Thanks for the clarification—I should clarify as well. By serious ideas I don’t mean that they necessarily have a lot of purchase in, let’s say, American society. They might (it depends on your measures, and as I noted above we’re talking about different things. Socialism, progressivism, leftism, etc. can be understood differently) or they might not. What I mean is that they have a rich intellectual history, in the case of socialism an intellectual history that is much older than EA, and that when a person on the left espouses an idea that it should be judged seriously. As opposed to the way that—not necessarily in this thread—I’ve seen EAs dismiss ostensibly or actually left-leaning concepts without a lot of deep introspection.
I want to again mention the example of the summer BLM protests. It’s possible that 2015ish EA would have given the trite and unhelpful response of “well, there are worse things happening in X country, so people should instead be donating there” or whatever. But, EA has meaningfully grown since then, particularly when it comes to issues of race and justice. By taking those (left-leaning) ideas seriously, there has been a tangible shift, I think, in EA’s ability to be compatible with progressives and more inclusive generally. As I mention in another comment, I think there’s a ceiling to this, but progress is possible.
EA has changed a lot over the past ~8 or so years, and I think it’s moving away from the “Elon Musk Silicon Valley” EA that Dylan Matthews noted several years ago and is morphing into something more diverse and interesting. And I think part of that is because left/progressive/social justice ideas like diversity and racial justice are being taken more seriously (while acknowledging that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done).
To summarize, anytime I see a thoughtful person seriously (and disparagingly) refer to progressives and leftists as something like “SJWs” I cringe because of what that could mean for the future of EA.
I worry that there’s a danger in taking the ideas of the left too seriously, if I take ideas like “abolish the police” seriously, I want to respond with the best arguments against it in order to have a productive discussion of criminal justice policy, and end up denying people’s lived experience. I think it would be a very bad idea for EA to take the ideas of the Left seriously in any way that risks seeming critical of them.
Whereas if I don’t take the idea seriously and understand it merely as an expression of distaste for modern American policing, I can be much more compassionate and understanding. It’s probably better to take the sentiment more seriously than the slogans.
I take your point, but I think I still have some slight pushback. Although I am unconvinced myself of the abolish the police position, slogan or not, it seems a bit patronizing maybe to assume that a very real policy proposal—which has some support by real academics and philosophers including utilitarian ones—is just, like, an “expression of distaste”. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point, and if so please let me know, but I guess that’s the kind of dismissal of real (real not necessarily as in “good” just as in “supported by thoughtful people and perhaps defensible in some cases”) ideas that I worry EA does too much. One reason I love EA is because of its ability to deliberate and to really deal with many different ideas in a productive way. I’m not sure that it’s super productive to not take seriously a political idea because the conversation would (truly) be difficult.
Again, I am curious how many EAs view leftists as something like “people who aren’t really good at being thoughtful or serious, but maybe sometimes, when they’re not being SJWs, have some valid sentiments” or whatever. Like that dismissal, insofar as it exists, is I think representative of a deep problem with EA , which in its history has been just as naive and stubborn as any left movement.
I guess I would say that maybe EA understands the left just as little as the left understands EA, and if this is true, then EA is destined to never have a movement that involves the left.
As an anecdotal example, I’ve had dozens of conversations with EAs about this kind of stuff and, reliably, they will view “socialism” or “leftism” as synonymous with something like “centrally-planned government-run economy”, which is if that’s your only understanding of the left, then you don’t understand the left any more than if someone thinks EA is nothing more than day traders donating to AMF.
I’m not saying nobody has thought through the ideas, I find the proposed alternatives to police fascinating, although I’m personally sceptical that they’d actually be better than the existing system—that’s an essay all on its own!
My point was just that many people repeat slogans to express feelings rather than to advocate for concrete policy proposals, because everyone has feelings but almost nobody has policy proposals. (Myself included—I have opinions about lots of policy issues, if I’m honest I don’t really understand most of them). I’m not saying we should dismiss ideas just because most people that advocate for them would struggle to defend them, I’m just recommending against getting into arguments over the minutia of how community based restorative justice will actually work in the real world with people that have no idea what you’re talking about! It’s often more tactful to take people seriously but not literally, especially since slogans remove all nuance from the conversation and make it hard to know what people actually believe—saying “defund the police” could signal anything from supporting modest budget reallocation to literal anarchy!
I agree that treating “the Left” or “Progressives” as a monolithic bloc reveals a lack of understanding, but since Stalin and Hitler are much easier to argue against than what people on the left or the right actually believe, I’m not seeing this cheap rhetorical trick going away any time soon. We definitely should refrain from it though!
Many EAs support open borders, which to me is in the same general ballpark of “abolish the police”. Both are radical breaks from how the world currently is. Both slogans are open to many different interpretations. And both have a lot of literature and research behind them. But one slogan is popular among EAs, and one isn’t.
