TheUnitofCaring wrote a typically earnest, verbose post about how:
she understands why people are averse to closing concentration camps based on nothing more than “gut horror”;
because the US did bad things after 9/11 based on “gut horror” (not because of racism, imperialism, or oil-greed, none of which are allowed to exist in rationalist-world);
but it’s still very mean and bad to say that people don’t actually feel horror about concentration camps and are just pretending and virtue-signalling (a reiteration of an earlier post she did, where she also explains that it’s mean for pro-choicers to deny the gut horror of anti-choicers at abortion, which is supposedly real and not about misogyny and racism).
Obviously it’s good that she’s (sort of) defending people who are trying to close the camps, but I’m laughing at the levels of delusion here. It’s bad to close concentration camps based on gut horror? Gosh. There’s a dark comedy to be written where a rationalist starts to murder someone, feels bad about it, and has a long internal debate about whether it’s right to stop because they’re feeling bad about it.
Ah yes. That feeling that we have as humans, that sudden punch in the throat of “oh fuck no”, that’s absolutely something to be dismissed because it’s not rational – never mind that we spent thousands of years developing empathy as a preservation reflex. /s
Jesus. On the one hand, I appreciate UOC writing this because they won’t take it any other way. On the other hand, the fact that this is the only way they’ll take it continues to upset me.
Not surprised this is the same person who thinks:
- Charles Murray’s attitudes toward “helping” the mentally disabled are in good faith
- the incel yearning for his ideal partner is not entitlement
Concepts like her “gut horror” exist in the rationalist world because even reasonable outrage toward crimes against humanity aren’t LoGiCaL enough to fit into their world view.
Leave me and the thousands of protestors who chanted, “no blood for oil,” out of this “we,” you fucking moron.
I Know What You Cared About Last Administration, coming to a theater near you.
Also the existence of political motivations with respect to the suffering of others. Truly the scandal of the century and objective reason not to do what we all know is right. Sorry, kids, but my fragile identity as an independent is just more important than, like, humane conditions at your detention center. I mean, not having a place to sleep is hard but have you ever been called a hypocrite on Twitter!?
ugh
Is nobody else annoyed when like, women and trans and nonbinary people act all appeasing to the rationalist platform? Like, they will bash you if you are not paying “sufficient” (as defined by them) social appeasement to them, how is this a good deal for you?
(Idk if it happens this post b/c didn’t read it, but TUoC has done it before and I see this all over the damn place).
I love it how closing the fucking camps is a reasonable thing to be cautious of. Not, you know, opening them or keeping them running. Those are for Reasons.
I got into an argument with a friend about Jordan Peterson. I made some strong arguments. My friend “accused” me of having an emotional reaction then arguing from it. As if that was a LOWER form of thought. I didn’t have a great answer at the time. I do now. It’s called….
HAVING A GODDAMN MORAL CENTER
And this is something the rationalists mock. Morality.
Policies dealing with incarceration (or detainment) or children are wrought with missteps so I’m sympathetic to the view that a reactionary kneejerk formulation could be even worse than what we have now.
I’m sorry, but I don’t respect someone saying “I’m a super loving liberal and I cry myself to sleep thinking about kids in camps”. I expect that from a random completely checked out suburbanite, not a public intellectual or Vox writer.
This is apparently the same stupidity which leads someone to believe we had the war in Iraq due to anger and heartbreak, instead of a vested financial interest in perpetual war.
Maybe you should try reading about how political consensus was formed historically. The consensus around abortion was manufactured.
The definition of politics 101 is taking a bunch of idiot trashboxes (i.e. people) and aligning their anxiety and resentment and scapegoating with specific, easy, dumb narrative targets. A big part of the reason spectacles of violence like the camps and Black Lives Matter are so heavily publicized is that they are politically digestible and fit Facebook/Youtube culture, where everyone lives now 24/7. Anyone who cares about the U.S. prison system’s ongoing heinous and life-ruining racism knows that the subjugation it produces goes far, far, FAR beyond the issue of murder by police.
I don’t think public intellectuals should be so stupid they don’t understand that martyrs are a symbolic political spectacle.
It’s like someone saying “whew, good thing McCarthyism was an isolated incident that only lasted a little while”. That was a spectacle. Union-busting and red-scaring has been the actual deliberate policy of organized capital for more than a century and they just don’t publicize it anymore - because they won.
My charitable take on it is that a lot of the people at EA have tons of emotion caught up in polarized thinking, so they really can’t stand people questioning the basis of their morality obsession and “tears for Jon Benet Ramsey” style hand-wringing. If someone questioned that, they would lose their origin story and identity, which generally scares the living hell out of people with polarized thinking. It can’t be arbitrary that they are caught up in utilons and accepting the repugnant conclusion as gospel.