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Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

robkhenderson.com

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Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#151

Post by traverseda »

JanSt wrote: post #132
indigo945 wrote: post #101

> When I was growing up in foster homes, or making minimum wage as a > dishwasher, or serving in the military, I never heard words like “cultural > appropriation” or “gendered” or “heteronormative.” > > Working class people could not tell you what these terms mean. But if you > visit an elite university, you’ll find plenty of affluent people who will > eagerly explain them to you. I figured out as soon as I saw the l…

cultural appropriation As a european, I just can't wrap my head around this. How is it racist if I like a food of an other culture so much I cook it? Or I like a hairstyle of different culture so I also want to wear it. Or clothes. Or making music. Or.... I mean, I admire all that stuff so much that I want it to be part of my life. How is this racist?

The strongest form of that argument I know about is really about how capitalism is eating the world. It's a common refrain that "white people have no culture", but if you replace "white people" with "globalized capitalism" it starts making more sense.

Everyone drinks the same can of coke and eats the same grocery store sushi. If you look closer at the woke crowd you'll see that grocery store sushi is pretty "white".

One of the big things they're actually complaining about is enshittification of other cultures via capitalism.

So the idea is that cultural appropriation is a way to keep capitalism from eating the world, to keep shitty grocery store sushi from competing with people who actually know what they're doing. To try and keep capitalists from pillaging every developing economy.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#152

Post by automatic6131 »

gizmo wrote: post #129
cmcaleer wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defund the police was an inherently absurd idea. It especially bothers me that proponents gave no reasonable explanation for what happens next after defunding[1] and many seemed to have no appetite for reform. Portland was kind of a poster child for this. Just look at how things have changed after their budget slash. - Police staffing levels are at critical levels [2] - Violent crime has shot way up in 2021 (along wi…

Your comment is pretty incendiary so I won't go through it point by point, but I'd like to emphasize the distinction between defunding (i.e. demilitarizing) and abolishing the police. Abolishing the police altogether is more of a utopian goal and very few people think society can function today without some kind of police. That said, the typical day-to-day work for a police officer doesn't require violence or the thr…

> I'd like to emphasize the distinction between defunding (i.e. demilitarizing) and abolishing the police

You are playing the Motte and Bailey[1] tactic perfectly. You say that defunding means only "demilitarizing", which many people would probably agree with. But when put into practise, it's never that.

I mean, you don't need to delve very far into academia or lefty twitter to find extremist people saying exactly this, that defund does actually mean abolish, or is the first step to it. And the extremists are important in this case, because they are the ones put in power, or writing the text books for next generation in power.

So either, you're a fool & a useful idiot mindlessly parroting this Motte, or you're the deviant waiting to implement the Bailey.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#153

Post by jxdxbx »

He seems unconcerned about the actual truth and falsity of ideas, just how “useful” they are.

The single most important predictor of economic success in life is the wealth of your parents: luck. Maybe some people find this “discouraging” and would prefer if it were not true, or if people did not believe it. But it is true. Social mobility in the United States in general is fairly low.

Personally I prefer to know the truth and to work to fix things I think are unfair, rather than proposing that we just adopt viewpoints that make people into better workers.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#154

Post by fieldcny »

littlestymaar wrote: post #128
indigo945 wrote: post #101

> When I was growing up in foster homes, or making minimum wage as a > dishwasher, or serving in the military, I never heard words like “cultural > appropriation” or “gendered” or “heteronormative.” > > Working class people could not tell you what these terms mean. But if you > visit an elite university, you’ll find plenty of affluent people who will > eagerly explain them to you. I figured out as soon as I saw the l…

Yeah, it's also really funny because the data that the author uses about police reform also show the conservative luxury beliefs that is “police department don't need to be reformed”. (And the same data also shows that for every income class, the police is largely seen as dysfunctional needing either serious reform or complete defunding). This post is basically conservative rambling disguised as sociology.

I am in no way conservative, but I think you are missing the point.

There are sets of liberal and conservative beliefs that are held by the wealthy and powerful that are detrimental to the powerless and poor.

