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They Thought They Were Free (1955)

press.uchicago.edu

461–470 of 545 posts

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#461
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of it reminds me of the CCP, which I think is openly considered a model by some neo-authoritarians. Ubiquitous mass surveillance, social credit, and state capitalism with heavy control though regulatory pressure. I assume we will eventually see party men installed on boards of major companies, especially in media, tech, and entertainment. The “tech right” is a major player here and a lot of those folks idolize C…

I would recommend 'Adapt! On a New Political Imperative' by Barbara Stiegler. The movement away from classical liberalism has been going on for far longer and was by design. It is very important to explicitly separate traditional or classical liberalism from neoliberalism when discussing these things. And just to be pedantic the term liberal should also absolutely be avoided when discussing anything involve impacts f…

Preach !

The political quadrant is more important than ever compared to the mess of one-dimensional politics :

Right wing is economic (neo) liberals, while fascists are top wing center : these will (like a century ago) gladly use left-wing policies and rhetoric if they bring them the power they crave above all else. Or ally with corporations when convenient.

While societal liberals are on the bottom wing, and regularly clash with anti-liberal socialists/communists (left center, but also left top).

(Proto-Antifa used to ally with Nazis to beat up Social Democrats, until Stalin had decided to change direction, it's wild how both the name and flag are still reused today despite that dirty history...)

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#462
post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m unfamiliar with German basic law, but considering the lawlessness we’re seeing play out in the US right now, I’m curious how/why modern constitutions are less vulnerable? By this I mean: it’s not as if the things we see playing out are lawful. Is there a structural difference that somehow prevents the same kind of lawlessness? Put another way, what stops a movement that decides to ignore Germany’s constitution fr…

For starters, Germany does not give a single person the right to be king with decrees and military leadership. Also (though not an issue with the law itself) it's really dangerous only having two parties at the helm.

> For starters, Germany does not give a single person the right to be king with decrees and military leadership.

Separation between civilian leaders and military leaders is a big one, yeah. When the same person controls both the military directly and the executive branch of the civilian government directly you don't have any way to punish him without his subordinates overthrowing him since he controls all the power.

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afghanistan

Would you consider the US military presence in Afghanistan comparable to it's presence in the US? How about knowledge of the landscape, ability to understand local cultures, having local contacts, having working transportation routes, resources in place, and the fact that none of the people fighting back are going to be backed by foreign governments? These two scenarios are incomparable.

True, but it goes the other way around as well - the Taliban had absolutely no way to infiltrate the ranks and do damage to the military operations from within.

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also remind the short of memory that during covid, the states with the most draconian restrictions were mostly left-leaning, and many were loathe to give up that control. Control of the people comes from all sides. The end result is the same, but the methods are different, intended to make people happy to be controlled.

> I would also remind the short of memory that during covid, the states with the most draconian restrictions were mostly left-leaning, and many were loathe to give up that control. ... Some exerts from 3 different studies but you may find more if you want. > This suggests that red states faced a more pronounced impact from COVID-19, experiencing elevated mortality rates compared to their blue counterparts. > Red stat…

Funnily, the original (regulated and temporary!) job description of 'dictator' does seem to fit quite well.

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#465
post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retroactively stripping the titles from trans men (§4.1) does not "encourage female participation", no matter how you slice it. > if a male competitor claims to have a woman identity, whatever that is And I understand that from this perspective , the things you're saying might make internal sense; but if you were more familiar with the social pressures on trans people, you'd realise that they aren't well-modelled as…

> Retroactively stripping the titles from trans men (§4.1) does not "encourage female participation", no matter how you slice it. Section 4.1 is the logical outcome of FIDE categories being split into Open, where both men and women can compete, and Women, where only women can compete. If a female player changes her chess-gender to man, then it no longer makes any sense for her to hold titles from the Women category s…

> then it no longer makes any sense

Don't all the reasons you gave for having the separate category still apply? Why does it no longer make any sense?

