The core idea here seems to be that certain political groups do or may one day dislike EA and people who associate with EA may be hunted down and blacklisted/social harmed ⇒ we shouldn’t publicly identify with EA. I don’t find this reasoning too persuasive for a few reasons:
I think it’s unlikely that being an EA is or becomes taboo to a level that would carry substantial personal risk of cancelling. I also think being cancelled on twitter is low-impact and not something you should overly care unless you’re being cancelled in a way that will mean you loose your job (e.g: pictures of you in a KKK suit). In short, I have never seen anyone get cancelled for being an EA and if you do have a twitter mob come after you, I doubt any sane employer would fire you because you think charity funding should be distributed differently.
I think that in an ethical sense, it’s problematic to give in to political extremists/coercion. The more people give in and falsify their preferences/beliefs, the more harassment can be targeted at those who remain. It’s a collective action problem/downward spiral which is best tackled by remaining brave rather than giving in.
I think critics of EA are more likely to talk to you if you’re a know, but reasonable and approachable, EA vs if you’re just a random person
Takes a lot less than public cancellation to harm your career. I know powerful people who enthusiastically support my work now who would’ve been hesitant to work with me if they knew I was an EA because they’ve had bad experiences with other EAs. I think I could survive that now bc they’ve known me long enough to forgive me for it (keeping in mind that I have merely been silent, not lied about it), but if they’d googled me and learned it the day they met me, I’d be significantly less effective.
As for the collective action problem, I would first note that silence is not actually preference falsification. “Silence is complicity” is a false thing people like to say, but in reality you can’t verbal diarrhea out everything you believe, even if you try, because you’d spend your whole life doing that and never get any work done. Everyone always has to maintain some level of silence about their beliefs due to time limits if nothing else. Even for actual falsification, it only creates susceptibility to pressure if your falsification also fools the people who share your actual preferences. But if you’re on here posting anonymously then they’re not being fooled about the number of allies they have.
Additionally, just realistically here, I’d bet a ton of money that the difference in my impact by using my weirdness points to get work done instead of be a public EA is A LOT more than positive impact that would come from some marginally interested potential EA knowing that I’m an EA.
Yes, I agree this story sounds pretty implausible to me. I think it’s more likely that EA becomes controversial or unpopular in certain circles and being associated with it becomes a mark against you—certain people become less likely to want to mentor you or work with you, for example.
It’s certainly true that some people today are suspicious of EAs! Could become true more widely.
I doubt any sane employer would fire you because you think charity funding should be distributed differently.
I think this is very overconfident. Cancellation can come for anyone, no matter how minor their supposed transgression. Emmanuel Cafferty was literally fired for reciprocating after someone made the ‘ok’ sign with their fingers at a traffic light! Employers aren’t concerned about the truth or defensibility of your views, they just want the social media storm to go away.
The core idea here seems to be that certain political groups do or may one day dislike EA and people who associate with EA may be hunted down and blacklisted/social harmed ⇒ we shouldn’t publicly identify with EA. I don’t find this reasoning too persuasive for a few reasons:
I think it’s unlikely that being an EA is or becomes taboo to a level that would carry substantial personal risk of cancelling. I also think being cancelled on twitter is low-impact and not something you should overly care unless you’re being cancelled in a way that will mean you loose your job (e.g: pictures of you in a KKK suit). In short, I have never seen anyone get cancelled for being an EA and if you do have a twitter mob come after you, I doubt any sane employer would fire you because you think charity funding should be distributed differently.
I think that in an ethical sense, it’s problematic to give in to political extremists/coercion. The more people give in and falsify their preferences/beliefs, the more harassment can be targeted at those who remain. It’s a collective action problem/downward spiral which is best tackled by remaining brave rather than giving in.
I think critics of EA are more likely to talk to you if you’re a know, but reasonable and approachable, EA vs if you’re just a random person
Takes a lot less than public cancellation to harm your career. I know powerful people who enthusiastically support my work now who would’ve been hesitant to work with me if they knew I was an EA because they’ve had bad experiences with other EAs. I think I could survive that now bc they’ve known me long enough to forgive me for it (keeping in mind that I have merely been silent, not lied about it), but if they’d googled me and learned it the day they met me, I’d be significantly less effective.
As for the collective action problem, I would first note that silence is not actually preference falsification. “Silence is complicity” is a false thing people like to say, but in reality you can’t verbal diarrhea out everything you believe, even if you try, because you’d spend your whole life doing that and never get any work done. Everyone always has to maintain some level of silence about their beliefs due to time limits if nothing else. Even for actual falsification, it only creates susceptibility to pressure if your falsification also fools the people who share your actual preferences. But if you’re on here posting anonymously then they’re not being fooled about the number of allies they have.
Additionally, just realistically here, I’d bet a ton of money that the difference in my impact by using my weirdness points to get work done instead of be a public EA is A LOT more than positive impact that would come from some marginally interested potential EA knowing that I’m an EA.
Yes, I agree this story sounds pretty implausible to me. I think it’s more likely that EA becomes controversial or unpopular in certain circles and being associated with it becomes a mark against you—certain people become less likely to want to mentor you or work with you, for example.
It’s certainly true that some people today are suspicious of EAs! Could become true more widely.
I think this is very overconfident. Cancellation can come for anyone, no matter how minor their supposed transgression. Emmanuel Cafferty was literally fired for reciprocating after someone made the ‘ok’ sign with their fingers at a traffic light! Employers aren’t concerned about the truth or defensibility of your views, they just want the social media storm to go away.