Vladimir_Golovin comments on High Status and Stupidity: Why? - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 January 2010 04:36PM

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Comment author: magfrump 13 January 2010 04:18:48AM *  -1 points [-]

I am far from convinced that Stalin is "high-status"--at the very least most socialists I know disavow him.

On the other hand I agree that Gandalf is a fictional character. A couple of counterexamples quickly came to mind then failed, I'd be interested to see a larger list:

Gandhi: disowned his son for getting married who then committed suicide; told women not to fight against rape.

I'm not thinking of a good one for Lincoln, Einstein, MLKJ. Any evidence against them? I'd be surprised to see it about Einstein.

ETA: Clearly Stalin was high status when leading the USSR, and perhaps continues to be, I seem to have slipped into non-LW-mode for that sentence. My question of whether other, commonly-though-of-as-kinder public figures are less gandalf-like still stands.

Comment author: Vladimir_Golovin 13 January 2010 04:01:06PM *  4 points [-]

I am far from convinced that Stalin is "high-status"

Stalin is definitely high-status, at least in present-day Russia. He's alarmingly popular among lower-class older people here -- and perhaps among the net-savvy public too, as he is believed to be the actual winner of the state-sponsored contest "The Name of Russia". If you ask me, that's not surprising at all given the current situation in the country -- it's crawling with corruption.