Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution • Hacker News Board

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#11

Post by alreadydeleted » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

sammaeliam wrote: post #2

If this is really the problem conservatives claim it is, there's a simple solution: Get a backbone and delete your social media accounts. Most platforms (unlike HN) provide account deletion functions (though some keep them well-hidden).

Most of us moderates were shamed off social media years ago. I locked myself out of my HN account because I was tired of being flame baited by Woke tyrants. Don't use Facebook, don't use Twitter. This new ideology seems more popular than it is because the sane people have left the internet. Most of us keep quiet about this stuff because any wrong think will end our careers.

Congrats, Woke people. You'll never know the size of your opposition until election day because you've made it too dangerous to question the narrative openly.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#12

Post by jkhdigital » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:29 PM UTC

sammaeliam wrote: post #2

If this is really the problem conservatives claim it is, there's a simple solution: Get a backbone and delete your social media accounts. Most platforms (unlike HN) provide account deletion functions (though some keep them well-hidden).

Tom Cotton's editorial was not run in social media. This is much, much bigger than social media. Also, do you understand that you're advocating self-censorship? How is that a positive development for a liberal democracy, when large swathes of the population just remove their voices from the public debate out of fear for the "shoot first, don't ask questions" social justice mob?

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#13

Post by montagg » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:31 PM UTC

BitwiseFool wrote: post #8

asdfman123 wrote: post #3

Not being racist seems to be an awfully hard adjustment for some people. Don't worry, a generation or two will die off and it won't seem quite so onerous.

This strikes me as awfully glib. My parents aren't racists and they empathize with the police reforms that BLM is advocating for (so do I). But they were raised with the belief that racism was due to prejudice. To them, racism is judging someone by their skin color / background rather than the actions of that individual. They don't buy into the idea of microaggressions and implicit bias. To many nowadays that makes t…

We're absolutely doing things that future generations will find abhorrent. And as our thinking as humans evolves, I hope we'll also change our behavior. But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. When we are aware that behaviors and symbols are hurtful to other humans, and we genuinely believe that other people should be able to live without fear, then we should change both.

We're not going to get it 100% right, or find 100% of the situations where we're screwing it up, or even come up with the right solutions right away, but it's too often that conservatives simply want to throw their hands up and either downplay or outright ignore the problem in order to say it's not solvable or not worth solving. That's just cowardice, and we can do better.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#14

Post by eddieplan9 » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:32 PM UTC

kemiller wrote: post #9

[flagged]

It’s not about conservatives. It’s not just “words taken down”. It’s regular good people who lose their job and career. For example, read the story of Professor Steve Hsu: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/16/open-thread-156-25/

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#15

Post by sbmthakur » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:33 PM UTC

> Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear, who’s been calling games since 1988, was forced to resign after saying the words “all lives matter.”

I thought 'All lives matter' was commonsense.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#16

Post by martythemaniak » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

The problem with this narrative is that it really doesn't fit. When you encounter situations like this, it's good to ground yourself as close to reality as you can get. Ie, ask questions such as: How has the guns? Who has the money? Who has the media? The clergy? etc.

In the case of the The Cultural Revolution, the answers were simple. Mao had it all and he cracked down hard. In the case of the Soviets, the answer is also the same - the party had all the guns, all the money, all the media and the clergy were irrelevant.

This situation is nothing like that. Conservatives control the guns, both officially (executive, half the legislature, most of the courts, most of law enforcement) and unofficially (the right-wing militias, which can show up anywhere and demand anything with guns and get treated deferentially). Money and Media are split, with everyone amassing on each side. The clergy is very heavily on the conservative side.

So no, this is much closer to the Prague Spring than it is to the Cultural Revolution.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#17

Post by eej71 » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

eddieplan9 wrote: post #14

kemiller wrote: post #9

[flagged]

It’s not about conservatives. It’s not just “words taken down”. It’s regular good people who lose their job and career. For example, read the story of Professor Steve Hsu: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/16/open-thread-156-25/

Another recent example - https://twitter.com/BenjiBacker/status/1273042888864206848

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#18

Post by Pfhreak » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

alreadydeleted wrote: post #11

sammaeliam wrote: post #2

If this is really the problem conservatives claim it is, there's a simple solution: Get a backbone and delete your social media accounts. Most platforms (unlike HN) provide account deletion functions (though some keep them well-hidden).

Most of us moderates were shamed off social media years ago. I locked myself out of my HN account because I was tired of being flame baited by Woke tyrants. Don't use Facebook, don't use Twitter. This new ideology seems more popular than it is because the sane people have left the internet. Most of us keep quiet about this stuff because any wrong think will end our careers. Congrats, Woke people. You'll never know th…

Maybe you aren't a moderate? I mean, you literally are calling anyone who participates in the internet these days insane. That hardly scans as a moderate take.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#19

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:35 PM UTC

sammaeliam wrote: post #2

If this is really the problem conservatives claim it is, there's a simple solution: Get a backbone and delete your social media accounts. Most platforms (unlike HN) provide account deletion functions (though some keep them well-hidden).

[deleted]

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#20

Post by blueflow » Wed, Jun 17, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

Pfhreak wrote: post #18

alreadydeleted wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of us moderates were shamed off social media years ago. I locked myself out of my HN account because I was tired of being flame baited by Woke tyrants. Don't use Facebook, don't use Twitter. This new ideology seems more popular than it is because the sane people have left the internet. Most of us keep quiet about this stuff because any wrong think will end our careers. Congrats, Woke people. You'll never know th…

Maybe you aren't a moderate? I mean, you literally are calling anyone who participates in the internet these days insane. That hardly scans as a moderate take.

I'm with him - the internet somehow works as competition for who is most extreme. Sane, healthy people neither have the need nor the time to engage with this.