You could say the same about many things, such as throwing loud parties.
You could indeed, which is why throwing loud parties in residential areas without adequate soundproofing (i.e., disturbing your neighbors with your noise) is also very unethical.
What I’m trying to figure out is what important qualitative trait Punch Bug shares with a day of pogroms, that an absence of noise ordinances doesn’t also share. (All three of these things share the traits of being bad policy, and of hurting some more than others)
‘Involvement of physical violence’ is one such trait, and you could build a colorable argument that we shouldn’t encourage even small amounts of physical violence, but I didn’t think that was Benquo’s whole argument.
Other than that, there’s the no-punch-back thing. I guess I just don’t get the significance of the distinction between a punch back on the spot (which the game forbids), and a punch back later when you see a Beetle (which the game encourages). The latter is more annoying to use as a form of deterrence, sure, but not impossible.
The no-punchback rule is really the main thing for me, especially in conjunction the “it sure seems like you’re playing” no-opt-out rule and the proposal that “we” ghettoize people who don’t want to participate. If Duncan were just saying people should get into friendly fights more often, I wouldn’t like the proposal, but I don’t think it would be terrifyingly creepy to me.
Additionally sketchy is the way this was folded into a long and otherwise-reasonable discussion of why we should chill out about casual infliction of minor harms on others in the course of preference-discovery, as though these were the same thing.
[ETA (by Ben): Duncan strongly disputes the “ghetto” characterization. I don’t see how else the “safe spaces” proposal would work out, but “ghetto” is an inference I’m drawing, not the literal text of the OP.]
So I definitely will join you in condemning the no-opt-out rule. The ghettoization proposal… honestly, I think it was too absurd to me to even generate a coherent image, but if I try to force my imagination to produce one it’s pretty horrible.
I’m not sure I see the folding-in problem as keenly as you do. I read Duncan as saying “there’s a problem in that we freak out too much about accidental micro harms. My proposed solution is a framework of intentional micro-harms”. The first part is on firmer ground than the second, but I don’t think it’s illegitimate to pair them.
And it’s the deep creepiness of the no-punchback rule that I mainly don’t get. Like, if the puncher only said “Punch Bug”, and the possibility of a punch back were not discussed, I think the default assumption would be that a punch back is forbidden. That’s pretty what it means for the original punch to be socially sanctioned. Making the “no punch back” part explicit is, I guess, rubbing the punchee’s face in that fact? Is the face-rubbing the problem?
Wait, maybe I get it? Is the terrifying scenario being envisioned, essentially that of a bully saying, “I’m hurting you. For fun. And I’ve found a socially-sanctioned way to do it, so you’re beyond the reach of the forces you normally count on to prevent that!”
Perhaps thinking of ‘bullies’ as a group is the key insight here? I don’t believe Punch Bug is primarily a form of bullying, but the *marginal* impact of banning opt-out *is* mostly to facilitate bullying. That, I could get being deeply creeped out by.
The ghettoization proposal… honestly, I think it was too absurd to me to even generate a coherent image, but if I try to force my imagination to produce one it’s pretty horrible.
This is actually a huge part of what I was upset about, and it’s really helpful to have you make that explicit: The fact that no one else seems to have bothered to take the initiative to concretely visualize this proposal and respond to the implications of its literal content. And then, when I tried to point out the problem by pointing out a structural analogy to a thing there’s some agreement is bad, a mod criticized me for doing that. Which is, itself, a sort of epistemic “no punch-back” rule.
It’s not so much that “bully” is a natural group now, as that proposals like this make that particular division—between people who like punching people with no punchback and people who don’t take initiative in that sort of game—more salient, and create a visible minority group that’s fair game for (initially mild) abuse by the punching caste. (The “safe space” proposal made that really, really obvious to me once I noticed it.)