He cites the liberal set, maybe he is a conservative and that’s his bias or maybe because there is an inbuilt hypocrisy in some of them, ultimately it doesn’t matter because the point stands on its own and one shouldn’t discount that.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#155

Post by newsclues »

indigo945 wrote: post #101

> When I was growing up in foster homes, or making minimum wage as a > dishwasher, or serving in the military, I never heard words like “cultural > appropriation” or “gendered” or “heteronormative.” > > Working class people could not tell you what these terms mean. But if you > visit an elite university, you’ll find plenty of affluent people who will > eagerly explain them to you. I figured out as soon as I saw the l…

Having worked minimum wage jobs, we know, understand and talk about trickle down economics.

We also know the government taxing carbon or giving employment advantages to (often wealthy or connected) minorities rather than people who need it.

Luxury beliefs are common amongst the educated and twist demands for Justice for all into demands for privileges for themselves!

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#156

Post by subjectsigma »

JanSt wrote: post #132
indigo945 wrote: post #101

> When I was growing up in foster homes, or making minimum wage as a > dishwasher, or serving in the military, I never heard words like “cultural > appropriation” or “gendered” or “heteronormative.” > > Working class people could not tell you what these terms mean. But if you > visit an elite university, you’ll find plenty of affluent people who will > eagerly explain them to you. I figured out as soon as I saw the l…

cultural appropriation As a european, I just can't wrap my head around this. How is it racist if I like a food of an other culture so much I cook it? Or I like a hairstyle of different culture so I also want to wear it. Or clothes. Or making music. Or.... I mean, I admire all that stuff so much that I want it to be part of my life. How is this racist?

There’s quite a lot of Americans who don’t believe in any of that stuff.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#157

Post by throw6746 »

TerryGrampl wrote: post #131
nyanpasu64 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell that to the trans people I've met who were physically beaten and mentally abused by authoritarian parents, unable to move out or find secure housing due to burnout, mental health disabilities, and a lack of aid or sustainable jobs, in both Western and third-world countries.

[flagged]

At least it was easy to see you had no interest to present factual arguments and just regurgitated what you read online. For somebody asking empathy about your childhood, you seem to give very little to others.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#158

Post by newsclues »

neilk wrote: post #106

Let’s consider the contrary. Do poor people sometimes hold highly questionable beliefs, promulgated by institutions, and does professing these beliefs in expensive and flamboyant ways confer status? Religion ticks all these boxes. In some contexts, so does patriotism, racism, worship of the military, publicly dumping cases of Bud Light, etc etc etc. In some ways, even disdain for education is a sort of expensive stat…

Modern activists are religious cult followers.

Environmentalism, anti racism are both good things taken over by a religious cult

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#159

Post by jccalhoun »

littlestymaar wrote: post #128
indigo945 wrote: post #101

> When I was growing up in foster homes, or making minimum wage as a > dishwasher, or serving in the military, I never heard words like “cultural > appropriation” or “gendered” or “heteronormative.” > > Working class people could not tell you what these terms mean. But if you > visit an elite university, you’ll find plenty of affluent people who will > eagerly explain them to you. I figured out as soon as I saw the l…

Yeah, it's also really funny because the data that the author uses about police reform also show the conservative luxury beliefs that is “police department don't need to be reformed”. (And the same data also shows that for every income class, the police is largely seen as dysfunctional needing either serious reform or complete defunding). This post is basically conservative rambling disguised as sociology.

He also has posts about Jordan Peterson that are behind a paywall but I get the feeling that they are not particularly critical of Peterson.

Re: Luxury beliefs are status symbols (2022)

#160

Post by RubberbandSoul »

gizmo wrote: post #146
RubberbandSoul wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> defunding (i.e. demilitarizing) Redefining words in order to win arguments. Nice. Defunding means exactly that. I know this because that is what happened to the police forces that were defunded. Not entirely defunded, but they ended up with less money in their budget. > the typical day-to-day work for a police officer doesn't require violence or the threat of violence Says who? Are you a cop? Do you have cops in th…

Yes, reduce funding so police departments don't turn paramilitary. In the UK for instance most officers don't even carry guns.

Great.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/288256/violent-crimes-in...

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