Beta Testing the Next Dropped Shoe
Substack writer Sarah Reynolds on Emily Oster’s “amnesty” argument:
“It is a stark and loaded word indeed when used to refer to anything Covid-related because it establishes two parties: victims and perpetrators.”
Go read this. It suggests that Oster’s amnesty proposal is a beta test of the forgiveness theme in advance of a coming narrative shift, e.g., Well, sure, the vaccines have really caused a lot of harm, but, you know, shouldn’t we really forgive and forget these unfortunate mistakes made in the fog of an emergency?
Shrewd read, Sarah Reynolds. Shrewd.
See also:
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/once-more-on-renowned-fool-emily
"Modern social institutions—particularly schools—have been caught for decades in an escalating spiral of harsh selection for conscientiousness and conformity. Since 2000 especially, Head Girls have cemented their dominance across a great many bureaucratic institutions and white-collar professions, and they have used their growing influence and seniority, above all, to recruit and promote more Head Girls like themselves. The problem is that traits like conscientiousness correlate not at all with raw intelligence and ability. Thus, our world has come to be steered by fleets of extremely agreeable, deeply concerned, highly productive and overly socialised Emily Osters—midwits who have very few original thoughts, and who make up for that by caring a lot about what other conformist midwits of similar status think about them."
What a great article by Sarah. Thanks for sharing Chris.
I think most of her "guilt" is from betraying her most sacred principle in life:
The avoidance of being last to know something socially.
That is what many Oster's of the world fear the most.
Her worse nightmare has come true - on a very big issue - and she can not hide.