Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Heresy (2022]

paulgraham.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 65 posts

Re: Heresy (2022]

#31

Post by r721 »

AyanamiKaine wrote: post #8

There is one question I ask myself everytime. Do words hurt in such strong ways that they should be censored? Some simple words may express the wish to end the existence of a particular group of people. Other words are used to express that something cannot be human. While I personally dont feel much when such words are used against me, others explode with emotions. I dont see a problem with respecting others if they…

Words shape worldviews of other people though, and in some circumstances they may act in accordance with those altered perspectives.

Re: Heresy (2022]

#32

Post by akramachamarei »

regularization wrote: post #5

There really hasn't been a heretical witchhunt in the US in recent times like against those who do not want US aid to Israel. BDS resolutions and state employees across the country having to sign pledges they won't boycott Israel, college expulsion of Palestine supporters, then expulsion of multiple Ivy League presidents for not cracking down on students more, with Congressional visits and hearings. Nothing this cent…

This seems like a strangely inverted observation, i.e. pretty directly backwards of what's actually happening. This is evident in the odd way you characterize your latter 2 of 3 examples. The first example is real though, and those are bad state laws.

Further reading for those interested: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/anti-bds-legislation Basically all of them restrict government contracting with BDS companies, or pension involvement in some cases, sometimes with exceptions for individuals and small companies doing business with the government. Virginia's is just a condemnation without economic prohibitions.

Re: Heresy (2022]

#34

Post by appreciatorBus »

cjs_ac wrote: post #23

As someone with many heretical opinions, I’ve found it very easy to avoid accusations of heresy by just shutting up. The right to free speech is not an obligation to speak freely. As a software engineer, my colleagues don’t need to know my opinions on economic policy for me to be able to work effectively with them.

This is great individual strategy, and is an important part of being polite generally.

But the article isn’t about people not wanting to be polite, it’s about perfectly polite people being told that some ideas are off limits in all context of life except sitting alone in a dark room with your thoughts. And of course, there are some ideas so extreme that they do belong there and do belong in the ranks of heresy, but the current mania has expanded this category rather generously.

Re: Heresy (2022]

#35

Post by jamilton »

GaryBluto wrote: post #13
hackyhacky wrote: post #3

Yet another "anti-woke, anti-political correct" screed, whining about how it isn't cool to be racist anymore. I guess this felt edgy in 2022, but in the current political climate this essay is utterly redundant.

I cannot tell if you are being farcical or not. The article is very blatantly not that, if you take more than a cursory glance at it.

It's trying not to be that, but it still reads like that to me. The deliberate non-naming of heresies but specific callout that "heretic-hunting" is coming mostly from the left naturally leads to that conclusion.

Re: Heresy (2022]

#37

Post by appreciatorBus »

AyanamiKaine wrote: post #8

There is one question I ask myself everytime. Do words hurt in such strong ways that they should be censored? Some simple words may express the wish to end the existence of a particular group of people. Other words are used to express that something cannot be human. While I personally dont feel much when such words are used against me, others explode with emotions. I dont see a problem with respecting others if they…

> Some simple words may express the wish to end the existence of a particular group of people.

There’s a strong case to be made, that if there’s any ideas that should be considered heretical it’s ideas like that. On this, I think you’d find broad agreement.

However in the current orthodoxy, politely declining to agree that men can be women, to cite one example, is treated as literal genocide.

If we are allowed to paint all ideas we disagree with as literal genocide, then not only have we destroyed the meaning of the word genocide, but it’s not really possible to discuss ideas anymore.

Re: Heresy (2022]

#38

Post by jt2190 »

derektank wrote: post #20
jt2190 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No because “strong opinions” mark you as “aggressively conventional”: Nobody can tell if your opinions are “weakly held”, and most people won’t try and find out. Instead you need to find like-minded people who are willing to challenge their thinking.

>Nobody can tell if your opinions are “weakly held” It’s pretty easy to tell if your opinions are weakly held. Do you change them in the face of new evidence? If so, they’re weakly held. And this applies to not just the big opinions of the day, but all the way down to the mundane. Do you admit that your partner was right when they suggested you do more stretching before exercising? Or do you tell your coworker that t…

Why did you leave out the “strong opinion” part?

Re: Heresy (2022]

#39

Post by ChiperSoft »

> when someone calls a statement "x-ist," they're also implicitly saying that this is the end of the discussion

Aaand thats when I stopped reading. You're not being censored, Paul, you're being rightfully told you're an asshole and refusing to take it to heart.

Post reply on HN