My answer to What is culture, society, and politics? https://www.quora.com/What-is-culture-society-and-politics/answer/Curt-Doolittle?share=61e5abe2
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-06 18:40:25 UTC
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1026538500739481601
ON THE MATTER OF AMERICAN POLICE
There are a number of serious problems with current legislation:
1) The production of stress and vulnerability:
The use of single officers in patrol cars, rather than pairs or more of officers of different ranks patrolling together. The consequence is more violence because officers are under greater stress, because they are under greater risk. If you travel the world the idea of a single police officer is …. ridiculous.
Partly because of this our officers are taught significantly more about restraining individuals quickly and harshly, and using weapons aggressively, whereas in the rest of the world they are taught to use numbers and time to de-escalate, and not manhandle the citizenry – which creates the resentment. Just the fact of having six to ten men around you when you’re afraid and angry tends to reduce resentment.
2) Escalation of Charges bot by Police and By Prosecutors (Lying)
Let’s be honest. Cops lie all the time. The reason being that they are not allowed to err. The reason cops must fear error is that we expect too much from human beings who are too often too vulnerable, operating under stress, and having to make snap judgements, using training that accelerates violence rather than de-escalates.
3) Training and Trust
The failure to train citizens of all ages to submit to arrest (big, big, big problem) and trust the system. The only remedy to this problem is to reduce the stress of the suspect such that he is somehow rewarded for complicity and somehow punished for resistance. This whole ‘throw people to the ground’ has gotten out of hand. So the problem is we no longer reward people for telling the truth, and no longer reward people for not resisting arrest. And we no longer take the deescalation time such that they will tell the truth and resist arrest, and we do so because officers are too vulnerable acting in small numbers.
4) The Production of Police vs Citizen Stress and Anger:
The law is also no longer limited to simple rules that reinforce natural law, but put citizens and officers in conditions of opposition, and misunderstanding. The truth is that legislative law is incomprehensible, where as reciprocity (natural law) is both intuitive and comprehensible – and is largely how our courts adjudicate offenses. Most law just empowers the officers and prosecutors to intervene, whereas most adjudication simply looks into reciprocity (rights).
5) The Production of Social and Political Stress and Anger:
Why? Our current laws cause conflcit because they do not allow us to act in our interests in defense of our lives, family, property, status, honor, reputation, and family roles – much less our businesses, and even less our norms traditions, laws, and institutions. This change began with the civil war and continues for the same reasons: voluntary disassociation and defense of social as well as personal investment is necessary if for no other reason that the combination of proximity and inequality damages both groups which rely on signaling for happiness , friendship, mating, family preservation, and economic and political order.
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-06 18:28:00 UTC
Why does tech have so many political problems?
by Tyler Cowen
These are originally derived from written notes, a basis for comments by somebody else, from a closed session on tech. I have added my own edits:
Most tech leaders aren’t especially personable. Instead, they’re quirky introverts. Or worse.
Most tech leaders don’t care much about the usual policy issues. They care about AI, self-driving cars, and space travel, none of which translate into positive political influence.
Tech leaders are idealistic and don’t intuitively understand the grubby workings of WDC.
People who could be “managers” in tech policy areas (for instance, they understand tech, are good at coalition building, etc.) will probably be pulled into a more lucrative area of tech. Therefore ther is an acute talent shortage in tech policy areas.
The Robespierrean social justice terror blowing through Silicon Valley occupies most of tech leaders’ “political” mental energy. It is hard to find time to focus on more concrete policy issues.
Of the policy issues that people in tech do care about—climate, gay/trans rights, abortion, Trump—they’re misaligned with Republican Party, to say the least. This same Republican party currently rules.
While accusations of deliberate bias against Republicans are overstated, the tech rank-and-file is quite anti-Republican, and increasingly so. This limits the political degrees of freedom of tech leaders. (See the responses to Elon Musk’s Republican donation.)
Several of the big tech companies are de facto monopolies or semi-monopolies. They must spend a lot of their political capital denying this or otherwise minimizing its import.