Thanks for the clarification—I should clarify as well. By serious ideas I don’t mean that they necessarily have a lot of purchase in, let’s say, American society. They might (it depends on your measures, and as I noted above we’re talking about different things. Socialism, progressivism, leftism, etc. can be understood differently) or they might not. What I mean is that they have a rich intellectual history, in the case of socialism an intellectual history that is much older than EA, and that when a person on the left espouses an idea that it should be judged seriously. As opposed to the way that—not necessarily in this thread—I’ve seen EAs dismiss ostensibly or actually left-leaning concepts without a lot of deep introspection.
I want to again mention the example of the summer BLM protests. It’s possible that 2015ish EA would have given the trite and unhelpful response of “well, there are worse things happening in X country, so people should instead be donating there” or whatever. But, EA has meaningfully grown since then, particularly when it comes to issues of race and justice. By taking those (left-leaning) ideas seriously, there has been a tangible shift, I think, in EA’s ability to be compatible with progressives and more inclusive generally. As I mention in another comment, I think there’s a ceiling to this, but progress is possible.
EA has changed a lot over the past ~8 or so years, and I think it’s moving away from the “Elon Musk Silicon Valley” EA that Dylan Matthews noted several years ago and is morphing into something more diverse and interesting. And I think part of that is because left/progressive/social justice ideas like diversity and racial justice are being taken more seriously (while acknowledging that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done).
To summarize, anytime I see a thoughtful person seriously (and disparagingly) refer to progressives and leftists as something like “SJWs” I cringe because of what that could mean for the future of EA.
I generally agree with your second paragraph!
I worry that there’s a danger in taking the ideas of the left too seriously, if I take ideas like “abolish the police” seriously, I want to respond with the best arguments against it in order to have a productive discussion of criminal justice policy, and end up denying people’s lived experience. I think it would be a very bad idea for EA to take the ideas of the Left seriously in any way that risks seeming critical of them.
Whereas if I don’t take the idea seriously and understand it merely as an expression of distaste for modern American policing, I can be much more compassionate and understanding. It’s probably better to take the sentiment more seriously than the slogans.
I take your point, but I think I still have some slight pushback. Although I am unconvinced myself of the abolish the police position, slogan or not, it seems a bit patronizing maybe to assume that a very real policy proposal—which has some support by real academics and philosophers including utilitarian ones—is just, like, an “expression of distaste”. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point, and if so please let me know, but I guess that’s the kind of dismissal of real (real not necessarily as in “good” just as in “supported by thoughtful people and perhaps defensible in some cases”) ideas that I worry EA does too much. One reason I love EA is because of its ability to deliberate and to really deal with many different ideas in a productive way. I’m not sure that it’s super productive to not take seriously a political idea because the conversation would (truly) be difficult.
Again, I am curious how many EAs view leftists as something like “people who aren’t really good at being thoughtful or serious, but maybe sometimes, when they’re not being SJWs, have some valid sentiments” or whatever. Like that dismissal, insofar as it exists, is I think representative of a deep problem with EA , which in its history has been just as naive and stubborn as any left movement.
I guess I would say that maybe EA understands the left just as little as the left understands EA, and if this is true, then EA is destined to never have a movement that involves the left.
As an anecdotal example, I’ve had dozens of conversations with EAs about this kind of stuff and, reliably, they will view “socialism” or “leftism” as synonymous with something like “centrally-planned government-run economy”, which is if that’s your only understanding of the left, then you don’t understand the left any more than if someone thinks EA is nothing more than day traders donating to AMF.
I’m not saying nobody has thought through the ideas, I find the proposed alternatives to police fascinating, although I’m personally sceptical that they’d actually be better than the existing system—that’s an essay all on its own!
My point was just that many people repeat slogans to express feelings rather than to advocate for concrete policy proposals, because everyone has feelings but almost nobody has policy proposals. (Myself included—I have opinions about lots of policy issues, if I’m honest I don’t really understand most of them). I’m not saying we should dismiss ideas just because most people that advocate for them would struggle to defend them, I’m just recommending against getting into arguments over the minutia of how community based restorative justice will actually work in the real world with people that have no idea what you’re talking about! It’s often more tactful to take people seriously but not literally, especially since slogans remove all nuance from the conversation and make it hard to know what people actually believe—saying “defund the police” could signal anything from supporting modest budget reallocation to literal anarchy!
I agree that treating “the Left” or “Progressives” as a monolithic bloc reveals a lack of understanding, but since Stalin and Hitler are much easier to argue against than what people on the left or the right actually believe, I’m not seeing this cheap rhetorical trick going away any time soon. We definitely should refrain from it though!
Gotcha! Now I think I understand. This makes sense to me
Many EAs support open borders, which to me is in the same general ballpark of “abolish the police”. Both are radical breaks from how the world currently is. Both slogans are open to many different interpretations. And both have a lot of literature and research behind them. But one slogan is popular among EAs, and one isn’t.
This is a really interesting comparison. A lot of leftists also support more open border policies.