I like this way of thinking about weirdness, Peter. I’ve been saying for a while that EA is associated with a lot of weird ideas that are sure to turn off many ordinary people.
Another thing I’d recommend is remaining sympathetic to mildly and moderately important issues (e.g. fighting police brutality in the USA, supporting gay rights, containing ebola, the ALS ice bucket challenge) even when you see everybody around you overrating their importance relative to other issues that you consider far more important. Raining on everybody else’s warm, fuzzy parade will make you “weird,” and people will be less willing to hear about your alternative causes. I think the general strategy should be to care about EA issues in addition to mainstream issues, rather than supporting them as an alternative to mainstream issues.
This is something discussed a lot in the animal rights movement. Animal rights, perhaps even more so than EA, is a “weird” movement. And, unfortunately, the animal rights movement has been severely damaged by activists who sacrificed other issues for the sake of their own (e.g. PETA and sexist advertising). Recently, some members of the animal rights community have taken an intersectional approach and aligned themselves with those other issues (police brutality, gay rights, etc.). I think this is a very wise approach.
That’s an important and really interesting point. I don’t know if the press coverage of EA eating other issues (“yo, ALS is unimportant, focus on me instead”) has been net negative, but it’s worth reconsidering and looking into.
I like this way of thinking about weirdness, Peter. I’ve been saying for a while that EA is associated with a lot of weird ideas that are sure to turn off many ordinary people.
Another thing I’d recommend is remaining sympathetic to mildly and moderately important issues (e.g. fighting police brutality in the USA, supporting gay rights, containing ebola, the ALS ice bucket challenge) even when you see everybody around you overrating their importance relative to other issues that you consider far more important. Raining on everybody else’s warm, fuzzy parade will make you “weird,” and people will be less willing to hear about your alternative causes. I think the general strategy should be to care about EA issues in addition to mainstream issues, rather than supporting them as an alternative to mainstream issues.
This is something discussed a lot in the animal rights movement. Animal rights, perhaps even more so than EA, is a “weird” movement. And, unfortunately, the animal rights movement has been severely damaged by activists who sacrificed other issues for the sake of their own (e.g. PETA and sexist advertising). Recently, some members of the animal rights community have taken an intersectional approach and aligned themselves with those other issues (police brutality, gay rights, etc.). I think this is a very wise approach.
That’s an important and really interesting point. I don’t know if the press coverage of EA eating other issues (“yo, ALS is unimportant, focus on me instead”) has been net negative, but it’s worth reconsidering and looking into.