Yes. Zoom meetings are held to establish leftist presuppositions and leftist slogans and semantics. Non-leftists are intimated; they are excluded or remain silent. Thus the intimation and Zoom strategy manufactures a false consensus. A big lie.
The irony is that this intimidation is carried out by some of the least intimidating people on earth. There’s a feedback loop here that someone just needs to have the balls to break. Highly neurotic, oversensitive employees are a huge liability to organizations. Striver executives with no conviction recruit DEI sociopaths to cover their asses against these employees. The DEI team then creates mandatory practices that only serve to increase the anxiety around race/sex/gender in the workplace, thus justifying the need for even greater resources. Meanwhile 90% of rank and file employees (even many of those with pronouns in their email signature) know in their heart that the entire thing is bullshit. The whole thing is bound to crumble sooner or later as companies can’t just keep pissing money away indefinitely. It’s just a matter of when.
I see what point you're driving at but the people carrying it out are frankly higher-aggression than gentle souls like Caplan. A man with his beliefs and their aggression would respond with an aphorism more like "Oh you're an ugly woman with purple hair? GTFO." Caplan is such a kind fellow that he's not even asserting as evident that they are bullies, merely that despite his best efforts to be charitable he's beginning to think they might be bullies. He might be the least intimidating person in this conversation.
As a naturally pugnacious fellow myself and no personal fan of Caplan's mild approach, I think the word you want is "symbiotic" -- it takes all kinds to create a civilization. The history of western europe is of people becoming nicer and more cooperative. If everyone were like me and you we'd still be living in the bronze age. Honestly that would probably be better, so I've lost track of what point I was making here. Carry on.
Out of all the recurring thoughts I keep to myself, “I can’t help but feel like you’re trying to intimidate me into pretending to agree with you” is my favorite.
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I think your keeping it to yourself is the point of the bullying. Green Grocer and all that.
Maybe I'm becoming a grumpy old man but I'm increasingly willing to say "yeah, I don't agree with that."
OTOH, it's not worth the energy to disagree, not given the expected outcome. I'll just smile and listen quietly, then get back to doing something productive.
"I can't believe you would try to talk about anything that doesn't elevate well-off straight men like me! This is clearly the most pressing issue in the world today!!"
My big bugaboo is "service learning". What is it exactly you are learning under conscription and how can that lesson be lost on anyone with 1/2 a brain?
Yes. Zoom meetings are held to establish leftist presuppositions and leftist slogans and semantics. Non-leftists are intimated; they are excluded or remain silent. Thus the intimation and Zoom strategy manufactures a false consensus. A big lie.
You can always push back using their own rhetoric. Remind them that it's a safe space where everyone's equal and opinions should be free from censure.
The irony is that this intimidation is carried out by some of the least intimidating people on earth. There’s a feedback loop here that someone just needs to have the balls to break. Highly neurotic, oversensitive employees are a huge liability to organizations. Striver executives with no conviction recruit DEI sociopaths to cover their asses against these employees. The DEI team then creates mandatory practices that only serve to increase the anxiety around race/sex/gender in the workplace, thus justifying the need for even greater resources. Meanwhile 90% of rank and file employees (even many of those with pronouns in their email signature) know in their heart that the entire thing is bullshit. The whole thing is bound to crumble sooner or later as companies can’t just keep pissing money away indefinitely. It’s just a matter of when.
I see what point you're driving at but the people carrying it out are frankly higher-aggression than gentle souls like Caplan. A man with his beliefs and their aggression would respond with an aphorism more like "Oh you're an ugly woman with purple hair? GTFO." Caplan is such a kind fellow that he's not even asserting as evident that they are bullies, merely that despite his best efforts to be charitable he's beginning to think they might be bullies. He might be the least intimidating person in this conversation.
Caplan's first instinct is to run away from conflict and create a beautiful bubble.
It's parasitic on those that fight because if nobody fought there wouldn't be any bubbles left to escape to.
As a naturally pugnacious fellow myself and no personal fan of Caplan's mild approach, I think the word you want is "symbiotic" -- it takes all kinds to create a civilization. The history of western europe is of people becoming nicer and more cooperative. If everyone were like me and you we'd still be living in the bronze age. Honestly that would probably be better, so I've lost track of what point I was making here. Carry on.
When you’re outnumbered and outgunned - as Caplan probably usually is - fighting is a waste at best.
Richard Hanania would say the weapon is "women's tears" rather than aggression.
We're social animals - with sufficient social pressure (often not much) we more than pretend; we actually agree.
These lotr references are getting out of hand 😉
Out of all the recurring thoughts I keep to myself, “I can’t help but feel like you’re trying to intimidate me into pretending to agree with you” is my favorite.
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I think your keeping it to yourself is the point of the bullying. Green Grocer and all that.
I can’t help but feel like you will go to jail.
Love this Brian.
K-12 schools announce THEY’RE “teaching philosophy.”
Maybe I'm becoming a grumpy old man but I'm increasingly willing to say "yeah, I don't agree with that."
OTOH, it's not worth the energy to disagree, not given the expected outcome. I'll just smile and listen quietly, then get back to doing something productive.
ICHBFLYTTIMIPTAWY
Not nearly as easy as TANSTAAFL to remember, but "ich-b-flyt-timip-tawy" is probably worth the extra effort.
Thanks.
"I can't believe you would try to talk about anything that doesn't elevate well-off straight men like me! This is clearly the most pressing issue in the world today!!"
-snowflake
Sounds like you're trying to mock him into agreeing with you. That probably won't work, but a solid performance on your part regardless.
You can try to elevate other people while also being willing to bet. People unwilling to bet tend to be BSers.
My big bugaboo is "service learning". What is it exactly you are learning under conscription and how can that lesson be lost on anyone with 1/2 a brain?