[extropy-chat] darfur

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On Apr 30, 2006, at 2:59 PM, Ned Late wrote:
> Here's another spin on this: in the sixth paragraph you'll notice a  
> Ron Fisher wrote that participating in the darfur genocide protest  
> is a "socially responsible, good conscience thing to do". Feel  
> Goodism. That is to say it makes me feel better-- 'look at me, I'm  
> so decent I'll take time out from my day to go to a protest'.


The vast majority of activism is exactly this.  Why?  Because it is  
cheap.  It is a way to reap most of the social benefits of being an  
activist without the expense and discipline required to actually  
solve social problems.  80% of the personal benefit, 20% of the cost,  
and negligible impact on the underlying problem.  Unfortunately, this  
type of behavior has a history of encouraging the perpetuation of the  
problem, as "solving the problem" becomes a cottage industry with a  
number of perks (c.f. Jesse Jackson).


> Americans have so little savoir faire, no one ever went broke  
> underestimating the taste of Americans. Isn't taste to be  
> considered extropian?


The problem with savoir-faire is that everyone thinks they have it,  
but I have yet to find a corner of the globe where most people can  
agree that it is a predominant feature of the local culture.  Taste  
follows the same pattern; everyone thinks they have far more than  
they actually do.

Nothing is more pointless than two groups of provincials each trying  
to disparage the other by labeling them "provincial".  Genuinely  
superior cultures of any size will not have to tell me about their  
superiority as it will usually be self-evident from the global  
influence they wield.  Relatively superior cultures tend to dominate  
their ecology, ultimately supplanted as even better cultures evolve.   
One of the classic blunders of history (beside never getting involved  
in a land war in Asia) is taking relative cultural superiority at  
some point in history to mean that the culture is superior in some  
absolute sense to which little improvement can be made.  Cultures  
that do not encourage evolution invite decline.


J. Andrew Rogers