I didn’t downvote you, but I would guess those who did were probably objecting to this
“Center left” (so quite similar)
Self-identified leftists, myself included, generally see modern liberalism as a qualitatively different ideology. Imagine someone at Charity Navigator[1] offhandedly describing EA as “basically the same as us”. Now imagine that the longtermism discourse had gotten so bad that basically every successful EA organization could expect to experience periodic coup attempts, and “they’re basically Charity Navigator” was the canonical way to insult people on the other side. That’s what “left = very liberal” looks like from here.
It sounds like you are reading my comment as saying that “center left” is very similar to “left”. But I think it’s pretty clear from the full quote that that’s not what I’m saying.
The OP says that EA is 80% “center-left”. I correct them, and say that EA is 36.8% left and 39.8% “Center left.”
The “(so quite similar)” here refers to the percentages 36.8%and 39.8% (indeed, these are likely not even statistically significant differences).
I can see how, completely in the abstract, one could read the claim as being that “Left” and “Center left” are similar ideologies. But, in context, it only makes sense for me to be making the observation that the percentages of “Left” and “Center left” are quite similar (challenging OP’s claim that EA is all Center left). If I were asserting that “Left” and “Center left” are “quite similar”, then I’d be minimising my own claim (many EAs are “Left” not merely “Center left”).
That said, I’m not sure that mistake is the reason for the downvote, since my other comment also got downvoted. And that one just:
Shows the breakdown by countries
Confirms Larks’ guess that “French and Scandinavian EAs also say they are left wing more frequently than right wing.”
Adds that French EAs are more likely to say they are “Left” than “Center left”.
I didn’t downvote you, but I would guess those who did were probably objecting to this
Self-identified leftists, myself included, generally see modern liberalism as a qualitatively different ideology. Imagine someone at Charity Navigator[1] offhandedly describing EA as “basically the same as us”. Now imagine that the longtermism discourse had gotten so bad that basically every successful EA organization could expect to experience periodic coup attempts, and “they’re basically Charity Navigator” was the canonical way to insult people on the other side. That’s what “left = very liberal” looks like from here.
before they started doing impact ratings
It sounds like you are reading my comment as saying that “center left” is very similar to “left”. But I think it’s pretty clear from the full quote that that’s not what I’m saying.
The OP says that EA is 80% “center-left”. I correct them, and say that EA is 36.8% left and 39.8% “Center left.”
The “(so quite similar)” here refers to the percentages 36.8% and 39.8% (indeed, these are likely not even statistically significant differences).
I can see how, completely in the abstract, one could read the claim as being that “Left” and “Center left” are similar ideologies. But, in context, it only makes sense for me to be making the observation that the percentages of “Left” and “Center left” are quite similar (challenging OP’s claim that EA is all Center left). If I were asserting that “Left” and “Center left” are “quite similar”, then I’d be minimising my own claim (many EAs are “Left” not merely “Center left”).
That said, I’m not sure that mistake is the reason for the downvote, since my other comment also got downvoted. And that one just:
Shows the breakdown by countries
Confirms Larks’ guess that “French and Scandinavian EAs also say they are left wing more frequently than right wing.”
Adds that French EAs are more likely to say they are “Left” than “Center left”.
Now that you point it out I agree that’s the more plausible reading, but it genuinely wasn’t the one that occurred to me first.