Jessica thought my use of “heresy” was conflating factual beliefs with political movements. (There are no intrinsically “right wing” facts.) I agreed that conflating political positions with facts would be bad.
I don’t get what ‘intrinsically’ is doing in the middle sentence. (Well, to the extent that I have guessed what you meant, I disagree.)
Like, yes, there’s one underlying reality, descriptions of it get called facts.
But isn’t the broader context the propagation of propositions, not the propositions themselves? That is, saying X is also saying “pay attention to X” and if X is something whose increased salience is good for the right-wing, then it makes sense to categorize it as a ‘right wing fact’, as left-wing partisans will be loathe to share it and right-wing partisans will be eager to.
Like, currently there’s an armed conflict going on in Israel and Palestine which is harming many people. Of the people most interested in talking about it that I see on the Internet, I sure see a lot of selectivity in which harms they want to communicate, because their motive for communicating about it is not attempting to reach an unbiased estimate, but to participate in a cultural conflict which they hope their side will win. (One could summarize this view as “speech is intrinsically political.”)
“I don’t suppose you could explain,” Harry said dryly, “in your capacity as an official of the Hogwarts school system, why catching a golden mosquito is deemed an academic accomplishment worthy of a hundred and fifty House points?”
A smile crossed Severus’s lips. “Dear me, and I thought you were supposed to be perceptive. Are you truly so incapable of understanding your classmates, Potter, or do you dislike them too much to try? If Quidditch scores did not count toward the House Cup then none of them would care about House points at all. It would merely be an obscure contest for students like you and Miss Granger.”
I don’t get what ‘intrinsically’ is doing in the middle sentence. (Well, to the extent that I have guessed what you meant, I disagree.)
Like, yes, there’s one underlying reality, descriptions of it get called facts.
But isn’t the broader context the propagation of propositions, not the propositions themselves? That is, saying X is also saying “pay attention to X” and if X is something whose increased salience is good for the right-wing, then it makes sense to categorize it as a ‘right wing fact’, as left-wing partisans will be loathe to share it and right-wing partisans will be eager to.
Like, currently there’s an armed conflict going on in Israel and Palestine which is harming many people. Of the people most interested in talking about it that I see on the Internet, I sure see a lot of selectivity in which harms they want to communicate, because their motive for communicating about it is not attempting to reach an unbiased estimate, but to participate in a cultural conflict which they hope their side will win. (One could summarize this view as “speech is intrinsically political.”)
This bit of HPMOR comes to mind: