People pushing the above arguments clearly think that the potential impacts of integrating these thoughts into EA are very very high
I’m only mildly confident that making this post was a good idea. I probably wouldn’t have made it if Haydn’s post had better anticipated objections like Henry’s. Haydn’s post made me worry that most EAs, including policy associates at the main EA think tank, are simply unaware of arguments that the right is making.
Happy to hear more thoughts on this, including sent as a personal message.
Thanks Xccf, it’s definitely good to explore these questions. I just personally worry that this specific anti-immigration part of the right has 1) become particularly dangerous in their rhetoric, and 2) has become too good at co-opting language used by EAs.
For 1, I’d probably defer to everyone else’s points on this. I won’t put out an argument, but just to give some background for where I am coming from—I grew up with Muslim and Immigrant friends, and after the rhetoric after 9/11 started getting heated my parents made sure that I listened to Bush’s (as well as everyone else’s) calls for tolerance, including by forcing me to read the wonderful book “Who speaks for Islam”. I just have never bought the ‘clash of civilizations’-type arguments as a result, and can find no evidence that behooves me to change my view. I now directly work for an organization that (among other things) pushes for refugee (including Syrian) rights. If I had any doubt that this work was dangerous, I’d quit.
For 2, it’s a little fuzzier, and a little less developed—so you’ll have to bear with me (I wish I had a good source writing this up—perhaps when I have time I’ll make one). I see a lot of cases of young white men (like myself, mind you) pushing pseudo-scientific screeds against various forms of equality (Milo Yiannopoulos is the king of this). Many people in this cohort portray themselves online (note: portrayal is everything in this case!) as the ‘logical’ ones, and say ‘I’ll change my mind if you can prove me wrong with facts in a reasonable argument’, and then complain that the real problem is ‘political correctness’, which is stifling their ‘freedom of speech’. On the surface, this looks like a sane line of argument, and seems like one that we should support (who doesn’t like freedom of speech, amiright?). And so this becomes a situation where they force the rest of us who believe in freedom of speech and intellectual diversity to either A) yell at them, thus making them look like the ones with the high ground, or B) try to reason with them, which accidentally normalizes their speech, and puts it into the mainstream. God forbid you actually manage to kick the legs out from under their argument, like I’ve managed to do on forums a few times, because then their buddies tend to try to cyberbully you, or worse if god forbid they dox you and people get your real address.
I really don’t want to make this come off as ad hominen or a judgement on your character, so please forgive me if I’m coming on a little too strong (and without enough evidence! which I do apologize for as well). I do not believe that you are one of these people that I mentioned—I’ve seen your posts, and you are very reasonable, but I strongly worry that Henry is one of these people based on the way he writes and the thoughts being pushed. Once again, I can’t prove this, but I just want to flag it just in case.
Thanks for the feedback, Rick.
I’m only mildly confident that making this post was a good idea. I probably wouldn’t have made it if Haydn’s post had better anticipated objections like Henry’s. Haydn’s post made me worry that most EAs, including policy associates at the main EA think tank, are simply unaware of arguments that the right is making.
Happy to hear more thoughts on this, including sent as a personal message.
Thanks Xccf, it’s definitely good to explore these questions. I just personally worry that this specific anti-immigration part of the right has 1) become particularly dangerous in their rhetoric, and 2) has become too good at co-opting language used by EAs. For 1, I’d probably defer to everyone else’s points on this. I won’t put out an argument, but just to give some background for where I am coming from—I grew up with Muslim and Immigrant friends, and after the rhetoric after 9/11 started getting heated my parents made sure that I listened to Bush’s (as well as everyone else’s) calls for tolerance, including by forcing me to read the wonderful book “Who speaks for Islam”. I just have never bought the ‘clash of civilizations’-type arguments as a result, and can find no evidence that behooves me to change my view. I now directly work for an organization that (among other things) pushes for refugee (including Syrian) rights. If I had any doubt that this work was dangerous, I’d quit. For 2, it’s a little fuzzier, and a little less developed—so you’ll have to bear with me (I wish I had a good source writing this up—perhaps when I have time I’ll make one). I see a lot of cases of young white men (like myself, mind you) pushing pseudo-scientific screeds against various forms of equality (Milo Yiannopoulos is the king of this). Many people in this cohort portray themselves online (note: portrayal is everything in this case!) as the ‘logical’ ones, and say ‘I’ll change my mind if you can prove me wrong with facts in a reasonable argument’, and then complain that the real problem is ‘political correctness’, which is stifling their ‘freedom of speech’. On the surface, this looks like a sane line of argument, and seems like one that we should support (who doesn’t like freedom of speech, amiright?). And so this becomes a situation where they force the rest of us who believe in freedom of speech and intellectual diversity to either A) yell at them, thus making them look like the ones with the high ground, or B) try to reason with them, which accidentally normalizes their speech, and puts it into the mainstream. God forbid you actually manage to kick the legs out from under their argument, like I’ve managed to do on forums a few times, because then their buddies tend to try to cyberbully you, or worse if god forbid they dox you and people get your real address.
I really don’t want to make this come off as ad hominen or a judgement on your character, so please forgive me if I’m coming on a little too strong (and without enough evidence! which I do apologize for as well). I do not believe that you are one of these people that I mentioned—I’ve seen your posts, and you are very reasonable, but I strongly worry that Henry is one of these people based on the way he writes and the thoughts being pushed. Once again, I can’t prove this, but I just want to flag it just in case.