Sep 19, 2022·edited Apr 14, 2023Liked by TracingWoodgrains
One thing I'm surprised isn't getting more commentary, and which might explain the sudden disappearing act, is the source of the article Mohammad admits to having taken much of his wording and format from. It's from a "men's rights" subreddit, as Trace mentioned but doesn't really emphasize. Here Mo is trying, however clumsily, to make a point that's very friendly to the SocJus/Woke (or whatever we're allowed to call it this week, cf https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/please-just-fucking-tell-me-what ) memeplex, but he's admitting to drawing inspiration and even wording from an MRA.
Now granted, technically feminism and anti-racism, along with trans rights and other causes that sometimes fly that flag, are separate things, and it's possible in principle to support some of them and not others. But let's be real. The vast majority of the time, these things are encountered as a package deal (the very need for those verboten terms is proof enough). Maybe there's some internal divisions, but they are almost always presented publicly with a united front. There appears to be a very strong expectation by both people in that movement and its audience that people who support one will also (publicly at least) support all the rest.
Indeed, one way to identify people who accept some of these 'isms' and not others is that they - far more than people genuinely on the right who are more clearly their ideological enemies! - are precisely the ones "cancel culture" (yet another term we're apparently not allowed to use) sinks its claws into. Witness JK Rowling, or even Scott. Even with the most solid anti-racist credentials this side of Ibrahim X Kendi, admitting to having MRA sympathies would have put Mohammad into that bucket and been career suicide to at least the same degree as being caught fabricating an experiment like this. Likely as not, he realized this at the last minute, panicked, and burned down as much of the evidence as he could.
Maybe everyone got something they wanted, but at the cost of a perceived world further untethered from reality.
I greatly enjoyed the article, but I think you're being too credulous despite your skepticism: it seems unlikely the post was authored by a genuine academic.
This has good vibes. Maybe because it confirms my world view. It put into words the feeling that I, like my most people, just like the vibes and don't check further if the story confirms my worldview.
See I think you are being a bit too nice. This sort of thing has real large measurable negative impacts in the world. People see society as this funhouse of oppression and bigotry it just is not. Which leads to more fake stories and more bad policy.
This article reminds me of a great book by Wilfred Riley called “Hate Crime Hoax.” Both his book and your article do an excellent job of pointing out that once these incidents are exposed a hoaxes, the media has already moved on, allowing them to persist as hate crimes in the public consciousness. This in turn makes hate crimes and the animuses that motivate them appear much more common than they actually are. Hate crimes are not always fabricated, but the media, general public, and penal system need to do a better job investigating these crimes and holding people accountable when they fake them.
Hacker News is a great vector for spreading misinformation and, ironically, racism. It's a very odd slice of the population. Younger people who want to be the next Elon and Jobs and Bezos and Gates and think that they are better than everyone because they can program a computer.
The people there want a lot of money, but also want to show how "altruistic" they are. "Make walkable cities! Guaranteed minimum income". They love crypto. ("SMH wasn't a real crypto bro!" They hate unions. They call themselves libertarians, but they love student loan forgiveness. It seems odd, but after a few weeks, you could accurately predict how they will come down on any issue. Just think like a 20-something with a college degree who has never seen failure (yet).
It's a horrific place for antisemitism, usually disguised as "anti-zionism" probably because their leader, Paul Graham, sets the tone.
One thing I'm surprised isn't getting more commentary, and which might explain the sudden disappearing act, is the source of the article Mohammad admits to having taken much of his wording and format from. It's from a "men's rights" subreddit, as Trace mentioned but doesn't really emphasize. Here Mo is trying, however clumsily, to make a point that's very friendly to the SocJus/Woke (or whatever we're allowed to call it this week, cf https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/please-just-fucking-tell-me-what ) memeplex, but he's admitting to drawing inspiration and even wording from an MRA.
Now granted, technically feminism and anti-racism, along with trans rights and other causes that sometimes fly that flag, are separate things, and it's possible in principle to support some of them and not others. But let's be real. The vast majority of the time, these things are encountered as a package deal (the very need for those verboten terms is proof enough). Maybe there's some internal divisions, but they are almost always presented publicly with a united front. There appears to be a very strong expectation by both people in that movement and its audience that people who support one will also (publicly at least) support all the rest.
Indeed, one way to identify people who accept some of these 'isms' and not others is that they - far more than people genuinely on the right who are more clearly their ideological enemies! - are precisely the ones "cancel culture" (yet another term we're apparently not allowed to use) sinks its claws into. Witness JK Rowling, or even Scott. Even with the most solid anti-racist credentials this side of Ibrahim X Kendi, admitting to having MRA sympathies would have put Mohammad into that bucket and been career suicide to at least the same degree as being caught fabricating an experiment like this. Likely as not, he realized this at the last minute, panicked, and burned down as much of the evidence as he could.
Maybe everyone got something they wanted, but at the cost of a perceived world further untethered from reality.
I greatly enjoyed the article, but I think you're being too credulous despite your skepticism: it seems unlikely the post was authored by a genuine academic.
Brilliant read, as always :)
This has good vibes. Maybe because it confirms my world view. It put into words the feeling that I, like my most people, just like the vibes and don't check further if the story confirms my worldview.
See I think you are being a bit too nice. This sort of thing has real large measurable negative impacts in the world. People see society as this funhouse of oppression and bigotry it just is not. Which leads to more fake stories and more bad policy.
This article reminds me of a great book by Wilfred Riley called “Hate Crime Hoax.” Both his book and your article do an excellent job of pointing out that once these incidents are exposed a hoaxes, the media has already moved on, allowing them to persist as hate crimes in the public consciousness. This in turn makes hate crimes and the animuses that motivate them appear much more common than they actually are. Hate crimes are not always fabricated, but the media, general public, and penal system need to do a better job investigating these crimes and holding people accountable when they fake them.
Hacker News is a great vector for spreading misinformation and, ironically, racism. It's a very odd slice of the population. Younger people who want to be the next Elon and Jobs and Bezos and Gates and think that they are better than everyone because they can program a computer.
The people there want a lot of money, but also want to show how "altruistic" they are. "Make walkable cities! Guaranteed minimum income". They love crypto. ("SMH wasn't a real crypto bro!" They hate unions. They call themselves libertarians, but they love student loan forgiveness. It seems odd, but after a few weeks, you could accurately predict how they will come down on any issue. Just think like a 20-something with a college degree who has never seen failure (yet).
It's a horrific place for antisemitism, usually disguised as "anti-zionism" probably because their leader, Paul Graham, sets the tone.