signs around a huge area of reality and saying “we just don’t go there” doesn’t look appealing either.
Welcome!
There have been previous political threads, like here, here, or here. If you search “politics,” you’ll find quite a bit. Here was my response to the proposal that we have political discussion threads; basically, I think politics is a suboptimal way to spend your time. It might feel useful, but that doesn’t mean it is useful. Here’s Raemon’s comment on the norm against discussing politics. Explicitly political discussion can be found on MoreRight, founded by posters active on LessWrong, as well as on other blogs. (MoreRight is part of ‘neoreaction’, which Yvain has recently criticized here, for example.)
I don’t see what you mean by the ‘pros and cons’ of holding a particular ideology. Ideologies are, generally, value systems- they define what is a pro and what is a con.
I must add that not all political discussion is a mud-flinging match between the Cyans and the Magentas.
For example, the Public Choice theory is a bona fide intellectual topic, but it’s also clearly political.
I would also argue that knowing things like the scope of NSA surveillance is actually useful.
I’m curious why you’d divert from the historically compelling example of the Blues and the Greens.
It’s about politics, but the methodology is not political. The part of politics that’s generally fun for people is putting forth an impassioned defense of some idea or policy. That’s generally not useful on LessWrong unless it’s about a site policy- and even then, the passion probably doesn’t help.
Sure.
I strongly associate the Greens with, well, the Greens—a set of political parties in Europe and the whole environmentalist movement.
Blue is a politically-associated color in the US as well.
True, but LW is VERY unrepresentative sample :-) and maybe we could do a bit better. You’re right in that discussing the “pros and cons” of ideological positions is not a good idea, but putting “Warning: mindkill” signs around a huge area of reality and saying “we just don’t go there” doesn’t look appealing either.