Comments on: Against Bravery Debates

By: peterdjones

peterdjones — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 08:44:27 +0000

I’ve noticed that…

By: peterdjones

peterdjones — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 08:33:56 +0000

The only relevance a claim of underdoghood could have at the object level is as an excuse for not being able to provide facts to support one’s case.

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By: peterdjones

peterdjones — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 07:52:07 +0000

Surely Alice and Bob would describethe situation more accurately as “I diverge from the mainstream” rather than “they are biased”. Seeing bias everywhere seems to be an effect of a typical mind fallacy.

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By: Joe from London

Joe from London — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 17:59:41 +0000

I have more sympathy for your views than for the extreme sort of feminism. That said, I think it would require X* to be willing to stand up and broadcast militant feminism in certain careers, more so than it does for you to post on Less Wrong. It garners you support from most LWers, whereas militant feminists would experience genuine problems in a lot of industries. (I will refrain from comment on how deserved those problems would be)

To put it another way, James Watson had X for saying what he did about blacks, while neo-Nazis who rant about how to kill more Jews and blacks will not require the same quality.

(X: I don’t like the word ‘bravery’, because it’s used in a lot of different senses and seems to have different meanings, ranging from selflessness to the ability to face your irrational fears. In this context I refer to the willingness to push your beliefs despite the fact that it will cause you to suffer career setbacks. I label this X rather than ‘bravery’.)

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By: Guerrilla Monkey – Bookmarks

Guerrilla Monkey – Bookmarks — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:22:54 +0000

[…] An editorial against ‘Bravery’ Debates […]

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By: Eliezer Yudkowsky

Eliezer Yudkowsky — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:49:31 +0000

I have never been the target of a lawsuit or of police repression. I am not aware of any cases in which authorities, legal or otherwise, have colluded to suppress myself or my writings. There’s lots of people who hate me, and some Internet trolls who follow me around saying nasty things, but that’s not the same as being persecuted the way that whistleblowers are persecuted. I’ve never been fired from my job on account of my beliefs (quite the opposite).

I’m not saying that nothing which has happened to me has made me claim bravery, I’m saying that nothing which has happened to me so far has required bravery. You do not get to claim bravery on First World Problems, and somebody disagreeing with you on the Internet, or society failing to fall all over itself to unanimously agree with you, is a First World Problem.

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By: Reconstruction | Dread Lord von Kalifornen

Reconstruction | Dread Lord von Kalifornen — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:31:15 +0000

[…] them. What does it matter to the masses what is being promised? They promises only a rain of shrapnel from the glorious battles of liberation in the […]

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By: All Debates Are Bravery Debates | Slate Star Codex

All Debates Are Bravery Debates | Slate Star Codex — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 04:52:07 +0000

[…] All Debates Are Bravery Debates « Random Ramblings of Rude Reality on Against Bravery Debates […]

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By: All Debates Are Bravery Debates « Random Ramblings of Rude Reality

All Debates Are Bravery Debates « Random Ramblings of Rude Reality — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 04:43:51 +0000

[…] a recent essay, Against Bravery Debates, I think I underestimated an important reason why some debates have to be bravery […]

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By: Taj

Taj — Thu, 30 May 2013 14:16:33 +0000

A late quibble: I found the start of this post a little disorienting because the two notional Reddit quotes are both unmistakably sarcastic. It took me some time to establish that the main thrust of the piece was against the good-faith claim that one’s position is “brave”, not the mockery of that claim.

I’m just pointing this out because otherwise this post is a really excellent reference point for what seems like an important phenomenon.

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