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Comment by java_script | Hacker News Reader

The author doesn't back up anything, quotes no theory on either side, no history or economic data. It contains killer anecdotes and gut feelings though - a ratio of about 100%-0% between navel gazing and chin scratching VS reading Marxist theory where people have, you know, talked about the thing you're talking about for over a century. It's particularly stunning that an essay on inequality does not mention the word "profit".

My favorite part is the killer anecdote that seals the deal at the end, which is basically the equivalent of "You dislike Wall St but you own an iPhone? Interesting". It may as well have been pulled from a boomer Facebook meme.

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I think that being late to a rally against charter schools because you were busy trying to get your kid into a charter school is quite a bit more specific and powerful form of hypocrisy than the above meme.

It’s strong evidence to me of a deep hypocrisy in a way that deciding you’d prefer an iPhone over Android is not.

No it's collective action vs individual self interest. Or actual politics versus consumerism. Not the same thing at all and should not be confused. If you think a charter or private school is the best for your kid right now and for you then that's one thing. And what is best for other families and teachers in your community may be another. You can support them politically.

Also who gives a shit about the hypocrisy of protest attendees anyway? It has no bearing on the what is right.

> If you think a charter or private school is the best for your kid right now and for you then that's one thing.

If you think that, act on that, and simultaneously seek to deny that to others, I think you’re a hypocrite and adjust the coefficient of my caring about your opinion on the topic to zero or negative.

Deal, I'll consider your coefficient adjusted then.

But for my benefit, can I just confirm my suspicion that you sincerely don't understand the difference between politics & personal marketplace decisions? Because if so that's some VERY strong ideology you've got going on.

I understand the difference, but if you seek to get some good privately and prevent others from having access to that good by policy, I think that’s a dick move at a minimum.

Same issue as the uproar over a US politician going to Canada for an elective medical procedure after working against changes to the US system to make it more like the Canadian system.

> I think that being late to a rally against charter schools because you were busy trying to get your kid into a charter school is quite a bit more specific and powerful form of hypocrisy than the above meme.

I don't think it's hypocrisy at all; thinking that it is essential for your child under the present time policy regime because that regime harms all public school students, but particularly those who remain in traditional schools, in order to reward charter operators is not even slightly inconsistent with thinking the system should be reformed to eliminate that problem.

It's not hypocrisy any more than it is to be late for a protest against marijuana being criminalized because you are trying to negotiate a deal to get probation instead of jail time for marijuana possession.

In your MJ example, IMO it’s not hypocrisy because both of your actions are aligned. You are protesting MJ being criminalized (arguing for others’ sentences to be reduced/eliminated) while also arguing for your own sentence to be less severe.

If you view the system of public-subsidized charter schools as harming all students, but moreso those that remain in traditional public schools, the two situations are precisely analogous; you object to the policy that imposes the harm on a broad class while attempting to mitigate the harm you (or your dependent) experience given the existing policy.

Ok. While I don’t see them as precisely analogous, I now agree that they’re more similar than I first thought, provided you believe that all students are harmed by the presence of charter schools.

Thank you for taking the time to explain it again so it landed.

It seems to me that you expect a lot from a short opinion piece written on a personal site.

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