Even if I concede that "I'm strawmanning one side only a little more than the other" accurately describes what's going on here, which I'm not sure I do, I'm still not sure I endorse it.
Admittedly, if representing the two sides is worth doing in the first place, and representing them without strawmanning them is not worth the effort, and representing them by strawmanning them equally is not worth the effort, then the above is probably the next best choice. But I'm not sure any of that is true.
Not that this thread is unique in this respect. Lots of threads on LW do this sort of thing. I assume that if it weren't for the anti-politics site norm there would be more of them; I expect that as this norm gets relaxed (as has been happening for the last year or so, and will likely keep happening) there will be more of them. Which is unfortunate, from my perspective.
ideologies make conflicting empirical claims as well as conflicting normative claims, and so empirical claims can reveal as much information about one's ideology as normative claims can.
Absolutely true.
Even if I concede that "I'm strawmanning one side only a little more than the other" accurately describes what's going on here, which I'm not sure I do, I'm still not sure I endorse it.
Agreed, but Multiheaded's full-throated sarcasm was a disproportionate response.
I assume that if it weren't for the anti-politics site norm there would be more of them; I expect that as this norm gets relaxed (as has been happening for the last year or so, and will likely keep happening)
I feel like there's less political poo flinging on LW now than there was a year ago and two years ago. But I have no firm evidence.
I was thinking about the hazards of bad government, and wondering if there was a way for the LW community to do something to oppose them, and it occurred to me that we might be picking up the problem by the wrong end.
The usual way of thinking about political action is to start with one's political identity (progressive, libertarian, whatever), and that's likely to put one at odds with people who have opposed identities.
Instead, I believe there are projects which could appeal to rationalists across a wide range of the political spectrum. A couple I can think of are opposing the war on drugs and improving judicial systems. Any other suggestions?