Every month is seems like there is some internet outrage that I’m behind the curve on. It’s like Jr. High school where you have those who like Leonardo diCaprio and those who like Brad Pitt, or something. But in more serious terms, the outcome will have important implications for the future of online discourse and free speech. Whether it’s gamergate, feminism, SJWs, Gawker, men’s rights, or NRx, the lines have been drawn; which side are on you on? Even for bloggers who try to avoid conflict and partisanship have to take sides. Do you stand with gamers or SJWs? Scott is trying to be both sides, and some of his more left-leaning readers are unhappy.
There are three online debates raging right now: The aforementioned ideological one, a new twist on the age-old left (SJWs) vs. right (gamers) divide; the second is about job loss, economics, and automation; and possibly the third about college and whether it’s necessary or not, although I think that one ties in with the second.
The events that precipitated first debate – the biggest and most heated of the three – are myriad. My theory is pre-2014 or so, these groups were atomized. You had the Less Wrong people in their community, men’s rights/Red Pill in their respective communities, NRx in their own, etc…but then a combination Gamergate, Twitter, Sad/Rabid Puppies, the meltdown at Gawker, the decline of the Less Wrong community and the rise of SlateStarCodex, and other factors, mixed these otherwise disparate groups together, creating the ideological maelstrom we’re witnessing now.