12 Comments

It is certainly a minority viewpoint in today’s western society to refrain from using profanity. From where I stand it seems that the widespread, habitual use of vulgar speech not only signals complete disrespect for others but also a kind of indolence towards language in general. Apparently, many people are too lazy to employ more imaginative language so the fallback is gutter-talk. And it is proliferated by the example of many who are famous celebrities, sports figures, etc.

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Alternate possibility: we are more concerned with profanity today, but what is considered profane has shifted in polite society. Just as what constituted a curse word has changed over the years, we have shifted sharply from the traditional curses to a new, longer list of words one dare not say. The result is two parallel systems of profanity matching two parallel cultures.

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The view of Trump as coming from an honor culture is very much in line with Albion's Seed. His base is concentrated among the Borderers, perhaps the most famous and extreme honor culture in America, and his political idol (to the extent he has any idols other than himself!) is the brawling, tetchy Borderer Andrew Jackson.

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A cashless society is incompatible with children having their own money and learning to save and spend. Or maybe the plan is to give every four year old a Visa card and Venmo account?

Sometimes I really dislike technocrats and their advocacy for the "cashless society" is one of those times.

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I wish I had more than one "Like" to give your comment. One can probably teach teenagers with debit cards and bank accounts, but not five year-olds. That concrete physical nature of cash is a necessary thing for teaching such young children the ways of money, and it can't be replaced with something less tangible.

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founding

Re: "He argued that if you require severely psychotic individuals to obtain treatment, often they will be much better off."

Freddie DeBoer doesn't reckon with Thomas Szasz. “The business of psychiatry is to provide society with excuses disguised as diagnoses, and with coercions justified as treatments.”

—Szasz, The untamed tongue (1990: 178)

DeBoer puts much weight on a diagnosis of "anosognosia." If the "patient" does not acknowledge that she is "mentally ill," then she is labelled with a second-order diagnosis of anosognosia. What could go wrong?

Tread cautiously with coercion in the name of paternalism.

Paternalism sounds better than nuisance-removal, doesn't it?

My intuition is that it would be healthier if we could figure out how to diminish technology shock (e.g., impact of new mind drugs) and -- Here I agree with DeBoer -- how to enable youths to stand on their own two feet, in place of dysfunctional schools.

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On pronatalism, a line from the intro to the interview with Tarra says “it is critical to make having larger families cool and an aspiration, rather than the practices of marginal religious sects.” Why not start by making the large families that actually exist today (mostly religious) sound cool, rather than further marginalize them as this rhetoric does? However, I am glad to see the focus on culture and not just government.

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"It occurs to me that Donald Trump fits with an honor culture, not with a dignity culture. "

This sort of fits, but there is also a "I don't give two fucks" attitude to Trump compared to other politicians.

Or more specifically, his opponents (especially republicans) don't hold their tongue because they have a sense of dignity, but mostly because they seem to be cowardly. People pick up that they are cosplaying respectable politicians and even a phony like Trump seems real by comparison.

"One of her points is that women need to realize how rapidly fertility declines starting in their late 20s."

I don't think this is something they are unaware of. More likely the main issue is they aren't ready to get married until their 30s. If you've dated non-religious women in their 20s they are just not ready to do what it takes to settle down. If you don't start seriously dating until your close to 30, and if serious dating takes a long time to get to know someone and sometimes its not the right person, then its inevitable you aren't going to start having kids to well into your 30s.

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RE: women in 20's: I suspect it is both. Young people today are remarkably ignorant about basic things like human biology due to the shockingly bad school system and teachers who actively tell untruths about reality (whether intentionally or due to ignorance on their own part). But at the same time we definitely prolong childhood way past a reasonable point, not even allowing young people to accept responsibility, much less requiring it. The idea that they might get married at 23 is as comprehensible to them as the idea that they will have a job at 7 is to a 6 year old.

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Did Helen Dale just violate my dignity?

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honor culture - I thought you were going to rail against liberal cancel culture or something like that. On that note, DeSantis recently visited my state and some friends said they were going to go protest him. What does that mean? To me it seems a bit like throwing insults.

Dignity culture - Our beliefs and expectations change over time. Profanity has become more acceptable. So has wearing more casual clothes in situations where people once typically dressed up. On the other hand, it is less socially acceptable to explicitly express contempt for or exclude people once looked down on such as minorities, disabled, "hippies," etc. Personally, I'm happy to make this trade.

"shit" (ironic you quoted that word) - It would seem that unions, protectionism, etc. contributed to poor quality products in the 70s and earlier but that would be one of many causes and I'm not sure I'd put it high on the list. I certainly wouldn't assume it was the main reason.

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No need for cash kiosks, just issue currency with a magnetic stripe - an anonymous debit card.

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