in spite of the apparently catastrophic state of our politics, the US is still a pretty good country overall
But I disagree with this:
people (esp. LWers) should not discuss politics except insofar as it informs a potential decision to emigrate
and this:
Rationalists who spend a lot of time discussing sociopolitics are mostly failing to solve a bounded-rationality problem, since most of us will never influence the rest of society, so the time we spend thinking about it is largely wasted.
It seems to me that the culture is influenced by discussion (for example, it is hard for me to believe that the discussion that took place on social media over the past year had no influence on the US election outcome). By recommending that LWers refrain from participating in political discussion, it seems to me that you are just removing a set of (relatively) rational, reflective and dispassionate voices from a discussion that badly needs that type of voice.
I agree with this:
But I disagree with this:
and this:
It seems to me that the culture is influenced by discussion (for example, it is hard for me to believe that the discussion that took place on social media over the past year had no influence on the US election outcome). By recommending that LWers refrain from participating in political discussion, it seems to me that you are just removing a set of (relatively) rational, reflective and dispassionate voices from a discussion that badly needs that type of voice.