Suggestions for assessing the claim, “forum users are only a subset of the EA community”? Or the claim, “most of them [EAs I know] would think it’d be ridiculous to give a platform to someone like Hanania”?
I don’t think there’s great evidence for either claim, unfortunately. For the former, I guess we can look at this and observe that forum use is quite unequal between users, which suggests something.
For the latter, I could survey EAs I know with the question, “Do you think it’d be a good idea to invite Hanania to speak at an event?”. However, even typing that out feels absurd, which perhaps indicates how confident I am that most EAs I know would think it’s a ridiculous idea.
Regarding stigma, my impression is that quite a few people would like to say on the forum, “Giving a platform to Hanania is a ridiculous idea”, but don’t because they worry the forum will not be receptive to this view. I think this is because people perceive there to be a stigma on the forum against anyone who expresses discomfort at seeing people dispassionately discuss whether it’s okay to give a platform to someone like Hanania.
Maybe this stigma is a good thing. I’m not sure. I like what Isa said: “I want to encourage people not to dismiss that ‘wtf’ feeling many people have towards him and other speakers as lacking some kind of intellectual rigor or curiosity about the world”.
Regardless, the votes on my quick take suggest the stigma isn’t as strong as these people perceive it to be.
Actually a third: ~ “the approximate percentage of EAs would think it’d be ridiculous to give a platform to someone like Hanania.” I don’t need convincing that both “Forum users” and “EAs that James Herbert personally knows” are likely unrepresentative samples of EAs as a whole. And I’d still be distressed if “most” EAs thought it ridiculous, but a sizable minority thought it was affirmatively a good idea.
Suggestions for assessing the claim, “forum users are only a subset of the EA community”? Or the claim, “most of them [EAs I know] would think it’d be ridiculous to give a platform to someone like Hanania”?
I don’t think there’s great evidence for either claim, unfortunately. For the former, I guess we can look at this and observe that forum use is quite unequal between users, which suggests something.
For the latter, I could survey EAs I know with the question, “Do you think it’d be a good idea to invite Hanania to speak at an event?”. However, even typing that out feels absurd, which perhaps indicates how confident I am that most EAs I know would think it’s a ridiculous idea.
Regarding stigma, my impression is that quite a few people would like to say on the forum, “Giving a platform to Hanania is a ridiculous idea”, but don’t because they worry the forum will not be receptive to this view. I think this is because people perceive there to be a stigma on the forum against anyone who expresses discomfort at seeing people dispassionately discuss whether it’s okay to give a platform to someone like Hanania.
Maybe this stigma is a good thing. I’m not sure. I like what Isa said: “I want to encourage people not to dismiss that ‘wtf’ feeling many people have towards him and other speakers as lacking some kind of intellectual rigor or curiosity about the world”.
Regardless, the votes on my quick take suggest the stigma isn’t as strong as these people perceive it to be.
Actually a third: ~ “the approximate percentage of EAs would think it’d be ridiculous to give a platform to someone like Hanania.” I don’t need convincing that both “Forum users” and “EAs that James Herbert personally knows” are likely unrepresentative samples of EAs as a whole. And I’d still be distressed if “most” EAs thought it ridiculous, but a sizable minority thought it was affirmatively a good idea.