Athrelon comments on Politics Discussion Thread September 2012 - Less Wrong

-1 Post author: Multiheaded 05 September 2012 11:27AM

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Comment author: Athrelon 05 September 2012 02:57:27PM 6 points [-]

Is politicization of the personal inevitable? My model is that there are groups of people with common personal-life interests, such as raising the status of one sub-group or another. Those who can band together to exert coordinated social pressure, win. So unless there is some friction to group formation, politicization seems inevitable.

Note that the nature of the groups that are politically relevant may change (ie the relevant group may be an extended family, an occupation, a religious sect, a social class, etc.)

Comment author: buybuydandavis 06 September 2012 07:21:39AM 3 points [-]

Those who can band together to exert coordinated social pressure, win. So unless there is some friction to group formation, politicization seems inevitable.

Much like mugging is inevitable unless people in general band together against it.

In the war of all against all, people might wish to declare a truce to end the war, but they better be prepared to retaliate against those who break the truce, or they should expect to see it broken more and more, until even those who would prefer a truce feel it's not a realistic option and the truce ceases to exist.

Comment author: [deleted] 05 September 2012 03:47:59PM *  3 points [-]

My model is that there are groups of people with common personal-life interests, such as raising the status of one sub-group or another. Those who can band together to exert coordinated social pressure, win.

There is no reason to expect different stable coalitions of such groups require equally large footprints of politicized subjects. Let alone that all such subjects are equally important for the common good! I'm saying that ceteris paribus the less politicized the result of a such a collation is the better off society as a whole will be.

Perhaps stable coalitions requiring small footprints have other remarkably negative externalities that nearly always outweigh the gains in areas of life free from politicization. But considering just what a horrible cancer on action and the greater good politicking seems to be, I'm somewhat dubious this is commonly the case.

People adopting a general stance of opposing "the personal is the political" subsidize smaller footprint coalitions. Naturally such subsidizing has very small if not tiny effect, it still probably beats out the effect from voting also I would claim that under current circumstances it serves as a useful filter to finding interesting people.

Comment author: Athrelon 05 September 2012 04:08:02PM 2 points [-]

So you're saying "Let the bakers' union be the bakers' union, but keep them out of the Green Coalition?"

Comment author: [deleted] 05 September 2012 04:13:27PM *  2 points [-]

Outside the Green coalition they may still try to maintain a politicized outlook on certain baker issues, though without the feeling one can gain power or status remarkably few will in practice do so so. However they certainly won't feel the need to support the Green Coalition and neither will the Green Coalition help them.