[ExI] This is my last post to the Extropian List

spike at rainier66.com spike at rainier66.com
Sat Feb 6 18:13:06 UTC 2021


 

 

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat



 

>…One step further please.  Suppose one recognizes that the speaker is using a lot of specialized terminology and responds not at all, even if one thinks one knows what is meant.  Silence is interpreted as disagreement.  Non-response is a negative response.  This is most disturbing, for if silence is violence, it cannot be allowed.  Orwell was right again.

 

>…bill w - I don't understand this paragraph.  Please expand (or unload as the current terminology says…

 

Unload: I wouldn’t be using that term anytime soon.  {8^D

 

An example of the notion that silence is violence: BLM mobs going down the street screaming at white outdoor diners “SAY HER NAME!”  at which time I might answer “whose name?” followed by “why?” both of which are interpreted as white supremacy.

 

Another example, in that capital riot, I didn’t post anything about it to Extropolis, which John interpreted as condoning it.  I had condemned the BLM riots, which (to me) are the same thing: people were attacking federal buildings.  Why does anyone need my commentary?  I did observe that creating doubt in the election process will escalate this kind of thing, and I still think that: regardless of what I personally think about that 2020 election and the January senate races, the process itself caused plenty of people to lose faith in the election process.

 

In the Extropolis discussion, I was accused of racism for calling out the BLM riots but not the DC riots.  But I never said anything about race in either instance.  It is hard to miss that plenty (in some cases perhaps most) BLM rioters are white.  But I didn’t post anything about that because I am embracing the notion that there is only one race, and anyone is free to choose one’s own ethnicity and culture, regardless of physical characteristics.

 

Back to the original comment: silence is violence.

 

In the case of the BLM riots, these were sometimes called “mostly peaceful” as stuff burned.  They were called a form of speech.  But at the same time, the actually peaceful people with their MAGA hats and signs were accused of violence to others’ sensibilities.  In that case, violence is speech and speech is violence.

 

 

 

 

 

>…I may have to go back and read my Orwell.  I read all that stuff in my 20s - time for a re-read.

 

Those are the magic words sir.  Plenty of people need to re-read Orwell.  I noticed it has dropped off the required reading lists for high school literature classes, along with Bradbury’s 451F.

 

spike

 

 

 

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