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The March of Dimes Syndrome

city-journal.org

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Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#31

Post by zzzeek »

> It is no longer enough for conservative Christians to tolerate same-sex marriage—now they must be legally required to bake cakes and design web pages for the weddings.

Isnt it enough that we can no longer lynch gay people with impunity? now they want to be treated as though they are "normal"?

> But however much the backlash has hurt the original cause, the controversies keep activists in business.

People getting married want to be able to buy wedding cakes! This is a serious controversy!

I can certainly see why Hacker News is upmodding this important piece of Christian Nationalist fascist trash and even commenting on it as though this literal sewer of an article is worth actual discussion and not complete ridicule, what would become of America if bigotry wasn't cool anymore?

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#32

Post by xnx »

Is this not a renaming or specialized case of the Iron Law of Institutions? Any non-profit, government, or commercial organization foremost concern is preserving the institution. If solving a problem (like GE creating a lightbulb that never burns out) would reduce the important/power of the people in the organization, then that path is avoided at all costs.

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#34

Post by djmips »

anon291 wrote: post #17
jzellis wrote: post #7

Weird to post an article decrying the concept of pivoting on a news site for tech startups, but sure, it's the leftists' fault.

Pivoting when it comes to profit-seeking is substantially different than pivoting when it comes to solving a grievance. For example, when I complain to my bank about a fee or a bad customer service experience, after it's solved, I don't come back and say "Well actually...". On the other hand, if I sell something to someone, I might come back and say "Here's a new thing...". Category error.

Unless there are more relevant things to complain about to your bank. Just because they resolved you fee doesn't mean you aren't going to complain also about an unnecessary hold on a cheque or an overdraught caused by an overdraught penalty.

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#35

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

righthand wrote: post #33

This is propaganda belittling social causes and ignoring societal decline. Not everything gets better always. Why is this on HN?

Because it was posted by someone who didn't know (or did know) that the mag is wallpaper for The Manhattan Institute.

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Journal

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Casey#Return_to_pri...

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#36

Post by aprilthird2021 »

righthand wrote: post #33

This is propaganda belittling social causes and ignoring societal decline. Not everything gets better always. Why is this on HN?

It can be a flawed analysis without being propaganda and ignoring societal decline (as the definition of decline and progress itself is debatable).

I do think the fact that humans build up careers and aren't just going to roll over and stop working or switch careers when it would be prudent for society is a good thing to note. Just as career activists move from one cause to another, so too do programmers

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#37

Post by alwa »

twojobsoneboss wrote: post #18
Aloha wrote: post #16

This at its core is the problem with activism , be it left or right - what do you do once you 'solve' the cause you set out to solve? The answer is very rarely "ride off into the sunset" - often its moving goalposts.

Put more charitably, there are always problems facing society

It does seem like there's a qualitative difference between that framing and its parent comment: there are always problems facing society, but once activists have organized around a specific category of problem, they seem to react to success by intensifying within that category rather than diversifying their efforts to address whatever's next-most-pressing on the overall list of issues.

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#38

Post by Georgelemental »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #15

> I later learned that a term exists for this phenomenon—the March of Dimes syndrome—and that the tendency affects many other movements, too. Why, last year, did the Human Rights Campaign declare a “national state of emergency” for LGBT people? Why was the election of the first black American president followed by the Black Lives Matter movement? Why have reports of “hate groups” risen during the same decades that ra…

Your theory doesn't explain this part, though (emphasis mine):

> It is no longer enough for conservative Christians to tolerate same-sex marriage—now they must be legally required to bake cakes and design web pages for the weddings. It is no longer enough to protect gay students from harassment—now these students must have access in elementary school libraries to how-to manuals for anal sex. Public schools must encourage prepubescent students to explore the many possible gender identities without their parents’ knowledge. Biological males self-identifying as females must be allowed to compete against females in sports. These new causes have been wildly unpopular, arousing opposition from homosexuals as well as heterosexuals, and have led to a decline in public support for the gay rights movement. But however much the backlash has hurt the original cause, the controversies keep activists in business.

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#39

Post by mistercow »

Aloha wrote: post #16

This at its core is the problem with activism , be it left or right - what do you do once you 'solve' the cause you set out to solve? The answer is very rarely "ride off into the sunset" - often its moving goalposts.

It seems like you (and the author of this pretty blatant propaganda) are assuming the very strange and unfounded premise that most activists believe that there is exactly one problem with the world worth solving.

Of course activists move onto the next problem once the problem they’ve been focusing on is solved. Similarly, I brush my teeth once I get out of the shower. I haven’t “moved the goalposts”; I’m just attending to the next priority.

Re: The March of Dimes Syndrome

#40

Post by aprilthird2021 »

Aloha wrote: post #16

This at its core is the problem with activism , be it left or right - what do you do once you 'solve' the cause you set out to solve? The answer is very rarely "ride off into the sunset" - often its moving goalposts.

I strongly disagree. Problems always exist, and new ones pop up app the time. And organizing people to advocate for fixing the problems they face is a job that's worth doing in any society.

You would never accept this logic for programmers. Should they just give up their salaries once the product is good enough?

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