JulianMorrison comments on When None Dare Urge Restraint - Less Wrong

41 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 December 2007 11:09PM

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Comment author: JulianMorrison 10 December 2007 02:24:00AM 0 points [-]

This strikes me as an instance of a larger category: topics on which making group-acceptable statements is considered more important than making accurate ones.

Here's anther example, pulled off recent Reddit. Kiddy shagging. Do the children ever initiate and deliberately intend the proceedings? A sane analysis of human variability would say "some times, of course". Are children universally mentally incompetent to understand what sex means? Again, a sane analysis would say "in some cases, they're perfectly competent". But you can't say that. You don't just have to deny it, you have to immediately hate and attack the person who says it. Hesitation isn't permitted, nuance equals sympathy for the enemy. Unacceptable argument gets bullet.