Jews are interesting because they’re a cultural and ethnic group that actually does noticeably resemble punchbug noninitiators. For just under two millennia, the Jewish strategy was to basically assume that while they’d face the occasional damage from a crusade or pogrom or expulsion from a country, this was an acceptable rate of loss, and keeping a low profile and mostly not bothering people would be a better deal than fighting back ad hoc, which would most likely lead to much more organized persecution by the authorities, or trying to create a nation-state, which would both require them to engage in organized violence (which is very much neither fun nor productive) and make them a more obvious target (this strategic shift was a response to three successive failed rebellions against the Roman empire). The 20th Century was pretty strong evidence that in the modern world this is not a reliably stable or sustainable arrangement, as about a third of Jews worldwide were rounded up and murdered within a single generation.
What I’m trying to figure out is what important qualitative trait Punch Bug shares with a day of pogroms, that an absence of noise ordinances doesn’t also share.
Why assume that there is such a thing? (Or, even if there is, that it would be relevant to the objections/discussion at hand?) One person’s modus tollens is another’s modus ponens; having loud parties (which is the comparable act, by the way—not “absence of noise ordinances”) is lower on the scale, but I see no reason to presuppose that it’s qualitatively different. (Maybe it is, but the assumption is unwarranted until justified.)
I guess I just don’t get the significance of the distinction between a punch back on the spot (which the game forbids), and a punch back later when you see a Beetle (which the game encourages).
The distinction is very simple:
Unilateral imposition of rules.
It doesn’t matter what specific rule you decide to impose on me, in what specific way you choose to limit my actions; the fact remains that you, unilaterally, at your whim, have decided that you have the right to dictate to me what actions I can and cannot take—taking that right away from me.
That cannot be allowed. It is a naked power grab (and its arbitrariness is, of course, not incidental, but in fact central; it demonstrates your ability to impose any rule you like). The only strategically justifiable (from a personal standpoint) and ethical (from a community/societal standpoint) response is to fight back, immediately and forcefully. Failure to do so results in the quick erosion in practice of rights and of autonomy.
I took Benquo to be saying there was such a qualitative difference. I already agree there are lots of reasons Duncan’s proposal would likely do more harm than good.
Unilateral imposition of rules.
What Duncan is proposing is a general societal agreement to allow the Punch Bug game, on a dubious but IMO sincerely-held theory that this would be to the general benefit. It’s no more a unilateral imposition than a law you voted against.
You could indeed, which is why throwing loud parties in residential areas without adequate soundproofing (i.e., disturbing your neighbors with your noise) is also very unethical.
What I’m trying to figure out is what important qualitative trait Punch Bug shares with a day of pogroms, that an absence of noise ordinances doesn’t also share. (All three of these things share the traits of being bad policy, and of hurting some more than others)
‘Involvement of physical violence’ is one such trait, and you could build a colorable argument that we shouldn’t encourage even small amounts of physical violence, but I didn’t think that was Benquo’s whole argument.
Other than that, there’s the no-punch-back thing. I guess I just don’t get the significance of the distinction between a punch back on the spot (which the game forbids), and a punch back later when you see a Beetle (which the game encourages). The latter is more annoying to use as a form of deterrence, sure, but not impossible.
The no-punchback rule is really the main thing for me, especially in conjunction the “it sure seems like you’re playing” no-opt-out rule and the proposal that “we” ghettoize people who don’t want to participate. If Duncan were just saying people should get into friendly fights more often, I wouldn’t like the proposal, but I don’t think it would be terrifyingly creepy to me.
Additionally sketchy is the way this was folded into a long and otherwise-reasonable discussion of why we should chill out about casual infliction of minor harms on others in the course of preference-discovery, as though these were the same thing.
[ETA (by Ben): Duncan strongly disputes the “ghetto” characterization. I don’t see how else the “safe spaces” proposal would work out, but “ghetto” is an inference I’m drawing, not the literal text of the OP.]
So I definitely will join you in condemning the no-opt-out rule. The ghettoization proposal… honestly, I think it was too absurd to me to even generate a coherent image, but if I try to force my imagination to produce one it’s pretty horrible.
I’m not sure I see the folding-in problem as keenly as you do. I read Duncan as saying “there’s a problem in that we freak out too much about accidental micro harms. My proposed solution is a framework of intentional micro-harms”. The first part is on firmer ground than the second, but I don’t think it’s illegitimate to pair them.
And it’s the deep creepiness of the no-punchback rule that I mainly don’t get. Like, if the puncher only said “Punch Bug”, and the possibility of a punch back were not discussed, I think the default assumption would be that a punch back is forbidden. That’s pretty what it means for the original punch to be socially sanctioned. Making the “no punch back” part explicit is, I guess, rubbing the punchee’s face in that fact? Is the face-rubbing the problem?
Wait, maybe I get it? Is the terrifying scenario being envisioned, essentially that of a bully saying, “I’m hurting you. For fun. And I’ve found a socially-sanctioned way to do it, so you’re beyond the reach of the forces you normally count on to prevent that!”
Perhaps thinking of ‘bullies’ as a group is the key insight here? I don’t believe Punch Bug is primarily a form of bullying, but the *marginal* impact of banning opt-out *is* mostly to facilitate bullying. That, I could get being deeply creeped out by.
This is actually a huge part of what I was upset about, and it’s really helpful to have you make that explicit: The fact that no one else seems to have bothered to take the initiative to concretely visualize this proposal and respond to the implications of its literal content. And then, when I tried to point out the problem by pointing out a structural analogy to a thing there’s some agreement is bad, a mod criticized me for doing that. Which is, itself, a sort of epistemic “no punch-back” rule.
It’s not so much that “bully” is a natural group now, as that proposals like this make that particular division—between people who like punching people with no punchback and people who don’t take initiative in that sort of game—more salient, and create a visible minority group that’s fair game for (initially mild) abuse by the punching caste. (The “safe space” proposal made that really, really obvious to me once I noticed it.)
Jews are interesting because they’re a cultural and ethnic group that actually does noticeably resemble punchbug noninitiators. For just under two millennia, the Jewish strategy was to basically assume that while they’d face the occasional damage from a crusade or pogrom or expulsion from a country, this was an acceptable rate of loss, and keeping a low profile and mostly not bothering people would be a better deal than fighting back ad hoc, which would most likely lead to much more organized persecution by the authorities, or trying to create a nation-state, which would both require them to engage in organized violence (which is very much neither fun nor productive) and make them a more obvious target (this strategic shift was a response to three successive failed rebellions against the Roman empire). The 20th Century was pretty strong evidence that in the modern world this is not a reliably stable or sustainable arrangement, as about a third of Jews worldwide were rounded up and murdered within a single generation.
Okay, I think I see where you’re coming from. I’ve definitely updated towards considering the OP proposal scarier. Thanks for spelling things out.
Why assume that there is such a thing? (Or, even if there is, that it would be relevant to the objections/discussion at hand?) One person’s modus tollens is another’s modus ponens; having loud parties (which is the comparable act, by the way—not “absence of noise ordinances”) is lower on the scale, but I see no reason to presuppose that it’s qualitatively different. (Maybe it is, but the assumption is unwarranted until justified.)
The distinction is very simple:
Unilateral imposition of rules.
It doesn’t matter what specific rule you decide to impose on me, in what specific way you choose to limit my actions; the fact remains that you, unilaterally, at your whim, have decided that you have the right to dictate to me what actions I can and cannot take—taking that right away from me.
That cannot be allowed. It is a naked power grab (and its arbitrariness is, of course, not incidental, but in fact central; it demonstrates your ability to impose any rule you like). The only strategically justifiable (from a personal standpoint) and ethical (from a community/societal standpoint) response is to fight back, immediately and forcefully. Failure to do so results in the quick erosion in practice of rights and of autonomy.
I took Benquo to be saying there was such a qualitative difference. I already agree there are lots of reasons Duncan’s proposal would likely do more harm than good.
What Duncan is proposing is a general societal agreement to allow the Punch Bug game, on a dubious but IMO sincerely-held theory that this would be to the general benefit. It’s no more a unilateral imposition than a law you voted against.