It’s ok for criminalists to investigate whether Jeffrey shot William. That’s not a problem. (Even though it can be if they’re motivated by disliking Jeffrey, but even if that’s the case, that’s not the same as making the statement that some unbiased criminalists shouldn’t investigate him. (Edit: The problem there would be more complicated.))
But if Ordinary Internet Folks start talking about that maybe Jeffrey shot William in the absence of any evidence, they give away that they don’t like Jeffrey, and if the club of Nice People has a rule against disliking Jeffrey, they can throw such people out of the room. That doesn’t imply they’re claiming or implying that it’s wrong to investigate whether Jeffrey is or isn’t the culprit.
I’m agreeing with this, primarily because the discussions around Race and IQ are in the area of both little evidence either way, and it isn’t an impactful question in the first place.
Little evidence either way is traditionally interpreted as: “the absence of strong evidence for their side is strong evidence for our side”.
I support the idea that people who talk about inferiority of others, with little evidence, should shut up, or be kicked out of polite society. But the same should also apply to people who cry “X-ism”, with little evidence, just because they noticed that e.g. French people are underrepresented among Tetris players.
Little evidence either way means little evidence either way. If I see a French person playing Tetris, it is none of my business. If I see a group of ten people playing Tetris and none of them is French, it is also none of my business. Only if I have specific evidence of French people being treated unfairly, then I can comment on French people being treated unfairly.
To use an analogy:
It’s ok for criminalists to investigate whether Jeffrey shot William. That’s not a problem. (Even though it can be if they’re motivated by disliking Jeffrey, but even if that’s the case, that’s not the same as making the statement that some unbiased criminalists shouldn’t investigate him. (Edit: The problem there would be more complicated.))
But if Ordinary Internet Folks start talking about that maybe Jeffrey shot William in the absence of any evidence, they give away that they don’t like Jeffrey, and if the club of Nice People has a rule against disliking Jeffrey, they can throw such people out of the room. That doesn’t imply they’re claiming or implying that it’s wrong to investigate whether Jeffrey is or isn’t the culprit.
I’m agreeing with this, primarily because the discussions around Race and IQ are in the area of both little evidence either way, and it isn’t an impactful question in the first place.
Little evidence either way is traditionally interpreted as: “the absence of strong evidence for their side is strong evidence for our side”.
I support the idea that people who talk about inferiority of others, with little evidence, should shut up, or be kicked out of polite society. But the same should also apply to people who cry “X-ism”, with little evidence, just because they noticed that e.g. French people are underrepresented among Tetris players.
Little evidence either way means little evidence either way. If I see a French person playing Tetris, it is none of my business. If I see a group of ten people playing Tetris and none of them is French, it is also none of my business. Only if I have specific evidence of French people being treated unfairly, then I can comment on French people being treated unfairly.