Comment on Is Politics the Mindkiller? An Inconclusive Test

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 03:30:15 GMT

[Meta] I've gone long periods of time without having political discussions. My interest in such waxes and wanes, much as my interest in writing poetry, my interest in writing prose, my interest in programming games, my interest in having any contact with other people, etc. I wouldn't say my life at any point in any of these cycles is better or worse; if it were better, I doubt my interest would wane, if worse, I doubt it would wax.

As for my reasons for introducing this test, it was introduced in response to another individual calling the rule "Stupid," in rather less polite terms. I decided to create a test to see if the fence was actually useful; I didn't create an article calling for it to be torn down, I asked the mayor to create a space in that public property without that fence, to see if it did indeed serve the purpose it was erected for. I'll "conclude" the test sometime tomorrow, and ask people whether, indeed, they found the discussions here constructive or informative. (I've already learned one thing, which I'll elaborate on tomorrow, in my closing poll and commentary. So personally it has already been both constructive and informative.)

I read this response as two distinct things - a reason for not wanting politics discussed here (politics is an unconstructive and unhappy temptation), and a completely unrelated justification (politics is impossible to discuss rationally, a strawman interpretation of the "Politics is the Mindkiller" sequence which some people here nonetheless seem to hold). This post challenges that justification. Your reason may or may not still apply; I will try to include something in the poll to reflect the possibility that people found the test demonstrated that politics can be discussed here, but would still rather this be a politics-free zone.

My strongest recommendations, depending upon the result of this test and the poll, will nonetheless be, as suggested by DanielLC here: http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/dsv/is_politics_the_mindkiller_an_inconclusive_test/73sl a regular and quarantined area for political discussion, subject to a cessation if things turn ugly or particularly unproductive. As I invoked in my introductory post, this is not a true test, because it is a test, and known to be a test. The very act of entering into this test is an acknowledgment that politics are an area of rational vulnerability. That is, my strongest recommendation will be that an area of public property be left without the fence. That will be a longer-term test which will more truly demonstrate whether or not the fence effectively serves the purpose it was created for.

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