eban's recent activity
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Comment on What could be Microsoft's larger game plan or agenda with CoPilot? in ~tech
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Comment on Does anyone here enjoy poetry? If yes, what are your gateway drug poems and what are your hidden gems? in ~books
eban LinkMy favorite poem that I share with everyone was one that I was introduced to in high school English class: O Me! O Life! By Walt Whitman. I feel like it was a good gateway poem, so to speak,...My favorite poem that I share with everyone was one that I was introduced to in high school English class: O Me! O Life! By Walt Whitman. I feel like it was a good gateway poem, so to speak, because it presents a relatively simple viewpoint. When confronted with the question many of us ponder at some point (how can I find life valuable in an uncertain and harsh would?) Whitman also spells out an answer that anyone can unpack. As the historian behind one of my favorite podcasts says: throughout history, when humans find their lives tough they tend to write poetry. O Me! O Life! introduced me to that way of sharing a struggle through poetry.
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Comment on Stop worrying about upper-class suburbanites in ~society
eban LinkThe article makes a pretty clear case that the Democratic Party is failing many Americans by prioritizing the interests of suburbanites but I would have liked to hear a bit more discussion about...The article makes a pretty clear case that the Democratic Party is failing many Americans by prioritizing the interests of suburbanites but I would have liked to hear a bit more discussion about the demographic constraints on that decision. Are there enough votes to support a more progressive Democratic Party or is their emollient behavior a necessary evil to gain power? (If there wasn’t another way to get Trump out of office, I’m more likely to be forgiving, in this instance.)
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Comment on „Hating Men is a freeing form of hostility” in ~life
eban Link ParentFrance, like any nation is tolerant until it isn't. Only recently I remember reading that France was considering a ban on hair/face coverings with a very anti-Muslim undertone. Yes, women in...France, like any nation is tolerant until it isn't. Only recently I remember reading that France was considering a ban on hair/face coverings with a very anti-Muslim undertone. Yes, women in France or elsewhere in the developed world are, by most measures, less oppressed than women have been for centuries and less oppressed than women in other nations like Saudi Arabia. But that does not mitigate the fundamental truth that they are disadvantaged in a masculinity-favoring culture. I think it's a dangerous game for society to make decisions about what avenues for criticism and which outlets for frustration are justifiable. In the past such judgements have led to the fire hosing of civil rights activists and censorship of media. In this case, the perceived lesser gravity of female oppression reminds me of arguments over "smaller" civil rights issues like voter ID laws and school bussing in that reasonable arguments for or against the necessity of each can be made but, at the end of the day, one only one outcome increases equity in the world. There is an argument to be made that hating men is taking it too far, but that argument should be inspected with a healthy dose of suspicion to ensure it doesn't mask worse motives.
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Comment on „Hating Men is a freeing form of hostility” in ~life
eban Link ParentIn your reference to Kant I assume you're talking about his idea of the categorical imperative, i.e. that behavior is moral only if similar behavior by everyone would lead to a better world. In...In your reference to Kant I assume you're talking about his idea of the categorical imperative, i.e. that behavior is moral only if similar behavior by everyone would lead to a better world. In this case, I believe her views hold up under such scrutiny. If all women (and all men) shared her modern feminist views, the world would likely be a better place.
However, when applied specifically to misandry, it gets a little murkier due to the fact that Harmange's proclaimed hatred for men is both an opinion and an action. As an opinion, if everyone held such an opinion, discrimination would probably end up reversed, and men oppressed. However as an action, the same isn't true. By publishing her essay, doing interviews for the news, etc. she is actively working to deconstruct male-dominant power structures. By taking the argument that men as a group propagate patriarchy to its logical conclusion that men are bad and deserving of hate, she calls attention to the muted form of that conclusion that does actually exist in society: that men, often unknowingly or unintentionally, benefit from a societal structure that disadvantages women. That discourse is a powerful force for positive change.
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Comment on „Hating Men is a freeing form of hostility” in ~life
eban LinkI also think this post is an excellent basis for discussion. Thank you for posting it. As I'm writing this comment, both the post's author and the only other comment have taken a pretty negative...I also think this post is an excellent basis for discussion. Thank you for posting it. As I'm writing this comment, both the post's author and the only other comment have taken a pretty negative stance on Harmange and her views, so I would like to attempt to contextualize her viewpoint and interview. I have not read her essay, only this interview.
It's easy to misunderstand the harsh rhetoric she uses, especially when taken out of its home context of critical feminist theory. She's taking a position that is informed by both a lifetime of experience as a woman and an awareness of modern conceptions of power. In particular, she's performing a hate for men much more analogous to the hate slaves have for their masters or Jews have for Nazis than to the hatred many democrats have for Donald Trump. In particular, the long history of mistreatment of women in society forms the basis for her view. Democrats are not continually abused by the ruling class, but Jews in Nazi Germany were. Understanding her representation of herself as a woman and a member of an oppressed group in society is key to understanding her stated hatred.
Now it's easier to comprehend her dual claim that she hates men, but that she doesn't want to live in a matriarchy where all women hate men. It's totally reasonable that she would not want her own gender to impose on another the same thing they've experienced for decades. And it's also reasonable that she hates patriarchal power structures in society. However, patriarchal power structures are almost exclusively propagated by men, and consequently men deserve her hatred for being a driving force behind oppression.
Her positions that good men should sit on the sideline and let women advocate for themselves is also reasonable in this context; imagine if white people were leaders of the civil rights movement in the US rather than MLK or Malcolm X. Instead, well meaning members of a privileged class should do their best to be receptive toward concerns raised by an underprivileged one.
So then the question arises: when is it no longer okay for a woman to hate men? The answer is obvious based on the premise that women are currently being oppressed: it's no longer okay at the point where women are no longer oppressed by men.
My positionality: I consider myself a man.
I'll gladly keep discussing this topic if you want to disagree with me, and hopefully something positive will come of it.
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Comment on What subjects related to humanities you would like to be discussed on Tildes? in ~humanities
It's kinda wild to lead with "Occam's razor" as if you're reasoning from a minimal foundation here. I think a better application of the principle would be to take the following as true:
We can pretty easily conclude that Microsoft wants to maintain its early-mover advantage here, even at some short term compute cost to itself. Whether the final value-add of generative AI eventually takes the form of privacy invasion like you're concerned about, RPA as mentioned up thread, or on-device AI eliminating most of the cost remains to be seen.