The media increasingly hates tech. (In part because tech is such a threat, in part because of a deeper C.P. Snow-style cultural mismatch.)
Not only does tech hate Trump… but Trump hates tech.
By nature, tech leaders are disagreeable iconoclasts (with individualistic and believe it or not sometimes megalomaniacal tendencies). That makes them bad at uniting as a coalition.
Major tech companies have meaningful presences in just a few states, which undermines their political influence. Of states where they have a presence — CA, WA, MA, NY — Democrats usually take them for granted, Republicans write them off. Might Austin, TX someday help here?
US tech companies are increasingly unpopular among governments around the world. For instance, Facebook/WhatsApp struggles in India. Or Google and the EU. Or Visa and Russia. This distracts the companies from focusing on US and that makes them more isolated.
The issues that are challenging for tech companies aren’t arcane questions directly in and of the tech industry (such as copyright mechanics for the music industry or procurement rules for defense). They’re broader and they also encounter very large coalitions coming from other directions: immigration laws, free speech issues on platforms, data privacy questions, and worker classification on marketplaces.
Blockchain may well make the world “crazier” in the next five years. So tech will be seen as driving even more disruption.
The industry is so successful that it’s not very popular among the rest of U.S. companies and it lacks allies. (90%+ of S&P 500 market cap appreciation this year has been driven by tech.) Many other parts of corporate America see tech as a major threat.
Maybe it is hard to find prominent examples of the great good that big tech is doing. Instagram TV. iPhone X. Amazon Echo Dot. Microsoft Surface Pro. Are you impressed? Are these companies golden geese or have they simply appropriated all the gold?
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-05 16:09:00 UTC
The Portland Police Bureau has approximately 1,000 full-time officers, up to 100 reserves, 50 cadets, and 300 civilian positions.
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-04 23:47:07 UTC
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1025890907659423744
The police just know that white folk don’t create trouble and violence, only antifa, blm, and the radical left do. Antifa always starts the violence. Always. That’s what they do.
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-04 23:29:48 UTC
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1025886553065881600
Reply addressees: @lorenajw_x
Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1025885046140428288
IN REPLY TO:
@lorenajw_x
Showing up to protest Nazis is important. Showing up to support your community is even more important. Find the marginalized folks running for office and support them. Stand up to white people being racist assholes in public. Resist gentrification (that’s you, Portland).
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1025885046140428288
FEMININE MONOPOLIES: French Communism, French Democratic Socialism, French authoritarian Socialism: The three jewish-catholic universalist political strategies. -vs- Communism, Libertinism, Neo-Conservatism: the three jewish universalist political strategies. – vs – MASCULINE MARKETS: National Socialism, Classical Liberalism, Aristocratic Nomocracy. The three white nationalist political strategies.
THE NYT IS A SMALL ENOUGH SYMBOL WITH LARGE ENOUGH IMPACT
Revolution Comes.
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-04 18:17:53 UTC
Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1025808053373939712
Curt Doolittle updated his status.
THE NYT IS A SMALL ENOUGH SYMBOL WITH LARGE ENOUGH IMPACT
Revolution Comes.
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-04 18:17:44 UTC
Curt Doolittle updated his status.
FEMININE MONOPOLIES:
French Communism, French Democratic Socialism, French authoritarian Socialism: The three jewish-catholic universalist political strategies.
-vs-
Communism, Libertinism, Neo-Conservatism: the three jewish universalist political strategies.
– vs –
MASCULINE MARKETS:
National Socialism, Classical Liberalism, Aristocratic Nomocracy. The three white nationalist political strategies.
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-04 17:17:56 UTC
Curt Doolittle updated his status.
—:People are willing to listen to things outside their Overton window if they perceive that it will give them what they want politically (while old tactics/assumptions don’t cut the mustard). Everyday the left is doing half our job for us, e.g. Sarah Jeong, by waking our people up to the fact that what they thought would work (being nice/tolerant) will not work.”—John Mark
Source date (UTC): 2018-08-04 16:57:32 UTC