I found it distracting that all your examples were topical, anti-red-tribe coded events. That reminded me of
In Artificial Intelligence, and particularly in the domain of nonmonotonic reasoning, there’s a standard problem: “All Quakers are pacifists. All Republicans are not pacifists. Nixon is a Quaker and a Republican. Is Nixon a pacifist?”
What on Earth was the point of choosing this as an example? To rouse the political emotions of the readers and distract them from the main question? To make Republicans feel unwelcome in courses on Artificial Intelligence and discourage them from entering the field? (And no, I am not a Republican. Or a Democrat.)
Why would anyone pick such a distracting example to illustrate nonmonotonic reasoning? Probably because the author just couldn’t resist getting in a good, solid dig at those hated Greens. It feels so good to get in a hearty punch, y’know, it’s like trying to resist a chocolate cookie.
As with chocolate cookies, not everything that feels pleasurable is good for you.
That is, I felt reading this like there were tribal-status markers mixed in with your claims that didn’t have to be there, and that struck me as defecting on a stay-non-politicized discourse norm.
Just a reminder to everyone, and mostly to myself:
Not flinching away from reality is entirely compatible with not making yourself feel like shit. You should only try to feel like shit when that helps.