So, what about the quality of advice that will be produced by a LW discussion on these topics operating under such constraints of respectability, where disreputable sources of accurate information are tabooed, a pretense must be maintained that the discourse is grounded in officially accredited scholarship and other high-status sources of information, and—most important of all—the entire discourse and its bottom line must produce a narrative that is in line with the respectable, high-status views of humanity and society?
In the past people have obviously retrospectively looked for academic sources to support PUA ideas. It’s instrumentally fine, just a bad habit. Also, it is easy to hint at what is unsaid by saying it would be offensive, and hinting at exactly how offensive it would or wouldn’t be. Imagine a map of the world where every feature north of 35 degrees latitude was only described (Canada? Way north, I can’t put that on the map, it’s not even close! Korea? Look, that’s just not the sort of thing that can be boldly painted on the map. I’ll sketch a rough outline in pencil, OK?) Such a map would not be misleading.
In the past people have obviously retrospectively looked for academic sources to support PUA ideas. It’s instrumentally fine, just a bad habit. Also, it is easy to hint at what is unsaid by saying it would be offensive, and hinting at exactly how offensive it would or wouldn’t be. Imagine a map of the world where every feature north of 35 degrees latitude was only described (Canada? Way north, I can’t put that on the map, it’s not even close! Korea? Look, that’s just not the sort of thing that can be boldly painted on the map. I’ll sketch a rough outline in pencil, OK?) Such a map would not be misleading.