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Notes -
So I also noticed how the Slate article is actually from 2021, and wanted to thank you for posting it here, I'd probably never hear of it otherwise, and it's profoundly whitepilling to me.
As I've said before the thing that bothers me the most about SocJus is not the collective judgement, not the censoriousness, or the way it makes it into every aspect of our lives, but how, at least for some people, it ends up reframing things, experiences, and people that they loved or enjoyed as something evil, harmful, or dangerous. Making you love Big Brother, and rejecting all other loyalties, grand or trivial. Judging by their politics, Alexis and Charles are exactly the kind of people I'd be extremely on guard against if I ever met them IRL, but that doesn't mean they deserve to have their brains messed with in this way.
This story involves a tragedy, but it's very uplifting to hear about someone who was tempted, but ultimately found her courage and decided to fight for the memory of the man she was with. Earlier I quipped that it's this story that would make a great thriller, and I unironically believe Alexis deserves to have a movie made about her.
I share that general opinion for some things. There are lines I won’t cross as far as morality (in general going against the idea of equality under the law, advocating violent overthrow of the government, or genocide) but I don’t think it healthy to let political causes overrun your life to that degree. In fact, I tend to consider excessive obsession about any single subject to be ultimately unhealthy and probably a sign of other problems. Enjoying a piece of art even one you see as problematic for whatever reason, is perfectly fine. Seeing everything through the lens of ideology or religion cuts you off from experiences that make life enjoyable and makes you much more narrow as a human being.
More to the culture war point, I think such ideological purity makes understanding and getting along with other people who disagree that much harder. If you’re dropping everything that smacks of “outgroup ideology”, you probably don’t have many relationships with people who hold those ideologies. How do you share a society with people you don’t know, don’t understand and refuse to talk to? How do you solve problems?
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