Comment by ezdiy on On memetic weapons · 2018-09-14T02:55:16.271Z · LW · GW

A similiar polemic, from leftwards perspective can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/30/intersectional-feminism-jargon

The core tenets as I interpret it:

• Intersectional activism was originally legitimate critique of the materialist left for not being intersectional enough. In this case black feminism being sidelined by mainstream feminism (presumably through internalized racist biases), but there are multiple instances than just this. This critique was largely constructive - for left to function, it is crucial for all allies to be well aligned.
• Somehow, this got trivialized over time into a "memetic weapon" of South Park style PC populism when intersectionalists started pointing their ire at the centrist and even right mainstream - who are by their own nature navel gazing their own privilege, and generally have no idea what's going on. From center perspective, left is all those poorer people and that's that. Hence the confusion of average centrist when suddenly confronted about microagressions and such - it is way too nuanced and beyond resolution of their perception of privilege.
• The cooler heads on the left are both mesmerized and terrified by this new form of populism. Finally we have "soft power" over our political opponents, but at the same time, we realize how intellectually (and politically) dishonest all this is. But no matter how clever the newspeak is, it will be always ridiculed in safe spaces when nobody is listening - it can be startup pitching bullshit buzzwords, or mass hysteria at a campus or 4chan harping about immigrants, but ultimately it will be always uncovered for what it is from rational perspective.

What would a crystal ball say how this ends? The extremes will continue to feed off from their respective populist memes. The worst outcome is french revolution, best outcome it grows to such heights it triggers sudden outbreak of common sense moment. For the latter, the assumption is that this works like a "bubble" and we're in hockeystick phase, the market for ideas eventually corrects, breaking the self-reinforcing feedback loop. Just pray we stay solvent until then.