Why do some subjects get more of a reaction than others?

Continuing the discussion from Marvin Minsky, artificial intelligence pioneer, RIP:

Some of my thoughts

  1. Most people here are in agreement over surveillance concerns, and feel that they have little to add to the discussion other than a “me too”.

  2. A lot of people disagree about the degree that Feminist Frequency is right/wrong, this will generate discussion and comments. Feminism is not a monolithic ideology, some views can be in opposed to others while they fight for similar goals.

  3. Feminist Frequency has its own group of reactionary arseholes in opposition to it, who are organised enough to start attacks immediately and don’t cost them any money. This will also generate comments, if not real discussion. Surveillance supporters have to go down the astroturf route which costs money and may have fewer people available so they will target what they think are the highest traffic sites which would probably be traditional newspapers.

  4. Surveillance feels like a losing battle, every few months we are back to fighting the same fights over and over again. Videogame arses on the other hand is a subject that feels like we can make some progress on it.

  5. While videogame arses can seem like a frivolous argument, it is connected to real world issues regarding treatment of women, which is so far from fair and equal that it is not funny (the treatment of men is bad too, but that would be a separate subject). Dismissing it would be like dismissing surveillance issues as the realm of people wearing tinfoil hats.

I would also add that I have never got death threats for being anti-surveillance, sadly this is not my experience for being a transgender anarcha-feminist. I would say that I consider both positions to be as equally important in my view of an ideal world, and that I am a low profile target.

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To me, the underlying issues of representation in games and exploitation by government are exactly the same - people pushing to frame some people as having more or less worth than others.

But I find that people here seem to be more willing to engage in discussing social norms than actual politics because if they fear making a difference in the latter, as it can bring them unwanted attention. Popular perception has been made that being too politically active can be dangerous/inconvenient, but I think that people’s lack of involvement is more dangerous to more people.

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Why do some topics get a bum wrap?

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I see what you did there.

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