When did public denunciations become popular in the US? I know they've been a part of the Chinese internet since the early days. It wasn't always so intense in the US.
But US internet culture has changed dramatically in the past few years. And it's not just "eternal September".
I miss the early years. There are still vestiges left. Some public intellectuals still respond to unsolicited email from strangers.
Whatever else was true of the early years, when internet use was a niche thing it wasn't representative of broader US culture sort of by definition. Now it is, or at least much more so.
People used stable nyms. Mote, beam and all that.
I don’t have unlimited time to read comments so I prioritize ones from the patio11, cperciva, and ChuckMcMs of the board. Not because who they are IRL but because a history of posts I found interesting, informative, etc. makes it more likely the next one will be too.
If you are on a throwaway because you want to talk about being a functional alcoholic without your colleagues knowing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27363003
that’s perfectly reasonable. But if you are on a throwaway because you want to attack the concept of reputation, that’s a pretty negative signal.
Fauci is on that list, isn't he? I was kinda surprised to learn that from the email dump. I figured his email would be thoroughly filtered.
Of course, whether he actually qualifies as an intellectual seems up for debate these days.
There's a reason "puritanical" has a derogatory connotation. I'm gonna stop short of calling them the Christian Taliban but only because the Taliban haven't yet gotten onboard with female literacy. It suffices to say that there were good reasons the Puritans were unwelcome in Europe. Rhode Island basically popped up overnight because there were just that many people that wanted out and were willing to throw in their lot with the first guy to flip everyone the bird on his way out. These weren't good people. The OG Pilgrims were a tiny bit better but not much.
The early history of New England is a good read. Amazing how quickly the cultural differences between the various regions developed and how little things have changed since.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Morton_(colonist)#Mount...
I'm curious why it didn't happen here immediately, but did elsewhere.