Why would having such an explanation make one less “impressed by the obvious political and free speech ramifications”?
I wouldn’t read too much into the “forever”. Later in the post:
I like economic explanations for behavior. You don’t need politics or morality, just good old self-interest. That’s why I became an economist. At least they are acting “as if” this is the motivation, which for explaining behavior is all that matters. That doesn’t make the actions any less coercive, nor the grab of power over academic appointments any less revolutionary. [emphasis DanielFilan’s]
So the author is equating “economics” with “behavior driven by self-interest” but that seems like too narrow a view of economics to me, since many ideas from “traditional” economics can be useful for analyzing genuinely moral/altruistic behavior as well. (E.g., moral trade, moral public goods, etc.)
Aside from that, only the most proximate cause of the situation can be explained purely by self-interest, because why were the diversity staff hired in the first place and given so much power? A significant faction of the coalition (contra “don’t need politics”) that supported that must have done so out of real moral concern. (I think this fact should be explicitly stated, or at least not negated, so that they and we can learn from the consequences of their decisions. Otherwise I fear that the lesson will be “self-interest is the bad guy here, I’m acting out of real moral concern so I don’t have to worry about causing this kind of problem.”)
(Sorry if I’m being too pedantic here and going off on a tangent...)
I wouldn’t read too much into the “forever”. Later in the post:
So the author is equating “economics” with “behavior driven by self-interest” but that seems like too narrow a view of economics to me, since many ideas from “traditional” economics can be useful for analyzing genuinely moral/altruistic behavior as well. (E.g., moral trade, moral public goods, etc.)
Aside from that, only the most proximate cause of the situation can be explained purely by self-interest, because why were the diversity staff hired in the first place and given so much power? A significant faction of the coalition (contra “don’t need politics”) that supported that must have done so out of real moral concern. (I think this fact should be explicitly stated, or at least not negated, so that they and we can learn from the consequences of their decisions. Otherwise I fear that the lesson will be “self-interest is the bad guy here, I’m acting out of real moral concern so I don’t have to worry about causing this kind of problem.”)
(Sorry if I’m being too pedantic here and going off on a tangent...)