@henryfarrell

We are all subject to what cognitive psychologists call the "fundamental attribution" problem and more specifically the belief that the actions of people we don't like are malignly motivated and intended to hurt us. And that we are uniquely rational, but our adversaries are irrational idiots, where they are not positively wicked. We all need to realize that this is part and parcel of our cognitive architecture, and not, usually, the architecture of the world we live in. The essay I wrote tries to take a different approach - it does not attack Marc et al. as wicked or stupid, but instead suggests that their thinking and action points in directions that go contrary to their expressed philosophy. I may not have done this well! - it is trying to model other people's thinking. But I believe that doing that will get us a lot further than dismissing the other side as gaslighters, idiots, or worse, which is the unfortunate habit that we revert to without constant vigilance.

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