[HN Gopher] The Open Society and Its Prophets
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       The Open Society and Its Prophets
        
       Author : lermontov
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2021-10-06 02:05 UTC (20 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.tabletmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.tabletmag.com)
        
       | rektide wrote:
       | This was my morning read & it was a delight. The cycle of open &
       | closed society, with closed being the default, the secure form of
       | society... loved it. Very interesting framing. The turn mid-way
       | through, into those who see what society could be, _mystics,_ was
       | a very fun twist right as it felt like we were about to run out
       | of things to discuss.
       | 
       | I liked the author's write up on liberal democracy, as an
       | embodiment of this mystic spirit:
       | 
       |  _" Liberal democracy is "essentially evangelical," founded on a
       | religious insight into humanity's unity and dignity. Preserving
       | liberal democracy is thus not so much a matter of legalistically
       | defining rights and norms, as of keeping alive this "religious
       | character" of openness to fresh expressions of its founding
       | intuition that all human beings are equal"_
       | 
       |  _" Democracy is not only one form of political regime among
       | others, but a mystical, messianic, open religion."_
       | 
       | As per @cratermoon's comments though, I think this is where the
       | article quickly goes a bit off the rails.
       | 
       |  _" It is also to say that democratic societies can only survive
       | insofar as they remain to a great extent closed, becoming a new
       | kind of theocratic anthill in which the antinomian or anxiety-
       | producing potential of individual thought is largely neutralized
       | by convention and myth."_
       | 
       | Here I feel like we're stumbling poorly into the Paradox of
       | Tolerance, confusing the ardency with which openness must be
       | insisted upon with a closed-ness.
        
       | cratermoon wrote:
       | The author kinds of glosses over one of Popper's key insights in
       | _The Open Society and Its Enemies_ : the paradox of tolerance. He
       | noted the danger of unlimited tolerance, and that those who are
       | intolerant can exploit the tolerance of the the society to
       | overthrow the open society.
       | 
       | We see this today in those who attempt to weaponize the idea of
       | censorship when society attempts to minimize the destructive
       | effects of intolerant views.
       | 
       | Further reading
       | 
       | https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/11139...
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
        
         | OrvalWintermute wrote:
         | >We see this today in those who attempt to weaponize the idea
         | of censorship when society attempts to minimize the destructive
         | effects of intolerant views.
         | 
         | Today, I think you are making a mistake and reversing the
         | order.
         | 
         | It is the intolerant that are weaponizing censorship to
         | minimize the destructive effects of the tolerant.
        
         | _red wrote:
         | You mean like if I would make a youtube video regarding safety
         | data from the mandated you-know-whats?
        
           | OrvalWintermute wrote:
           | Yes, if you mention side effects of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,
           | the _tolerant BigTech_ are likely to jail your a*
        
       | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-06 23:02 UTC)