I haven't read the whole thread yet, but so far the choice line is:
I like how you just dropped the “Vance is interested in right authoritarianism” like it’s a known fact to base your entire point on. Vance is the clearest demonstration of a libertarian the republicans have in high office. It’s an absurd ad hominem that you try to mask in your wall of text.
I think we can all agree now that US Rationalists are basically all ex-Christians who are looking for the same thing but with the serial numbers filed off.
Tired: I can speak directly to god and will be taken to paradise.
Wired: the god we will create will run a simulation that is indistinguishable from what I am currently (therefore it is literally me) so my thoughts right now are being read directly.
"There was a post, [pause], I forget who wrote it" <- the kind of thing I have said several times attempting to avoid leaking rationalist-evidence-bits.
Or people could take away different things, especially since post-2014 (?) Scott approaches controversial issues much more cautiously and deliberately made known (Kolmogorov) that he was never going to fully honest around certain topics, inviting (deliberately or not, accurate or not) Straussian readings.
I'm pretty sure they're referencing an old ssc post on "kolmogorov complicity" - referencing the Soviet scientist who either spoke out against the purges and got gulag'd or who realized that they were bad but didn't say anything to avoid getting gulag'd and tried to protect his peers from the same fate. I forget if he was the example to follow or the counterexample, and I can't be arsed to look it up.
Now imagine if instead of a Soviet citizen trying to steer your people away from stalinism you were a fascist living in a broadly progressive culture looking to steer the world away from liberalism and towards Yarvin and friends. I try not to go down the conspiracy rabbit hole, but I'm not sure how Scott's output meaningfully differs from what such a person would write. Honestly if he hasn't written the kolmogorov complicity post outlining the whole concept I don't know if I'd be more or less inclined to think he's doing it actively.
Sweet: Comments talking about the specific situation of JD Vance referencing an SSC post.
Not Sweet: Any other references to JD Vance about anything unrelated, including the upcoming election, per the culture war rule.
I probably shouldn’t be looking for meaning in a rule that’s designed so that none of Scott’s fans associate him with the fascist shit he constantly and intentionally platforms, but what the fuck is this supposed to mean? don’t bring up the only reason anyone including Joe Rogan gives a fuck about JD Vance?
I especially want to be sure that everyone here is aware that the video thumbnail clearly shows that JD Vance was not seated upon, or otherwise interacting with, a couch. JD Vance was calmly seated in a standard office chair for the duration of this interview. Any posts containing out-of-context references to couches will be dealt with vigorously.
We're potentially one election - and one big mac-related cardiac arrest - away from our first nooticer president. The American Experiment is on the verge of failure.
What a bastardization of that post, and Scott's general views on the subject
Can someone summarize how this is a big misinterpretation or mistake?
I'm not in any way MAGA or trumpy or a culture war person [sure you are. E: one sort by controversial later and they are indeed a culture war person not a full time one but still], but I'm a long time SSC reader and I thought the post/article was about the fascinating and complete sorta morhph/takeover of the civic "ethos" or civic religion of the elite bluebloods of the USA.
From veneration of founders and founding fathers (up through Abe Lincoln, etc) as the sorta civic glue and religion that we are brought up on, to now embracing LGBTQ+ (not much emphasis on boring normal "L" and "G" [dog barks]) through parades, flags, police cars, crosswalks, holidayds, add campaigns, corporate slogans and logos, etc.
Is this not how most readers understood the article?
Hope this makes some sscers reconsider being a fan of scotts writing. (And yes there was pushback in the replies)
"Look I'm not really saying G-word and L-word are normal, but I might be willing to invite them to my BBQs if they never mention it, hate rainbows, and allow straight people to cut in line ahead of them as a civic duty."
Also wait is not even "B" 'normal' enough for this guy?
one sort by controversial later and they are indeed a culture war person
Instant regret.
This is asked in all sincerity: Why is there a coherent “community” of lesbians, gays, and transgender people? What is the important linking commonality that makes those groups into a community?
Gee I wonder. Also new rule whenever someone posts that they're asking something in sincerity or just wanting to understand or "confused", you're allowed to laugh in their face before they can finish. Seriously does anyone even fall for this anymore? It's so obvious.
It's not that bi isn't "normal-enough". The half-clever shitheels have been trying to split off bisexuality under the guise of "they could pass so they aren't really oppressed like homosexuals". Keeping people divided to make it easier to oppress them and all that. Then you get people like this who probably have no conscious awareness of that intentional strategy but have been stewed in this shit-pot enough that they talk in terms of lesbian-gay with out even noticing.
They don’t think of bisexuals as including married monogamous people who just so happen to be bisexual. It’s a thing. They want to paint the queer community’s “normal people” as “unfortunately exclusively attracted to the same gender”
And yeah some people really want to find a reason to exclude trans people and not acknowledge that we’ve always been part of our communities.
They are also concerned about t levels in athletes, and IQ comes up. Which he defends with "If you think none of these tests are actually measuring anything of value, you must need to explain why they correlate so well with life outcomes related to cognition."
I think a problem with ssc people is that they dont realize they are culture warriors.
The point was SSCers reacting. Vance being an SSCer isn't notable as he's a Thiel creature. SSCers being confronted with the eyeshadowed mirror that is Vance is much more interesting because they spend a lot of time being nominally not exactly what Vance is.
your lack of situational awareness is alarming. stop driving, grab a coffee, put your feet up, and take a moment to actually fucking look at what you replied to
The situation is that we should always link to the source, not to another aggregator. This decreases the odds of it becoming a dead link. And that's before even dealing with the issue that people here are typically explicitly avoiding Reddit.
Then add in that the linked video is a full 3 hours of a Joe Rogan video and no time stamp was provided to tell us what we should be looking for. I'd downnvote a second time just for that if I could.
The problem isn't me, it's a lack of awareness on your part.