I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bunch of people quite so full of habitual self-doubt as the folks on Less Wrong. Personally, I just don’t see how nationalist fervors even work. Rallies of any kind have always left me cold, even when everybody around me is cheering their lungs out. There’s no way I could start thinking thoughts like “My country, right or wrong” for more than three seconds without stopping to root out the infection—a familiar feeling by now, actually, since knowing about cognitive hazards often makes it possible to recognize when you’re slipping into one. I don’t think I’m unusual among LW-denizens in this respect.
But by all means, keep on being uneasy about this. That’s probably prudent.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bunch of people quite so full of habitual self-doubt as the folks on Less Wrong. Personally, I just don’t see how nationalist fervors even work. Rallies of any kind have always left me cold, even when everybody around me is cheering their lungs out. There’s no way I could start thinking thoughts like “My country, right or wrong” for more than three seconds without stopping to root out the infection—a familiar feeling by now, actually, since knowing about cognitive hazards often makes it possible to recognize when you’re slipping into one. I don’t think I’m unusual among LW-denizens in this respect.
But by all means, keep on being uneasy about this. That’s probably prudent.