J.K. Rowling | ContraPoints

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Strong rec ReactiveJelly · 2022-12 · on “The Truth Matters and Secular Humanists Should Defend It”

The Internet has the same incentive landscape as bathroom stall graffiti. That's why you're so mad, Robyn. This isn't a back-and-forth between two real people who mutually respect each other. If I was talking to Robyn in real life, over coffee, for 2 or 3 hours, we'd probably get something productive done. But online, it's a hit-and-run dumpster where the truth matters a little, and humor and presentation matter _much more._ Robyn writes their wounded-gazelle piece whining about the woke cancel mob, and I try to 'clap back' without 'seething'. Wittgenstein would roll in his grave to see the level of MLG language gamers we have online these days. Nuance gets buried online. I am not gonna sit

Recommends deanCommie · 2021-01 · on “Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab”

> Rowling's views are not 'dated' (that's your opinion) They are. Bigotry is not static. It's a dynamic reaction to progress being made in the rest of society. Her views are not a reaction to fringe whackjobs on twitter screaming for some rights that the rest of society is not willing to give them. Her views are a reaction to changes in government policy that do not happen overnight, are themselves a result of decades of progress made in conjunction with medical and scientific subject matter experts. > they are thought out, and reasonable. They are not. They are based on strawmen interpretations of trans people's lived experiences, and their desired outcomes. It would take a really long time

Recommends geraldalewis · 2021-10 · on “Reasons for Speaking Out on Sex and Gender Issues (2020)”

It's 90 minutes, but ContraPoints' videos are really great. Here's her perspective on J.K. Rowling: [this video]

Cites monopoledance · 2021-02 · on “Brendan Eich on the Lex Fridman Podcast [video]”

He is not talking about cancel culture. He is taking this very overloaded term as premise, as self-evident "fact" for the degeneration of academia and "the public discourse", to pave the way for injecting his super deep ideology about salvation by Love, Elon and Ayn Rand. I am not sure, if you are familiar with Joscha Bach, but he once said something about something, and people think he's super intelligent! None of these podcasts talking critical about cancel culture. There is a far, far better (critical) take on it within "marxist" culture, e.g. from Natalie Wynn. If Lex wants to talk cancel culture, why not invite her for example? She is an academic, smart and wrote and talked extensively

Cites benrbray · 2021-03 · on “GitHub, fuck your name change”

The argument "I haven't met a single..." is equally as strong as an unqualified "You are misinformed.", which I was responding to. Note that I asked for clarification :) Since I have you here, would you mind elaborating a bit more about your stance on "cancel culture"? I'll also elaborate a bit more on my stance. I think most people would agree that mobs by definition have no united agenda. It's a bunch of disorganized people with their own goals and motivations who all briefly get fired up about the same topic. Twitter mobs are a tornado of confirmation bias, where people in echo chambers spin up hot takes of current events to confirm their own worldview. The amount of meaningful debate tha