The gentle mockery of friends is primarily about group cohesion. So is the vicious mockery of a public enemy.

Those who mock together flock together.
This is not a justification of mockery, just a first stab at explanation.

Mockery seems to be an honor-culture bonding ritual.
Or maybe better, it is a human group bonding ritual that's more compatible with honor culture than dignity culture.

Those who deeply internalize liberal individualism, tend to develop a distaste for mockery.
Mockery is a group sport. When you gang up on an individual by mocking them, their gang generally comes to their defense.

Those who buy into legal individualism have exchanged the protection of their groups for the protection of the state.
The state is not generally in the business of coming to the aid of those who are being mocked. So individualists, who have exchanged the burdens of honor culture for the freedoms of liberalism, develop a moral distaste for mockery (even as they develop a thicker skin).

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with James Tiberius Stone

James Tiberius Stone Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Evolving_Ego

4 Dec 20
Most equivocations aren't planned. They result from semantic drift when people are defending two different generalizations (which often constitute the premises of a categorical syllogism).

E.g., Democrats are socialists, socialism is bad, therefore Democrats are bad.
In order to defend "Democrats are socialists", your criteria for "socialism" tend to broaden, in order to ensnare more Democrats.
In defending "Socialism is bad", you tighten your definition and cherry-pick the very worst examples of socialism.
Read 6 tweets
18 Jul 20
Biased Thinking (1/2)

If you like a theory, you ask: "Can I believe this, given the evidence?"

If you don't like a theory, you ask: "Must I believe this, given the evidence?"
Biased Thinking (2/2)

If it's your out-group, you ask: "Can I stigmatize the whole group based on a few bad apples."

If it's your in-group, you ask: "Must the whole group be stigmatized because of these few bad apples?"
(3/2) This leads the accused in-group to call for a higher-rez analysis of the in-group ("more nuance, please!"), while the accusing out-group moves toward a lower-rez analysis ("There's no essential difference! It's all *vaguely* systemically connected!").
Read 9 tweets
22 Sep 19
Dinesh is one of the worst actors in modern politics. He fans the flames of the very polarization that is tearing us apart.

I'm not a fan of cancel culture, but I can't help wondering if the world would be a better place if we were to #CancelThePolarizers
At the very least, we should stop rewarding them with our attention (which, irony of ironies, I am doing right now).
And it's not just the polarizers on the Right. The polarizers on the Left are tearing us apart, too.
Read 4 tweets
17 Jul 19
(THREAD) Three stages of ideological growth. The last stage can be fatal.

/1
The journey starts when you find an ideology that helps you interpret your experience and give meaning to your life. Often this is provided for you by parents and the communities of which they are a part. Sometimes you discover a compelling ideology later in life.

/2
You will spend a honeymoon period learning the language, mental models, and narratives of the ideology, marveling at how the ideology has an answer for everything.

/3
Read 21 tweets
10 Sep 18
1/ There are two main archetypes for reasoning in popular awareness. I wan't to make a case for a third.
2/ The first archetype is the Scientist. The archetypal scientist engages in argumentation in order to find more accurate models of the world.
3/ The second archetype is the Lawyer. And the archetypal lawyer engages in argumentation in order to win people over to her position.
Read 16 tweets
25 Aug 18
1/ Common pattern in academic arguments:

"Your surface claim has some unsavory connotations/implications that you don't need to make. All the things you want can be had without making that claim. (unless you have some ulterior motives you haven't mentioned)."
2/ @danieldennett makes this move on the free will issue.
3/ Non-cognitivists make this move in meta-ethics.
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(