I went to Oberlin College for undergrad; my in-laws are Central American communists; I live in Cambridge, MA, where my daughter goes to high school; and much of my internet activity is on left-leaning political blogs. So I think I have a reasonably broad experience of PC culture.
I’m not interested in getting deeply into this conversation here; it would take pages of writing to say everything I think, and that writing would be relatively slow because I’d have to measure my words in various ways to make it through this minefield. However, I do think that at least from my perspective, this concern is overblown. Yes, there are definitely people who self-righteously try to silence opposing views, and they do have some power; but in my experience, their power is limited in most places, and the capacity for reasonable dissent is still present.
As for the exceptions, I see no reason to believe they’re particularly more widespread now than in the past (for instance, my parents have stories of weaponized conformity in EST meetings they briefly attended in the 70s). Furthermore, “dissent is illegitimate here” seems to me more often a symptom than a cause of toxic spaces.
So, sorry I don’t have time to show my work on this, but for what it’s worth, that’s my opinion.
As for the exceptions, I see no reason to believe they’re particularly more widespread now than in the past (for instance, my parents have stories of weaponized conformity in EST meetings they briefly attended in the 70s).
Do you think that epistemic conditions were better in the 90s/00s? If yes, maybe it’s just that I spent most of my teenage/adult life in that period and think of it as normal, when it was actually a rare golden age? If no, any idea why things feel so much worse to me recently?
I’m not interested in getting deeply into this conversation here; it would take pages of writing to say everything I think, and that writing would be relatively slow because I’d have to measure my words in various ways to make it through this minefield.
I’d be really interested in getting the full case from you. Maybe you could consider writing an article for some larger publication to make the effort worthwhile?
I went to Oberlin College for undergrad; my in-laws are Central American communists; I live in Cambridge, MA, where my daughter goes to high school; and much of my internet activity is on left-leaning political blogs. So I think I have a reasonably broad experience of PC culture.
I’m not interested in getting deeply into this conversation here; it would take pages of writing to say everything I think, and that writing would be relatively slow because I’d have to measure my words in various ways to make it through this minefield. However, I do think that at least from my perspective, this concern is overblown. Yes, there are definitely people who self-righteously try to silence opposing views, and they do have some power; but in my experience, their power is limited in most places, and the capacity for reasonable dissent is still present.
As for the exceptions, I see no reason to believe they’re particularly more widespread now than in the past (for instance, my parents have stories of weaponized conformity in EST meetings they briefly attended in the 70s). Furthermore, “dissent is illegitimate here” seems to me more often a symptom than a cause of toxic spaces.
So, sorry I don’t have time to show my work on this, but for what it’s worth, that’s my opinion.
Do you think that epistemic conditions were better in the 90s/00s? If yes, maybe it’s just that I spent most of my teenage/adult life in that period and think of it as normal, when it was actually a rare golden age? If no, any idea why things feel so much worse to me recently?
I’d be really interested in getting the full case from you. Maybe you could consider writing an article for some larger publication to make the effort worthwhile?
I spent the 00s in Guatemala and Chiapas, so I’m probably not the best judge of that question.
As for writing this more deeply… frankly, it’s unlikely to make it above the threshold on my to-do list.