Tyre Nichols’ brutal killing highlights how woke oppressor-oppressed narratives determine the tragedy of Nichols' death not by the skin color of the victim, but by the skin color of the killers.
Very good analysis. I did find McWhorter's lack of definition for the word "religion" the weak point of his otherwise superbly written book. How is he a linguist and a proud atheist, but can't define what religion is?
Another thing about tribalism and religious beliefs is that the more detached from logical reasoning the belief is, the more the believer "proves" themselves. For example, a Christian that believes that the Earth is 6000 years old "proves" that the believer is a very dedicated Christian, compared to a Christian that believes in evolution. Someone who believes every interaction is filled with white supremacy is considered more of a "true believer" and thus affirms their status in the tribe. The more irrational the belief, the more status is given to them.
And as you've mentioned before, the whole "Believe All Women" edict fell apart when Tara Reade accused Joe Biden of sexual assault. People have an instinctive urge to set double standards depending on if someone is part of their ingroup or their outgroup.
This all makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Someone who chose "rationality" or "logic" over the beliefs of the tribe would have been a danger to the stability of the tribe. So humans evolved to prioritize tribal beliefs over objectivity as a result. Being loyal to a tribe and its beliefs is more important than being "right".
Good point. I think it’s notable how organized this religion has become. There are a lot of faith-based beliefs in the US political spectrum that contradict the evidence. But what makes these sets of beliefs unique is how highly organized they’ve become in universities and media corporations. They’ve transitioned from being faith-based beliefs to organized tribes with shared faith-based beliefs and that's making the believers even more hardened.
Just saw this timely David French essay about partisanship, especially as it relates to Tyre Nichols and policing. French is an interesting case: he was a never-Trump Republican that left the Republican Party because he put values over tribalism. And he paid the price: many on the right mock French and his ideas.
Yeah, I think conservatives are very prone to tribalism as well. I’m pretty much repulsed by the whole American political spectrum at the moment so I don’t mind criticizing conservatives too. Conservatives are just as tribalistic as any group of humans, but somehow the left seems more successful at organizing their tribe and more successful at shaming people into silence or forced speech. Conservatives seem like they’re able to do this to their own members. But woke people seem effectively able to do this to anyone, whether they’re a member of their tribe or not.
I don’t consider myself a Dem or Rep, but, as Richard Hanania calls himself, a right-wing rationalist. I believe humans need to shake off the tribal urge in order to survive and prosper as a society. I may oppose wokeness but I see that the contemporary Right also has its own major pitfalls.
Your bio says that you’re a machine learning researcher. Has that influenced how you think about politics?
Good question. I could write an entire post on how my machine learning background has influenced the way I see politics. Definitely some of the rationality aspects you’d find over at lesswrong.com. Also, in machine learning you always separate your policy from your objective. But in politics most people combine the two. When someone says they’re leftwing, the objective function they want to optimize is usually more equal distribution of GDP. For rightwing it’s usually to maximize overall GDP. Then they combine their policies and their objective function into one definition, whether they’re leftwing or rightwing. I think we’d be better off with people articulating their positions with both their policy space and their objective function.
Another way that it’s influenced my view of our culture is that I see us going through a major industrial revolution, and a lot of is it being driven by AI. The industrial revolution is going to be as beneficial and as traumatic as the nineteenth century Industrial Revolution. I see a lot of people with strong technical backgrounds writing about technology. And I see a lot of non-technical people writing about the cultural impacts of technology. But I don’t see many people with technical backgrounds writing about the cultural impacts of technology. Hopefully I can fill that gap.
On another note: Based on what I’ve written so far, you’d probably be surprised to learn that I have a strong background in Critical Theory and theology. I think that studying the religious nature of wokeism is actually pretty important. Not to judge it or criticize it as McWhorter did, but because I see it as the religion of the ruling class, meaning that we’re becoming increasingly theocratic society, and whether you’re happy about that or not, it’s pretty important to talk about.
You'd be surprised to know that I also have a strong background in critical theory and theology. I was raised in an Evangelical household and went to a very woke college, where I read a lot of Foucault and Butler et al. I can see the parallels between Evangelicalism and Wokeness quite well.
