On r/SSC, PM_etc. recently explained their ban from sneerclub:
I was banned for suggesting that some issue or other was in fact more subtle than it could seem.
Let’s check out the comment that got them banned. For the non-mods who can’t see the removed comment—if people edit their comments past-ban it really leaves us no choice but to remove them—I’ll quote it here:
I totally get the point of white nationalists, though. If you get it in your head that there is an ongoing struggle for power between ethnic coalitions, then you will find yourself buried in evidence that you are in fact correct.
It’s a little like 9/11 truthers. I don’t know if this is still the case, but for a long time there were otherwise reasonable people who thought 9/11 had probably been an inside job. And once that’s where your mind is the evidence comes in a deluge. Bad evidence, sure, but we’re not all trained to recognize that.
The evidence that there may be a covert race war going on is more convincing, in part since the question is so much harder to falsify. How would a world where White Nationalists are right differ from one where they are wrong? Given our current hysterical media ecosystem, I suspect that they would look the same to most people.
Which leads me to a tangent - this isn’t even a question of fact, this is a question of narrative, a self-fulfilling prophecy. If sufficiently many people believe that White Nationalists are wrong, then they will be, and vice versa.
E: aaaand banned. It’s been fun guys.
For some context, the thread was about the principle of charity, and
the comment they replied to said “there is definitely something weird to
pretending that racists white nationalists have good
intentions”. And in response they went on a weird multi-paragraph
steelman of white supremacists.
Anyway, PM_etc., if you see this, my long-standing offer is still in place. I’m willing to trade you an unban from sneerclub in exchange for one person of my choice getting permanently banned from SSC/the motte.
Organise a prisoner swap with me. We should also organise embassies in the respective subs. Diplomatic ties are essential to a healthy relationship.
I resent the implication that CTH is funny or original
The fact that people are complaining about being unjustly banned from sneerclub is to my mind proof that the moderation policies have been insufficiently arbitrary. I suggest randomly banning 15 people a day for no reason until the complaining stops.
Rules of sneerclub ‘racists are banned’
Obsidian: ‘perhaps the racists have a point’
Smart move there.
You mean it wasn’t for proclaiming himself an “ethno-utilitarian”?
are you gonna choose TPO or penpractice?
Much like a lot of face-to-face communication boils down to non-verbal cues, a lot of online communication boils down to emotive conjugation. Consider if Obsidian had said:
But Obsidian did not write it out like that, or even a little like that, because to see the difference between the original version and this one you’d need to be a dirty, motivated conflict theorist.
Don’t ban me I don’t actually care about this but isn’t he just explaining confirmation bias?
It was an unfair ban and you should be ashamed. And I say this based just in the quote you include in your post. I wasn’t aware of who PM_…etc. is or that there had been a ban at all.
The removed comment is an excellent illustration of the principle of charity. “Steelmanning” is the word you use when the principle of charity is applied to something you don’t like.