I’m troubled by this statement. It completely fails to take Bostrom’s apology into account in any form. Moreover, accusing Bostrom of racism in this manner could legitimately be viewed as borderline slanderous. The accusation of racism can destroy a persons career, career-prospects, and reputation. In effect it can be a social death sentence. An organisation which wants to uphold the values of consequentialism should be much more careful in assessing the consequences of its public actions for the affected individual.
That’s not my reading of the statement (it says “unacceptably racist language” and then condemns the manner of discussion rather than beliefs held).
It completely fails to take Bostrom’s apology into account in any form.
Yeah, but that can be okay if you think it’s higher priority to make a public statement about the contents of the email.
I initially didn’t think such a statement was necessary because disagreeing with the email seemed like a no-brainer, so I didn’t think anyone would have any uncertainty about the views of an organization like CEA. But apparently some (very few) people are not only defending the apology – which I’ve done myself – but argue that the original email was ~fine(?). I don’t agree with such reactions (and Bostrom doesn’t agree either and I see him a sincere person who wouldn’t apologize like that if he didn’t think he messed up), but they show that the public statement serves a purpose beyond just virtue-signalling to make sure there are no misunderstandings. (Note that it’s possible to condemn someone’s actions from long ago as”definitely not okay” without saying that the person is awful or evil!)
“To make sure there are no misunderstandings” it is arguably a fatal strategy not to acknowledge his apologies and not to mention that the “recklessly flawed and reprehensible words” stem from a very old email. As it is written, the statement simply sounds like it is calling him out for racism, which is an extremely serious accusation.
I’m troubled by this statement. It completely fails to take Bostrom’s apology into account in any form. Moreover, accusing Bostrom of racism in this manner could legitimately be viewed as borderline slanderous. The accusation of racism can destroy a persons career, career-prospects, and reputation. In effect it can be a social death sentence. An organisation which wants to uphold the values of consequentialism should be much more careful in assessing the consequences of its public actions for the affected individual.
That’s not my reading of the statement (it says “unacceptably racist language” and then condemns the manner of discussion rather than beliefs held).
Yeah, but that can be okay if you think it’s higher priority to make a public statement about the contents of the email.
I initially didn’t think such a statement was necessary because disagreeing with the email seemed like a no-brainer, so I didn’t think anyone would have any uncertainty about the views of an organization like CEA. But apparently some (very few) people are not only defending the apology – which I’ve done myself – but argue that the original email was ~fine(?). I don’t agree with such reactions (and Bostrom doesn’t agree either and I see him a sincere person who wouldn’t apologize like that if he didn’t think he messed up), but they show that the public statement serves a purpose beyond just virtue-signalling to make sure there are no misunderstandings. (Note that it’s possible to condemn someone’s actions from long ago as”definitely not okay” without saying that the person is awful or evil!)
“To make sure there are no misunderstandings” it is arguably a fatal strategy not to acknowledge his apologies and not to mention that the “recklessly flawed and reprehensible words” stem from a very old email. As it is written, the statement simply sounds like it is calling him out for racism, which is an extremely serious accusation.