I’m not saying that you literally have nothing against fashists. I’m pretty sure you disagree with them on nearly every subject, find them generally evil and do not really want to associate with them. I’m saying that they are not your outgroup in the same sense that Osama bin Laden wasn’t outgroup for blue tribe while Margaret Thatcher was:
...Blue Tribe – can’t get together enough energy to really hate Osama, let alone Muslims in general. We understand that what he did was bad, but it didn’t anger us personally. When he died, we were able to very rationally apply our better nature and our Far Mode beliefs about how it’s never right to be happy about anyone else’s death.
On the other hand, that same group absolutely loathed Thatcher. Most of us (though not all) can agree, if the question is posed explicitly, that Osama was a worse person than Thatcher. But in terms of actual gut feeling? Osama provokes a snap judgment of “flawed human being”, Thatcher a snap judgment of “scum”.
Fashists are not your outgroup, they are the outgroup of your outgroup. Contrary to a popular belief, this doesn’t make them your friends or allies. Sometimes you can benefit them, for instance, by arguing in favour of making LessWrong more attractive for them and less attractive for social justice related people, but it only happens by chance. For you, fashists are mainly an easy way to demonstrate how rational and tolerant you are, compared to the woke-leftists—your real outgroup. Thus scoring some points in a social game.
If so, then that’s an absurd thing to say. Given my background, saying that I have nothing against fascists is one heck of a claim…
I’m not saying that you literally have nothing against fashists. I’m pretty sure you disagree with them on nearly every subject, find them generally evil and do not really want to associate with them. I’m saying that they are not your outgroup in the same sense that Osama bin Laden wasn’t outgroup for blue tribe while Margaret Thatcher was:
Fashists are not your outgroup, they are the outgroup of your outgroup. Contrary to a popular belief, this doesn’t make them your friends or allies. Sometimes you can benefit them, for instance, by arguing in favour of making LessWrong more attractive for them and less attractive for social justice related people, but it only happens by chance. For you, fashists are mainly an easy way to demonstrate how rational and tolerant you are, compared to the woke-leftists—your real outgroup. Thus scoring some points in a social game.