I talked to Destiny last week on his livestream. You can watch it here. Bentham wrote a review of sorts.
I enjoyed the discussion, as it mostly consisted of us kvetching about how dumb rightists are. I tried to interject a bit of balance by pointing out flaws in leftist thought or how they sometimes bring out the worst in conservatives, and on most points we agree.
I think Bentham is correct that Destiny is part of the reality-based community, and I can have discussions with such people. There’s really not much to talk about with conspiracy theorists, and unfortunately there’s been a kind of Alex Jonesification of the right. There’s the classic WEF stuff, but these days I find that even supposedly “smart” conservative analysis has a kind of conspiratorial tone: talk of the cathedral, the “deep state,” population replacement, the managerial elite, Trump derangement syndrome. Not that none of these ideas have any merit, but as general frameworks they make those who adopt them dumber rather than smarter. This is unfortunate.
Here are the links for the month of July.
1. Some detail on Bukele and his fight for public order. We may say he solved crime by eliminating democratic checks and balances. Communist regimes also have very low crime rates. Now, it should be possible to get the good parts of democracy while limiting its tendency to produce human rights requirements that make controlling crime impossible. Basically, there's a tradeoff in state power versus safety, and the optimal balance will depend on the situation. In a low crime jurisdiction with more state capacity you can err more on the side of civil liberties. In a place like pre-Bukele El Salvador, that's crazy. Dictatorships solve the issue by just not giving people rights. Democracies tend to have more problems here, but the goal should be to figure out how to solve the dilemma. This must begin by an acknowledgement that mass incarceration simply works and you don't need to get at the "root causes" of crime.
2. Survey data shows new Catholic priests becoming more conservative over the decades. This will make the church internally stronger but increasingly put it at odds with the rest of society and alienate cultural Catholic types.
3. Scott Alexander in his article on Yglesias as Nietzsche uses "Nietzsche" in the way I do, which is a stand in for "good things are good." I tend to think the actual Nietzsche believed in things neither of us would endorse, but if that's the modern understanding of him we can go with it. See footnote 3 here on the point about what gets called "eugenics" these days. If you disagree with that footnote, it's a good litmus test proving that you subscribe to slave morality, and not the more defensible kind of slave morality, but like the ugly stuff we should wipe off the face of the earth.
4. Did you know the wolverine is a real animal? I thought that it was just a Marvel character, or that it was the name of a type of wolf. Actually, it's a distinct type of animal that looks like this.
It ranges from Siberia and Northern Europe, to Alaska, Canada, and the Northern US. Wolverines are carnivorous, often feeding on things that die in the mountains or taking prey from other animals. Ferociously strong, it can take down a lynx or elk. Successful males form lifetime relationships with 2-3 females and keep other males out of their territory. I guess the Michigan mascot should have been a clue to me, but I’m glad I finally know.
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