Well, the main asymmetry here is that the Left-leaning ‘mainstream’ press doesn’t understand or report the Right’s concerns about Leftist authoritarianism, but it generates and amplifies the Left’s concerns about ‘far Right authoritarianism’.
So, any EAs who follow ‘mainstream’ journalism (e.g. CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, WaPo) will tend to repeat their talking points, their analyses, and their biases.
Most reasonable observers, IMHO, understand that the US ‘mainstream’ press has become very left-leaning and highly biased over the last few decades, especially since 2015, and it is functioning largely as a propaganda wing of the Democratic Party. (Consider, for example, the ‘mainstream’ media’s systematic denial of Biden’s dementia for the last several years, until the symptoms became too painfully obvious, to everyone, to ignore. Such journalists would never have run cover for Trump, if he’d been developing dementia; they would have been demanding his resignation years ago.)
In any case, the partisan polarization on such issues is, perhaps, precisely why EAs should be very careful not to wade into these debates unless they have a very good reason for doing so, a lot of political knowledge and wisdom, an ability to understand both sides, and a recognition that these political differences are probably neither neglected nor tractable.
If we really want to make a difference in politics, I think we should be nudging the relevant decision-makers, policy wonks, staffers, and pundits into developing a better understanding of the global catastrophic risks that we face from nuclear war, bioweapons, and AI.
It’s unclear what your specific disagreements with my comment are.
Take what I think is the most crucial point I made: that there doesn’t seem to be a democratic country in which a major candidate refused to accept defeat in a national election.
Which of these 4 best represents your position?
Trump won the 2020 election
Trump did not refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election or try to subvert it, that’s just a leftist media narrative. If you talk to him, he’ll say he accepts that Biden won fair and square.
Trump did try to subvert the election or refuse to accept defeat, but it’s not a big deal (despite the lack of precedent in democratic countries)
Trump did do those things and they are a big deal, but things that similarly powerful Democrats have done are just as bad or worse.
If it’s the latter, can you show that those actions from powerful Democrats are unprecedented in democratic countries?
Well, the main asymmetry here is that the Left-leaning ‘mainstream’ press doesn’t understand or report the Right’s concerns about Leftist authoritarianism, but it generates and amplifies the Left’s concerns about ‘far Right authoritarianism’.
So, any EAs who follow ‘mainstream’ journalism (e.g. CNN, MSNBC, NY Times, WaPo) will tend to repeat their talking points, their analyses, and their biases.
Most reasonable observers, IMHO, understand that the US ‘mainstream’ press has become very left-leaning and highly biased over the last few decades, especially since 2015, and it is functioning largely as a propaganda wing of the Democratic Party. (Consider, for example, the ‘mainstream’ media’s systematic denial of Biden’s dementia for the last several years, until the symptoms became too painfully obvious, to everyone, to ignore. Such journalists would never have run cover for Trump, if he’d been developing dementia; they would have been demanding his resignation years ago.)
In any case, the partisan polarization on such issues is, perhaps, precisely why EAs should be very careful not to wade into these debates unless they have a very good reason for doing so, a lot of political knowledge and wisdom, an ability to understand both sides, and a recognition that these political differences are probably neither neglected nor tractable.
If we really want to make a difference in politics, I think we should be nudging the relevant decision-makers, policy wonks, staffers, and pundits into developing a better understanding of the global catastrophic risks that we face from nuclear war, bioweapons, and AI.
It’s unclear what your specific disagreements with my comment are.
Take what I think is the most crucial point I made: that there doesn’t seem to be a democratic country in which a major candidate refused to accept defeat in a national election.
Which of these 4 best represents your position?
Trump won the 2020 election
Trump did not refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election or try to subvert it, that’s just a leftist media narrative. If you talk to him, he’ll say he accepts that Biden won fair and square.
Trump did try to subvert the election or refuse to accept defeat, but it’s not a big deal (despite the lack of precedent in democratic countries)
Trump did do those things and they are a big deal, but things that similarly powerful Democrats have done are just as bad or worse.
If it’s the latter, can you show that those actions from powerful Democrats are unprecedented in democratic countries?