Not ideas

Sailer observes that foreign ideologies are making more headway in US thanks to international conversations on Twitter etc.

I don’t think ideology is a major import. And I don’t think international conversations on modern social media are spreading any ideas or changing any minds. Most foreigners on Twitter and Reddit have a boringly predictable standard set of ideas about Americans. Fat, guns, tips, toilet paper. All Americans weigh 500 pounds and carry 500 guns. Americans tip waiters, which is an inexcusable horrible unimaginable cardinal sin. And Americans refuse to use bidets, which are the sole mark of civilization.

This is a WEIRD set of prejudices by any standard. And Americans have an equally WEIRD set of prejudices about specific nationalities. Admittedly some of our prejudices were valid 50 years ago. For instance, we still see Africa as primitive tribal villages, while most Africans now live in modern clean cities, superior to our cities in every way.

What I learn from social media is visual and narrative, not ideological. On the visual side, Youtube clips from ordinary people show us the cities and houses they live in, even though the cities and houses aren’t the main subject of the clips. On the narrative side, I learn that every country has better medical systems than we do, and many countries have better education systems. Britain still doesn’t have central heating or window screens, which are marks of civilization in my eyes.