> With that in mind, the question is, how would including male players (who call themselves women)

This is where a gap in your understanding lies: the childhood experience of a closeted trans woman is not the same as the childhood experience of a cis man. If you can't resolve this gap yourself, my offer to find resources for you remains open.

Given that understanding, you could make the minimum viable alteration to your worldview, and it would then satisfy the "valid" criterion I mentioned earlier – but I don't think that's the intellectually-honest result of starting where you are now, and gaining the additional understanding. (There are people with similar opinions to you who do have the understanding you lack, but they've reached those opinions from a very different direction.)

> I've read their policy and […]

Thank you for explaining your position.

World Athletics C3.5A contains many inaccuracies and inconsistencies, including but not limited to:

• Eligibility rule 3.5.2(a) unconditionally allows SRY-positive XX-males to compete in the women's category, but C3.5A§3.3 allows them to be excluded by the Medical Manager. Which is it?

• Buccal smears can show false positives for SRY in the case of chimerism. The regulations have no provision for this.

• Blood tests can show false negatives for SRY in the case of bone marrow transplants. The regulations have no provision for this.

• C3.5A§6.1.1.2 requires certain athletes to medically suppress their testosterone levels, even if their testosterone levels are within the typical range for endosex cis women. More suppression may be required than is stated in the regulations, since blood test results can be variable: the regulations contain no provisions to account for that.

• [further remark about C3.5A§6.1 cut because I struggled with unit conversions, and wasn't 100% sure about it]

• Eligibility rule 3.5.2(b) corresponds better to the available evidence than the motivation given in eligibility rule 3.5.2(c), but they are not consistent with each other. (Arbitrary rules are usually considered bad.)

To me, the 2025 regulations appear hamfisted, not nuanced – and I suspect that most people with more than a cursory understanding of human biology would share this view. The 2025 rules do not deserve the praise you have given them.

The regulation defines the terms "biological males" and "biological females" as referring to genotype. This is an arbitrary use of terminology: there are many ways one could draw the "biological" distinction, many of which would be more useful for sports. "Genotypical males" and "genotypical females" would have been clearer terminology (although they would still have needed the definition). Considering that "biological female" is a dogwhistle among anti-trans bigots, and considering the issues I've pointed out after a cursory skim, I suspect that many of these issues are deliberate. The inconsistency in the final bullet point is quite reminiscent of the claptrap J.K. Rowling says.

Additionally, in the link you gave:

> World Athletics never has and never would impose any obligation to undergo surgery.

Imposing rules that create the conditions out of which such an obligation arises is imposing such obligations. The purpose of a system is what it does. I can buy that historically this was unintentional, but everyone knows about the risk, now. You can't just say "oh we don't impose an obligation" and expect that to absolve you: they need positive protection of the rights of intersex athletes, to prevent a repeat of the non-consensual maiming incidents.

I'll leave you with a passage from https://sportsscientists.com/2016/05/hyperandrogenism-women-...:

> I would also like to relate a two-part epiphany that I had after my transition. In 2005, nine months after starting HRT, I was running 12% slower than I had run with male T levels; women run 10-12% slower than men over a wide range of distances. In 2006 I met another trans woman runner and the she had the same experience. I later discovered that, if aging is factored in, this 10-12% loss of speed is standard among trans women endurance athletes. The realization that one can take a male distance runner, make that runner hormonally female, and wind up with a female distance runner of the same relative capability was life changing for me.

> I have actually,

You're not demonstrating understanding of the topic.

P.S.: I'll note that not even the 2025 World Athletics regulations are misgendering the hypothetical athletes – but you are. You're being exceptionally rude to these hypothetical people. I do hope you don't treat real people this way.

