When embroiled in ideological conflict, I think it’s far too easy to be ignorant of (or in some cases, deliberately downplay for bravado reasons) the existence of bystanders to your ideological war. For example, I think some black EAs are directly hurt by the lack of social sensitivity displayed in much of the discourse around the Bostrom controversy (and perhaps the discussions themselves). Similarly, some neurodivergent people are hurt by the implication that maximally sensitive language is a desiderata on the forum, and the related implication that people like them are not welcome. Controversies can also create headaches for community builders (including far away from the original controversy), for employees at the affected or affiliated organizations, and for communications people more broadly.
The move to be making is to stop for a bit. Note that people hurting are real people, not props. And real people could be seriously hurting for reasons other than direct ideological disagreement.
While I think it is tempting to use bystanders to make your rhetoric stronger, embroiling bystanders in your conflict is I think predictably bad. If you know people who you think might be hurting, I suspect it’s a more productive use of your time to reach out to the affected people, check in with them, and make sure they’re okay.[1]
Potential updates:
Think about the bystanders your speech or other actions may harm
Probably try to minimize harm.
Don’t try to deliberately harm people for bravado- (“edgelord”-) adjacent reasons.
If you do know people who might be harmed by recent events, and you’re in a position to do so, consider reaching out to them privately and see if you can help.
Bystanders exist
When embroiled in ideological conflict, I think it’s far too easy to be ignorant of (or in some cases, deliberately downplay for bravado reasons) the existence of bystanders to your ideological war. For example, I think some black EAs are directly hurt by the lack of social sensitivity displayed in much of the discourse around the Bostrom controversy (and perhaps the discussions themselves). Similarly, some neurodivergent people are hurt by the implication that maximally sensitive language is a desiderata on the forum, and the related implication that people like them are not welcome. Controversies can also create headaches for community builders (including far away from the original controversy), for employees at the affected or affiliated organizations, and for communications people more broadly.
The move to be making is to stop for a bit. Note that people hurting are real people, not props. And real people could be seriously hurting for reasons other than direct ideological disagreement.
While I think it is tempting to use bystanders to make your rhetoric stronger, embroiling bystanders in your conflict is I think predictably bad. If you know people who you think might be hurting, I suspect it’s a more productive use of your time to reach out to the affected people, check in with them, and make sure they’re okay.[1]
Potential updates:
Think about the bystanders your speech or other actions may harm
Probably try to minimize harm.
Don’t try to deliberately harm people for bravado- (“edgelord”-) adjacent reasons.
If you do know people who might be harmed by recent events, and you’re in a position to do so, consider reaching out to them privately and see if you can help.
I’ve done this a bunch myself, with mixed success.
Are you black?
No, different racial minority in the US. Why?