And I am fascinated to see someone with a STEM background analyzing politics from a logical standpoint. We have too many liberal arts college political commentators and not enough people like you. I think AI will change the whole political game.
The global woke or toxic savior post modern cultural marxists are a single global tribe or Ummah. They constantly interjectionally aid each other, 99% of the time knowing almost nothing about the issue they are advocating for.
Global conservatives are not united, know little about each other, and fight with or criticize each other a lot.
This is one reason the woke have become so globally dominant so quickly.
Do you think part of what happened is that more of the public is aware that the the number of non latino African Americans murdered doubled between 2014 and 2021 to about 14 1/2 thousand? And there was also a massive increase in African Americans raped and violently assaulted between 2014 and 2021?
FYI, the CDC has just released 2021 homicide data and they have a lot of granular data on homicide that was not previously available.
Thanks for the CDC link, I’ll have to take a look at that.
Yeah, in the context of a crime wave, people get real uneasy about defunding the police. The spike in crime has really changed the optics around that movement for most Americans. But I think that a lot of progressives are not as aware of the rise in crime. They disproportionately live in wealthy areas and just aren’t as exposed to crime and left-wing news sources are downplaying it.
Do you think that if crime was at the same level it was at three years ago that protests would have been larger?
I think the African American community would have been more vocal and public in opposing the abolition and defund movements.
Do you think that would have made a difference to the non African ancestry activists, protestors and advocates for abolition, defund, and other associated movements?
I can’t find it now but I saw this picture of white protesters yelling at black cops. It boggles my mind when I see white people yelling at black people that “Black Lives Matter!” Like what do you think you’re accomplishing? Rather than have committees and town councils figure this stuff out since they’re very wary of any sort of protest I’d rather see police reform get decided through local referendums. Half the people protesting aren’t even from the local area anyway. They’re all out of towners with no skin in the game
Very good analysis. I did find McWhorter's lack of definition for the word "religion" the weak point of his otherwise superbly written book. How is he a linguist and a proud atheist, but can't define what religion is?
Another thing about tribalism and religious beliefs is that the more detached from logical reasoning the belief is, the more the believer "proves" themselves. For example, a Christian that believes that the Earth is 6000 years old "proves" that the believer is a very dedicated Christian, compared to a Christian that believes in evolution. Someone who believes every interaction is filled with white supremacy is considered more of a "true believer" and thus affirms their status in the tribe. The more irrational the belief, the more status is given to them.
And as you've mentioned before, the whole "Believe All Women" edict fell apart when Tara Reade accused Joe Biden of sexual assault. People have an instinctive urge to set double standards depending on if someone is part of their ingroup or their outgroup.
This all makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Someone who chose "rationality" or "logic" over the beliefs of the tribe would have been a danger to the stability of the tribe. So humans evolved to prioritize tribal beliefs over objectivity as a result. Being loyal to a tribe and its beliefs is more important than being "right".
Good point. I think it’s notable how organized this religion has become. There are a lot of faith-based beliefs in the US political spectrum that contradict the evidence. But what makes these sets of beliefs unique is how highly organized they’ve become in universities and media corporations. They’ve transitioned from being faith-based beliefs to organized tribes with shared faith-based beliefs and that's making the believers even more hardened.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/opinion/memphis-police-academia-partisanship.html
Just saw this timely David French essay about partisanship, especially as it relates to Tyre Nichols and policing. French is an interesting case: he was a never-Trump Republican that left the Republican Party because he put values over tribalism. And he paid the price: many on the right mock French and his ideas.
Thanks for that link. I remember hearing about how badly he got harassed: https://www.npr.org/2016/10/26/499440089/harassed-on-twitter-people-need-to-know-the-reality-of-what-its-like-out-there. Something about a picture of his daughter in a gas chamber.
Yeah, I think conservatives are very prone to tribalism as well. I’m pretty much repulsed by the whole American political spectrum at the moment so I don’t mind criticizing conservatives too. Conservatives are just as tribalistic as any group of humans, but somehow the left seems more successful at organizing their tribe and more successful at shaming people into silence or forced speech. Conservatives seem like they’re able to do this to their own members. But woke people seem effectively able to do this to anyone, whether they’re a member of their tribe or not.
