thomblake comments on LW Women- Minimizing the Inferential Distance - Less Wrong

58 [deleted] 25 November 2012 11:33PM

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Comment author: Salemicus 27 November 2012 09:50:20PM *  9 points [-]

Nearly anyone not living hermits life experiences situations like these but we are incredibly selective about which ones get our attention. I say how much attention they get is based not on actual subjective suffering but on the most viable political coalitions.

I quite agree, and considered posting along these lines myself. Perhaps you were right to be oblique; I'd have been a lot more explicit.

In fact, I will. A large part of this isn't just about forming viable political coalitions - which is perhaps benign - it's about suppressing alternate coalitions. It's about making it impossible for people with a different understanding of the world to co-ordinate. For example, the reason that men catcall women is, or should be, well known to everyone (see e.g. Berne)) but the discussion below consists of a strenuous wish to avoid the obvious explanation. And of course anyone who gives it will be the designated patsy and thereby validate the feelings of moral superiority the coalition has been endowing itself with.

It's also about a wish to avoid responsibility, but that's a post in its own right.

The solution, of course, is to form a higher status coalition against it. For instance:

"As an Arab and a Muslim, I feel the concept of feminism is an Orientalist dog-whistle. You only need to look down this thread to see the real targets are always the Otherized women wearing burkas - whose perspective is totally missing. The venom is just barely below the surface - a discussion of a boy asking a girl out quickly becomes a ritual condemnation of Afghan customs. Analysing a father's advice quickly leads to back-slapping about how much Saudi Arabia "stinks". Anyone who calls themselves a feminist is perpetuating white privilege and racism."

Unfortunately, I fear that this troll has already been done.

EDIT: Edited to include links.

Comment author: thomblake 29 November 2012 07:03:59PM 11 points [-]

For example, the reason that men catcall women is, or should be, well known to everyone

Has any other reader figured out yet what this obvious reason is supposed to be? I'm mystified.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 29 November 2012 07:15:47PM 8 points [-]

I'm mystified, too. Furthermore, I bet there isn't just one reason.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 01 December 2012 08:16:00AM 3 points [-]

I suspect that statement was meant to be semantically equivalent to "the reason that men go to strip clubs is, or should be, well known to everyone".

Comment author: thomblake 03 December 2012 05:08:20PM 5 points [-]

I'm confused. Are you suggesting that catcalling is a strategy for seeing naked women?

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 04 December 2012 12:08:17AM 3 points [-]

Ok, a better way to phrase that would be "the reason that men like looking at naked women is, or should be, well known to everyone".

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 04 December 2012 01:56:19AM 1 point [-]

Actually, that depends on what you mean by 'known'.

Everyone knows that most men like looking at naked women, and many who don't feel the attraction themselves can more or less understand it by extrapolation.

However, I don't think much if anything is known about physiological basis (eyes to brain) for men liking to look at naked women.

Comment author: Eugine_Nier 08 December 2012 03:20:51AM 2 points [-]

Agreed. I suspect that Salemicus's statement was meant to be interpreted in the same way.

Comment author: ikrase 07 December 2012 04:38:24PM 1 point [-]

I think the point is that feminism tends to assume that it's for some kind of sinister toxic masculinity sex thing?