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Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

robkhenderson.com

51–60 of 396 posts

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#51

This is an interesting read but at the same time I'm puzzled at the length this is going to in order to avoid engaging with ideas the author disagrees with. This seems similar to the "virtue signaling" attack. But instead of opponents being charged with hypocrisy, they are accused of being (1) privileged, (2) vain, and (3) either senseless or indifferent towards the well-being of others. It seems to me this is sugges…

[deleted]

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#52
post #37

“A survey from YouGov found that Americans in the highest income category were by far the most supportive of defunding the police.” “By far” means “10% more” in the actual graph the author cites, which comes from an online poll that had 1500 respondents. I’m no statistician but that seems like a small difference and small sample size to be the key piece of “data” here. This article follows most tropes of behavioral s…

If they they have a good confidence, there error could be around 3% up or down. So that's not bad. And, yes, I think Defund the Police was primarily espoused and driven by people who would be little affected by the outcome of such performative stances. The people who live in the places where the police got defunded suffer greater crime rates and disorder --which is why we see people at the grass roots asking for more…

Few cities reduced police budgets at all certainly nobody in any meaningful way defunded the police and even cities short of officers have funding for additional officers they lack people far more than money.

Also in case you didn't notice police don't do much to protect normal folks from crime. They'll be there 15 minutes after whatever happened happened to file a report if they aren't too busy screwing with law abiding citizens.

Personally Ive seen little help when needed and plenty of harassment.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#53
I think the explanation for "defund the police" is simpler... they just see the bad stuff cops do on the news, but haven't ever actually needed the cops personally (and few of their friends have too), primarily due to their affluence. There are exceptions, obviously.

Of the people who have obtained a restraining order, I wonder what percentage want to defund the police.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#54
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey could you show me an example or two of a pro-hamas rally that has happened on a college campus recently? I've been going to pro-palestine rallies because they're experiencing a genocide funded and supplied by my tax money, so I kind of consider protesting against it a right and obligation of mine. Haven't seen much mention of hamas at them though but maybe I'm not at the right ones. You could also stand to interr…

> You could also stand to interrogate a little more the connection between poverty in "the hood" and the global struggle against colonialism. American black people and palestinians have a long history of mutual solidarity. Aren't you curious about why? Honestly for me... no. My parents grew up in poverty in a British colony, and they're extremely well off and their children more so. It gave us a lot of advantages. If…

OK. I mean if you're not curious about it I'm not going to try to convince you? Generations of activists and scholars have found a relationship here but if you're certain they're wrong to that's your project. Not sure why you even wrote anything past the first sentence here.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#55
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they they have a good confidence, there error could be around 3% up or down. So that's not bad. And, yes, I think Defund the Police was primarily espoused and driven by people who would be little affected by the outcome of such performative stances. The people who live in the places where the police got defunded suffer greater crime rates and disorder --which is why we see people at the grass roots asking for more…

Few cities reduced police budgets at all certainly nobody in any meaningful way defunded the police and even cities short of officers have funding for additional officers they lack people far more than money. Also in case you didn't notice police don't do much to protect normal folks from crime. They'll be there 15 minutes after whatever happened happened to file a report if they aren't too busy screwing with law abi…

What are you going to do about a police work stoppage, call the police?

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#56
post #13

The terrible argument, built over several pages, is that "defund the police" as a political conviction is a status symbol, because rich people live in gated communities and don't need police. It ignores the evidence is a 10% increase in a single poll, in which the majority was not of the inverse opinion that police is without fault, they just had a slightly different outlook on necessary police reform being possible…

"Among Democrats, Black (38%) and Hispanic (39%) adults are more likely than White adults (32%) to say spending on police in their area should be increased. There is no significant difference across these racial and ethnic groups in the share of adults who say spending should be decreased" (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/10/26/growing-s...)

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#57
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they they have a good confidence, there error could be around 3% up or down. So that's not bad. And, yes, I think Defund the Police was primarily espoused and driven by people who would be little affected by the outcome of such performative stances. The people who live in the places where the police got defunded suffer greater crime rates and disorder --which is why we see people at the grass roots asking for more…

Few cities reduced police budgets at all certainly nobody in any meaningful way defunded the police and even cities short of officers have funding for additional officers they lack people far more than money. Also in case you didn't notice police don't do much to protect normal folks from crime. They'll be there 15 minutes after whatever happened happened to file a report if they aren't too busy screwing with law abi…

The movement not only affected budgets but also affected morale. DAs would not press charges, so they didn’t bother with lesser crimes.

Yes, the police harass, sometimes I get harassed but that presence is what puts a lid on crime.

I’ll put up with some harassment in exchange for fewer criminals running free.

We can seek redress from the police, we cannot seek redress from criminals.

The reason we need police is the same reason we can’t have nice things: people can’t self govern in a harmonious way.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#58
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You could also stand to interrogate a little more the connection between poverty in "the hood" and the global struggle against colonialism. American black people and palestinians have a long history of mutual solidarity. Aren't you curious about why? Honestly for me... no. My parents grew up in poverty in a British colony, and they're extremely well off and their children more so. It gave us a lot of advantages. If…

OK. I mean if you're not curious about it I'm not going to try to convince you? Generations of activists and scholars have found a relationship here but if you're certain they're wrong to that's your project. Not sure why you even wrote anything past the first sentence here.

> I mean if you're not curious about it I'm not going to try to convince you?

With that attitude it's no surprised both groups have become -- as they say -- marginalized.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pretty typical result from social science. 1500 respondents is a fairly large sample size--I've seen papers where you're talking closer to ~50. Going from 22% to 32% is a 10 percentage point difference, but a 46% increase. I agree that the conclusion at the end is flimsy, and there are undoubtedly confounding factors--but the statistics are pretty well in line with what you'd expect in social sciences.

Yeah, but think about the error bars there. You’re looking at an MoE of around 3% for the entire sample, and more for these subgroups. The real difference could be just a couple percentage points and still be within the confidence interval.

I completely agree--many times, papers from the social sciences appear as exercises in "wringing signal from a sea of noise." They're not always successful or convincing! But often there is wide latitude because of the inherent noise...don't ask me why! I got out of economics for a reason!

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#60
Rob gave a talk at the All In Conf if you're rather watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck7Krz7QcxU

My luxury belief is that AI Safety is a joke, but it's a dangerous belief as the benefits of AI will not be equally distributed and biasing towards caution could reduce future suffering. So...

Be cautious reading comments here as many of us are in the socioeconomic class that luxury beliefs appeal to.

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