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non_radical_centrist  8mo ago (astralcodexten.com)   2898 thread views

How Should We Think About Race And "Lived Experience"?

astralcodexten.com

I'm generally a fan of "blurry" definitions where something can qualify as X if it fulfills a few of many criteria. I think trying to create hard rules around blurry areas like race and culture is fool's errand, and Scott does a great job laying out how overly strict definitions can go wrong.

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When there are legal benefits, it probably is best for a strict definition. It's too open to corruption otherwise. But we can separate that from the social definition. Maybe someone doesn't qualify as a legal emo and get benefits if they don't attend a minimum of five concerts a year, but we can still let them in the social group if they fulfill all the other standards. Ideally, so would concepts like race.

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