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Isn’t that shutdown largely due to /r/sneerclub’s efforts?

Honestly, I kinda wish it was, but really I don’t think it is.

From Scott’s own admission, he had that thread shut down because he was harrassed by doxxers who called his irl job.

He and the rest of the rationalists then tried to put the blame on all their detractors (prominently including this here Club), despite having no evidence whatsoever to lead them to think that.

So no, it’s not due to “/r/sneerclub’s efforts” if by efforts you mean sneering at dumb stuff from the CW thread. If by “/r/sneerclub’s efforts” you mean harrassing Scott, then you’re also wrong, since nobody here is endorsing that kind of behavior.

Edit: also, after checking OP’s post history, I have trouble thinking this post was made in anything resembling good faith.

Edit 2: also, how could I forget to say this? Fuck that article, and fuck Quillette. They’re such a cliché it hurts.

Like, this shit:

Today, these strictly enforced thought codes are pervading spaces where naturally open-minded and liberal people work, such as academia, media and the arts. Complying with these repressive codes and, worse, being expected to report those who breach them, sticks in the craw of people with naturally liberal predispositions—even if they share many of the progressive aims of those who enforce these dogmas.

Why must they, twice in an otherwise unrelated paragraph, mention that “liberal predispositions” are “natural”? Like, I know this is a weird thing to get hung up on, but it’s so typical of the way they talk!

Also this:

Most arguments are pointless and there is no reason to get into fights with people whom we otherwise want to cooperate with and build mutually beneficial relationships.

Like, “we must defend free thought but also never fight!” Ugh.

And:

He goes on to describe the distress that was caused by months of harassment and misrepresentation of the forum, his blog, and himself.

Nice job putting on the same level actual harassment and mere “misrepresentation” (which, among the IDW and the like, is often just synonymous with “accurate disagreement”). This is how they convince people that this sub is “evil.”

Isn’t that shutdown largely due to /r/sneerclub’s efforts?

That would be surprising, since shutting down the thread wasn’t an effort on /r/SneerClub’s part. In fact, I’d say it was all pretty surprising once it happened. Outside of maybe a few cherry-picked frustrated comments wishing the CW thread was shut down, you won’t find much at all top level advocacy for shutting down the thread before the event. And, after, the congratulatory posts were all pretty tongue-in-cheek.

And it wasn’t really totally shut down, just moved to its own sub.

Another motive for this action, unmentioned by the article and less mentioned as this becomes a flashpoint for the ‘free speech’ moralizers, but mentioned at times by SSC mods, is that the CW thread was ‘taking over the subreddit.’ Moving it to its own subreddit seems like a practical decision on that concern alone.

EDIT: And since the reactionary narrative is being crafted and scapegoats are being assigned, let me say that, no, I don’t think Scott, his readers, everyone who posts/posted to the SSC subreddit or the CW thread are Neo-Nazis, or more specially neonazi child molesters, or whatever (white nationalists, right-wing, etc.). I don’t care about, like, most of the people involved and their opinions about things in general. I’m here to sneer, yes, at cherry-picked posts and comments, per the name of the sub. I’m not interested in some agenda to silence even self-identified Nazis. But I will sneer at overt attempts to gussy-up their views for mainstream acceptance and it’s my right to express my sneer publicly.

We can have a discussion about the possibility and desirability of limitless freedom of speech, whether freedom of speech entails a right to platform, freedom from criticism or social exclusion, derision, etc. but I imagine we won’t. Like the concept of ‘culture war,’ we have to presume these terms as given, as if referring to sensible things, and then discuss.

there is not enough Italian chef kisses in the world for that quilly post.

edit: Really, what I would like to know is why rationalists, SSC, and rando cs professors elected to get themselves so obsessed over sneerclub. Because, upon reflecting on the extent of the SSC-rationialist-conspiracy complex that was built up before Scott closed down CW, I don’t entirely get why they got themselves so worked up. (I think I know part of it: the rationalist #metoo moment, as short-lived as it was, must have been a really vulnerable moment for them. And we did facilitate that somewhat.) Is it because we started accumulating expats—thus precipitating the feeling of an “enemy within” at SSC? Were our critiques too good, thus making the community feel (rightfully) intellectually “pantsed”? I don’t know…

I wanted to say ‘not everything is about sneerclub, stop being narcissistic!’ in a moment of ironic self referencing. But it really is about the CW thread.

Right-of-centre people were not completely banned from the thread

Good to see nobody is misrepresenting the issue and complaints. I was about to go complain about Fake News.

(for non sneer people reading, the issue is not “people honestly and civilly arguing for their opinions. And that’s the scariest thing of all.” The issue is “people honestly and civilly arguing for eugenics, fascism, discrimination, removing of voting rights of undesirables etc, with less and less pushback over time. And that’s the scariest thing of all.”).

Edit: ow and look, nobody mentions 4chan’s /pol/ also had Scotts dox, and 4chan has a history of harassment (and pol specifically can be a bit anti-semetic). (Not saying there should not be a look inward, or that sneerclub didn’t help create an environment where people felt justified in harassment btw. Just pointing out that only pointing here without proof is weird).

Edit2: daaammmmm the comments on that post. (uncharitably: ‘the problem is that after climate change hits, these crazy SJWs will stop us from machinegunning refugees, and then the jihadis will win and defeat the white people’)

astonished to discover that the third comment is a guy talking about human biodiversity

my read on claire lehmann has always been that she doesn’t give a shit about politics and is just in the IDW game for the secret ramsay centre money, but i’m still constantly amazed by how much effort goes into this stuff. just how much time they’ve spent building this elaborate ideological labyrinth around the single simple fact that they don’t like black people. you’d think it would be easier to not be racist than to devote your whole life to conspiracy theories about how the cultural marxist elders of zion won’t let you be racist

edit: also how do these people not get tired of complimenting each other? they spend so much time talking about how nice and smart and charitable and perfect everyone in the idw sphere is, and that enables them to get super outraged whenever anyone slanders one of their precious smol beans, but it’s so transparently just an attempt to gain the system. scott seems to think that correctly aping certain social cues should guarantee him access to cultural capital, and he and his mates are all constantly furious that a basic level of politeness isn’t enough to win them universal respect. they really do think that if they utter a magic formula you’re ethically obliged to pat them on the head and tell them they’re good boys, no matter how reprehensible their actual beliefs might be. ideas don’t matter at all to these people, the highest good is merely being polite

i’m also reminded of that scott aaronson megapost where he talks about how much of a special angel he is, and how normal his relationship with his wife is, and how it makes him sad that people still insist on making fun of him

Relevant quote from elsewhere online:

Fascists aren’t pro-“free speech.” They’re pro”mandatory listening.”

They don’t want anyone but themselves to speak, and they want everyone to be forced to listen. That’s why they think being blocked is somehow impinging they’re rights