1/
There is an idea that up and coming culture critics like Rayne are on the left but avoid the excesses and of their woke-millenials counterparts. As such, these writers can ask for much needed course correction on the left without alienating the left.
I think this is wrong...
There is an idea that up and coming culture critics like Rayne are on the left but avoid the excesses and of their woke-millenials counterparts. As such, these writers can ask for much needed course correction on the left without alienating the left.
I think this is wrong...
2/
It's not that Rayne isn't a talented and engaging writer. She's as terrific wordsmith as the internet has produced. The issue is not her talent, or ability to "thread the needle."
The problem is she's accepted the very tenets of wokism that preclude course correction.
It's not that Rayne isn't a talented and engaging writer. She's as terrific wordsmith as the internet has produced. The issue is not her talent, or ability to "thread the needle."
The problem is she's accepted the very tenets of wokism that preclude course correction.
3/
She has accepted a combination of intersectionality and, in her words, "militant feminism." However, she also wants to try to do a type of course correction around what Rayne herself calls "the feminist panopticon."
And this is where she is going to run into trouble.
She has accepted a combination of intersectionality and, in her words, "militant feminism." However, she also wants to try to do a type of course correction around what Rayne herself calls "the feminist panopticon."
And this is where she is going to run into trouble.
4/
The problem can be demonstrated in an essay she wrote about a man who was cancelled for engaging in awful dating practices.
Here, Rayne articulates how she wants private, personal, community accountibility, and radical empathy for men who engage in shitty dating practices...
The problem can be demonstrated in an essay she wrote about a man who was cancelled for engaging in awful dating practices.
Here, Rayne articulates how she wants private, personal, community accountibility, and radical empathy for men who engage in shitty dating practices...
5/
She also decries the use of social media to engage in a sort of specticale of humiliation as a form of entertainment, using "social justice" as the excuse.
As far as this goes, she is making an observation that is, near as I can tell, exactly correct and totally spot on...
She also decries the use of social media to engage in a sort of specticale of humiliation as a form of entertainment, using "social justice" as the excuse.
As far as this goes, she is making an observation that is, near as I can tell, exactly correct and totally spot on...
6/
The trouble emerges when her observation of the world, which is correct, runs up against the tenets of her intersectional feminism.
To wit, Rayne, like all intersectional feminists, is committed to a "systemic" analysis of social phenomenon, including dating.
So...
The trouble emerges when her observation of the world, which is correct, runs up against the tenets of her intersectional feminism.
To wit, Rayne, like all intersectional feminists, is committed to a "systemic" analysis of social phenomenon, including dating.
So...
7/
The problem is that she is, on the one hand, using s systemic analysis of the larger society to diagnose the source of this terrible male dating behaviour, wants to use the tools of correction that exists on the scale of the local social group.
This is a problem because...
The problem is that she is, on the one hand, using s systemic analysis of the larger society to diagnose the source of this terrible male dating behaviour, wants to use the tools of correction that exists on the scale of the local social group.
This is a problem because...
8/
The solution that she wants, the sort of empathy based "transformational justice" and intimate community care which she seeks is at odds with the systemic social analysis that she uses to diagnose the problem of male dating behaviour.
There are 2 conflicts:
The solution that she wants, the sort of empathy based "transformational justice" and intimate community care which she seeks is at odds with the systemic social analysis that she uses to diagnose the problem of male dating behaviour.
There are 2 conflicts:
9/
1. She wants a local solution to what she claims is a systemic problem, but if the problem is cause at the level of the system, then the cure is only available at the level of the system.
In other words, if the problem is systemic and structural the only solution...
1. She wants a local solution to what she claims is a systemic problem, but if the problem is cause at the level of the system, then the cure is only available at the level of the system.
In other words, if the problem is systemic and structural the only solution...
10/
will also have to be systemic and structural. As such, the sort of localized community solutions she imagines can't make a dent in the structural or systemic problem. Radical empathy is at best a band-aid if the problems truly are systemic.
but that's not the only problem...
will also have to be systemic and structural. As such, the sort of localized community solutions she imagines can't make a dent in the structural or systemic problem. Radical empathy is at best a band-aid if the problems truly are systemic.
but that's not the only problem...
11/
2. There's a conflict between her goals and strategies because innate psychological features of human beings mean the social technology she wants to use to correct dating behavior doesn't "scale" to the level where it can create the systemic and structural change she wants.
2. There's a conflict between her goals and strategies because innate psychological features of human beings mean the social technology she wants to use to correct dating behavior doesn't "scale" to the level where it can create the systemic and structural change she wants.
12/
That is, she can't scale the social technologies to the level where they can be made a structural feature of our society.
Listening, empathizing, apologizing, transforming, restoring, and the like are all fundamentally forms of human co-operation. The issue is this...
That is, she can't scale the social technologies to the level where they can be made a structural feature of our society.
Listening, empathizing, apologizing, transforming, restoring, and the like are all fundamentally forms of human co-operation. The issue is this...
13/
Different forms of human co-operation scale differently.
Empathetic listening is a type of co-operation.
So is Ebay.
The difference is Ebay scales up. It can handle millions of transactions between millions of people without losing it's efficiency and effectiveness.
Different forms of human co-operation scale differently.
Empathetic listening is a type of co-operation.
So is Ebay.
The difference is Ebay scales up. It can handle millions of transactions between millions of people without losing it's efficiency and effectiveness.
14/
Empathy is not the same. Why?
Because genuine empathetic listening always occurs in intimate community contexts and we simply can't make intimate community contexts (where everyone knows the social norms, rules, and expectations) that include millions of people.
Empathy is not the same. Why?
Because genuine empathetic listening always occurs in intimate community contexts and we simply can't make intimate community contexts (where everyone knows the social norms, rules, and expectations) that include millions of people.
15/
I will write a much longer essay on this at some point, but the basic fact is that the "feminist panopticon" that she decries, and the mass entertainment it enables are both products of the intersectional frame work and woke worldview Rayne holds.
That is not to say...
I will write a much longer essay on this at some point, but the basic fact is that the "feminist panopticon" that she decries, and the mass entertainment it enables are both products of the intersectional frame work and woke worldview Rayne holds.
That is not to say...
16/
She doesn't have a point about some things.
The problem is that her overall worldview, the picture of the world that is contained in her intersectional feminism, will inevitably lead to excesses and absurdisms precisely because the solutions she proposes do not scale.
She doesn't have a point about some things.
The problem is that her overall worldview, the picture of the world that is contained in her intersectional feminism, will inevitably lead to excesses and absurdisms precisely because the solutions she proposes do not scale.
17/
The result is that her vision for society that is predicated on the society wide use of form of human co-operation that to do not scale to the level of large complex digital-industrial societies.
This will, for reason I will have to save for another essay, lead to....
The result is that her vision for society that is predicated on the society wide use of form of human co-operation that to do not scale to the level of large complex digital-industrial societies.
This will, for reason I will have to save for another essay, lead to....
18/
various forms of totalitarian and authoritarian coercion as the voluntary mechanisms of human co-operation breakdown at level past which Rayne's social technology scales.
Rayne can outline the excesses of previous intersectional feminists, but she will end up bringing in...
various forms of totalitarian and authoritarian coercion as the voluntary mechanisms of human co-operation breakdown at level past which Rayne's social technology scales.
Rayne can outline the excesses of previous intersectional feminists, but she will end up bringing in...
19/
new forms of excess and absurdity so long as she continues to hold to the intersectional feminist framework.
new forms of excess and absurdity so long as she continues to hold to the intersectional feminist framework.
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