I would say it’s less about rationalists vs non-rationalists and more that people who are inclined to social justice norms (who tend not to be rationalists, though one can be both or neither) think it’s a big deal and people who aren’t are at least less committal.
I think there’s a decent case to be made that a lot of social justice norms (though certainly not all) can be arrived at by utilitarian reasoning (“normie EA”) while a lot of opposition to social justice norms can be arrived at through a sort of truth seeking that actively eschews social norms (“rationalist”).
I think that social justice norms are sometimes harmful from a consequentialist viewpoint. The social justice project largely consists of highlighting disparities between oppressor groups and oppressed groups and attributing disparities to immoral action on the part of oppressor groups. I think that most of these beliefs are actually false and the proposed solutions are harmful in that they will not actually solve the problem because the belief is false. I think that they make social relations worse.
More egregious is social justice advocates propensity for censorship in the name of emotional harm-avoidance, and the willingness to attack the character of people who disagree with their viewpoint as bigots of various types. And most egregious is the small minority who actively causes reputational damage, firings, and ostracism.
I think that various harmful social views and policies persist because many social justice advocates think they’re so right they don’t need particularly good truth-seeking behavior.
I would say it’s less about rationalists vs non-rationalists and more that people who are inclined to social justice norms (who tend not to be rationalists, though one can be both or neither) think it’s a big deal and people who aren’t are at least less committal.
I think there’s a decent case to be made that a lot of social justice norms (though certainly not all) can be arrived at by utilitarian reasoning (“normie EA”) while a lot of opposition to social justice norms can be arrived at through a sort of truth seeking that actively eschews social norms (“rationalist”).
I think that social justice norms are sometimes harmful from a consequentialist viewpoint. The social justice project largely consists of highlighting disparities between oppressor groups and oppressed groups and attributing disparities to immoral action on the part of oppressor groups. I think that most of these beliefs are actually false and the proposed solutions are harmful in that they will not actually solve the problem because the belief is false. I think that they make social relations worse.
More egregious is social justice advocates propensity for censorship in the name of emotional harm-avoidance, and the willingness to attack the character of people who disagree with their viewpoint as bigots of various types. And most egregious is the small minority who actively causes reputational damage, firings, and ostracism.
I think that various harmful social views and policies persist because many social justice advocates think they’re so right they don’t need particularly good truth-seeking behavior.
You might be able to arrive at diversity and inclusion from utilitarian and truth seeking norms but you can’t get to equity from them.