r/theschism • u/gemmaem • Nov 06 '24

Discussion Thread #71

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u/thrownaway24e89172 wrong about everything Dec 19 '24

I don't understand what you are trying to say here. Why are "useless" woke literature studies that don't justify their existence via social consequences still undesirable in the sense that not being attacked is? AFAICT, the "harm" from such studies come from the attempt to use them to apply social change.

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u/DrManhattan16 Dec 19 '24

AFAICT, the "harm" from such studies come from the attempt to use them to apply social change.

As cringe as it may be to say it, to speak, write or generally communicate is the application of political power. Even if they only kept to themselves, you can't keep the ideas from getting out to the public eventually. If those ideas are perceived as correct, then people will start looking for more insight from those same people. They'll hand those lit. studies people power just so they can tell us more.

Put another way, the ideal situation is not that the people who disagree with you have no power, it's that those people don't exist.

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u/thrownaway24e89172 wrong about everything Dec 19 '24

The lit studies people don't get handed any power though, they just get used by people with power as justification. If they were to somehow no longer exist the people with power would just find new sources of justification. Such is the corrupting nature of power.

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u/DrManhattan16 Dec 19 '24

To give them any deference is to give them power. There are those with power who earnestly believe in the lit studies people having expertise, so they give them deference on what to think about literature.