I don’t consider myself a Dem or Rep, but, as Richard Hanania calls himself, a right-wing rationalist. I believe humans need to shake off the tribal urge in order to survive and prosper as a society. I may oppose wokeness but I see that the contemporary Right also has its own major pitfalls.
Your bio says that you’re a machine learning researcher. Has that influenced how you think about politics?
Good question. I could write an entire post on how my machine learning background has influenced the way I see politics. Definitely some of the rationality aspects you’d find over at lesswrong.com. Also, in machine learning you always separate your policy from your objective. But in politics most people combine the two. When someone says they’re leftwing, the objective function they want to optimize is usually more equal distribution of GDP. For rightwing it’s usually to maximize overall GDP. Then they combine their policies and their objective function into one definition, whether they’re leftwing or rightwing. I think we’d be better off with people articulating their positions with both their policy space and their objective function.
Another way that it’s influenced my view of our culture is that I see us going through a major industrial revolution, and a lot of is it being driven by AI. The industrial revolution is going to be as beneficial and as traumatic as the nineteenth century Industrial Revolution. I see a lot of people with strong technical backgrounds writing about technology. And I see a lot of non-technical people writing about the cultural impacts of technology. But I don’t see many people with technical backgrounds writing about the cultural impacts of technology. Hopefully I can fill that gap.
On another note: Based on what I’ve written so far, you’d probably be surprised to learn that I have a strong background in Critical Theory and theology. I think that studying the religious nature of wokeism is actually pretty important. Not to judge it or criticize it as McWhorter did, but because I see it as the religion of the ruling class, meaning that we’re becoming increasingly theocratic society, and whether you’re happy about that or not, it’s pretty important to talk about.
You'd be surprised to know that I also have a strong background in critical theory and theology. I was raised in an Evangelical household and went to a very woke college, where I read a lot of Foucault and Butler et al. I can see the parallels between Evangelicalism and Wokeness quite well.
And I am fascinated to see someone with a STEM background analyzing politics from a logical standpoint. We have too many liberal arts college political commentators and not enough people like you. I think AI will change the whole political game.
The global woke or toxic savior post modern cultural marxists are a single global tribe or Ummah. They constantly interjectionally aid each other, 99% of the time knowing almost nothing about the issue they are advocating for.
Global conservatives are not united, know little about each other, and fight with or criticize each other a lot.
This is one reason the woke have become so globally dominant so quickly.
Would you consider French to be conservative?
Do you think part of what happened is that more of the public is aware that the the number of non latino African Americans murdered doubled between 2014 and 2021 to about 14 1/2 thousand? And there was also a massive increase in African Americans raped and violently assaulted between 2014 and 2021?
FYI, the CDC has just released 2021 homicide data and they have a lot of granular data on homicide that was not previously available.
https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D158;jsessionid=6EA5D88BC990E748D4CF29A78674
Thanks for the CDC link, I’ll have to take a look at that.
Yeah, in the context of a crime wave, people get real uneasy about defunding the police. The spike in crime has really changed the optics around that movement for most Americans. But I think that a lot of progressives are not as aware of the rise in crime. They disproportionately live in wealthy areas and just aren’t as exposed to crime and left-wing news sources are downplaying it.
Do you think that if crime was at the same level it was at three years ago that protests would have been larger?
I think the African American community would have been more vocal and public in opposing the abolition and defund movements.
Do you think that would have made a difference to the non African ancestry activists, protestors and advocates for abolition, defund, and other associated movements?
I can’t find it now but I saw this picture of white protesters yelling at black cops. It boggles my mind when I see white people yelling at black people that “Black Lives Matter!” Like what do you think you’re accomplishing? Rather than have committees and town councils figure this stuff out since they’re very wary of any sort of protest I’d rather see police reform get decided through local referendums. Half the people protesting aren’t even from the local area anyway. They’re all out of towners with no skin in the game
Mr. Mystal is a race baiting grifter who soils the pages of The Nation.