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#466
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> little evidence of the same level of systemic abuse You not looking for it doesn't mean "little evidence." It's well documented that the previous administration pressured social media to silence views it didn't like, as well as instances of debanking conservative organizations. That's not to say this administration doesn't throw its weight around, too, but to think it's only one side make you complicit in the probl…

Some individuals from the previous administration asking a donor to do something is not exactly the same thing as the president FORCING someone to do it and demanding bribes or else they’ll impose fines on the business (which he then proceeds to do anyway, eg with Nvidia) You’re quite literally a character from the book in this post, if you think they’re equivalent (your argument is verbatim what one of the nazis int…

They were making large overreaches and censorship, thinking anything else also makes you a person from this book.

This report was written when Biden was still in power, it details how they did pressure companies to censor material and not just friendly suggestions:

https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/weaponizati...

Authoritarianism getting dialed up and voters having less power is bipartisan, this cannot get fixed by just changing one side. As long as democrats keeps ramping up republicans will feel like they have to ramp up as well, and vice versa, democrats ramp up since they feel republicans ramp up. You can't get out of this by just changing one side.

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#467
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're seeking narrative to explain how and why these things are happening when narratives are how they are happening. When a species relies on inferior and limited tools, it suffers from their use. When the tool is seamless with the problem, it destroys us without us becoming aware. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/jd-vance-lie... This article is all we need to know about fascism, the candidate admits…

The Guardian is misleading you. Vance was referring to story in the news sense, not "admitting" that he makes things up. The original video of what he said is here: https://x.com/HunnyBplus3/status/1835326924597366869 JD Vance: "Dana, [stories about Haitians in Springfield] come from first hand accounts of my constituents. I say that we're creating a story meaning we're creating the American media focusing on it. I d…

There were no firsthand accounts from his constituents. He never was able to provide a witness. You're using narrative to cover up events that never occurred or were rumors made into narratives. This is the source of the narrative illusion. "

"Multiple news reports in September 2024 detailed Senator J.D. Vance's inability to provide firsthand accounts or evidence for his claims that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. When asked for proof, he pointed to anonymous "firsthand accounts from his constituents," which were later refuted by city officials"

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The underlying theory that the GP is getting at is that Japan and Germany were easy to rebuild because they had existing institutions and a society that trusted institutions. The idea is that it is kind of a self fulfilling prophecy; germany and Japan will "remember" how to be civilized, but under different leadership, Afghanistan and Iraq cannot revert to that. It leans heavily on assumptions about countries and ins…

It's true to an extent, but its not what happened in Afghanistan.

I don't doubt that, I was just explaining the argument. It has been recently popularized in tech circles by a viral appearance by professor Sarah Paine on the Dwarkesh podcast.

I am fully willing to believe that the US royally fucked up the rebuild of Afghanistan.

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#469
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. When Trump lost to Biden, many Republicans including Mike Pence certified Biden's win as prescribed by the constitution. 2. Trump knows the military will not participate in a coup. 3. Trump will not run for a third term. If he does, he will loose because Americans knows it's unconstitutional. So Americans know that all the dirty laundry will come out when the next president takes office.

1. There's barely any normal republicans left, its all MAGA now that would hang Pence like they wanted to in 2021. 2. Likely true, but they don't really need the military as ICE which now employs all the armed racists they need, like Jan 6 people. 3. He's floating the idea, even talking about not having elections if they're in a war like Ukraine, even though its not in the constitution. Either way they're going all i…

Which foreign country is going to invade one third of USA ?

(Never mind, Trump never cared about little details like these...)

Re: They Thought They Were Free (1955)

#470

I think this is interesting, but perhaps for reasons other than intended. I think it shows the formation of the post-war mythology that Germans used to explain to themselves how their family members or parents were good people, and did not deserve any punishment, despite the involvement in the most genocidal movement in modern history. When you read these accounts, it always feels like no one had any agency or knowle…

> Tellingly, purges of Jews continued even after the war in the Soviet sphere of influence.

How much of that was specifically because of Stalin ? (Noticeable changes after his death ?)

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