pleeppleep comments on On private marriage contracts - Less Wrong Discussion
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I said that I think a plausible steel man of the position that the abolition of slavery was closely tied to the abolition of other kinds of private property can be made. Not obviously from a legalistic perspective but from a moral and cultural one.
But that I think that would be trolling.
Ah. (I had taken “by steel manning that” to be modifying “resist” rather than “troll”, and couldn't make sense of it.)
I also think it's plausible. I don't think that would be trolling, I think that would be a highly useful way to examine one's values and ethics. Including your own views.
Consider the hardcore "reactionary" position on such relations of dominance and social control:
http://phdoctopus.com/2012/03/02/liberty-for-the-few-slavery-in-every-form-for-the-mass-the-deep-roots-of-the-birth-control-freakout/
And the "compassionate conservative" one (from an interview with a British author whom you've linked to, Roger Scruton):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jun/05/roger-scruton-interview
As you can see, the latter view is inconsistent - as you have said yourself many times before, rallying against the futility and weakness of "mere conservatism", with its aquiescence to nearly any reform. The former view - no government or outsider should restrict a subject's control over his inferiors and subordinates, to do so in any one case is to threaten the whole structure of hierarchy and dominance - certainly seems to be a stable Schelling point. And to prevent any drift from that point, you'd need a ruthless zero-tolerance policy of enforcement.
So what is your judgment here? Any bullets you'd bite on the subject of hierarchy and dominance?
^ (1) The line in italics, although excluded in the linked quote, appears in the source text (Cannibals All: Slaves Without Masters). I assume that you can recognize the significance. Universalism - as a theistic creed or as a secular one - really did make tyrants "fear for their domination."
I was thinking of making a strong pseudo-Marxist argument in this direction, so I'm not sure how relevant it would be to my own views.
A different plausible Schelling point is the preservation of existing hierarchies but opposing the creation of new ones. Note that Americans spoken of had previously rejected the hierarchy of aristocracy without rejecting in general stratification by class, wealth, education, nationality, beauty, ancestry, race, gender, merit or ability. Some of these are preserved to this day.
Overall a society without hierarchies is something that I doubt would be optimally matched to human values and I might even find disturbing. At the very least it would have high costs. I however need to think about these issues more before committing myself to biting any bullets.
He might actually be right homophobia arising as an adaptive norm in past societies if homosexually is indeed caused as a side effect of a mother's infection with a pathogen.
You should note this is a left-wing take on a a reactionary position, not writing done by an actual reactionary.
And that this is a left-wing take on the conservative positions of the author, not a summary written by the author himself.
You will find plenty of ungood thoughts and writings in the original sources no need to add an additional layer of interpretation to them.