look I'm willing to defend Helen too but i think its bad on its face to treat fascist propaganda like a cognitohazard

so ok. occasionally people say something like "don't watch PragerU videos or read Jordan Peterson books even out of morbid curiosity, they will melt your brain and make you a fascist". which has a true component to it-- it's important to recognize that you, specifically, are not immune to propaganda; it's not unreasonable to worry that you'll make your worldview worse because of a bad argument that you don't know how to rebut.

but also, that's a nonsense sentence. to say something like "dont read fascists you will get pregnant and die" entails a bizarre worldview right? it implies that there is speech arbitrarily seductive or convincing, while remaining false-- implying that the truth of an argument is somehow detached from one's ability to argue whether it is true. like, your favorite fascist isn't bad because they inherited the original sin, they're bad in a way that you can name and argue-- and i should hope that you are confident enough in your worldview that you aren't afraid that you'll be seduced by them.

that's why i think it's wrong. the reason this bothers me is because it's sort of solipsistic, right? once you absolve yourself of the need to argue against fascists, you get to say that you're the only one with access to the truth without any backing-up. i don't Defend Everything In The Marketplace Of Ideas or whatever, but i think it's good to use weapons that only work against the enemies you want them to. "don't interface with their argument, just ignore it" doesn't use any details of the argument, and thus works against whoever you want.

the sea is calm; there is an island in sight, but a fanged monster inhabits it, singing a siren song. your curious friend is Odysseus, who asked to be tied up to hear the song. he is battering against his ropes, while you are sound of mind because there is beeswax in your ears. how convenient that is. and how convenient that, since there is beeswax in your ears, every time someone opens their mouth, it may well be a siren-- the only thing you know is that sirens are hideous. therefore, this Odysseus-Siren relationship holds for whatever you want, as long as you find it sufficiently hideous. this other right-winger is hideous in this way, but also that annoying podcaster, or that metamour you don't like, or that guy whose argument you only skimmed because it used way too many Marx quotes but whose conclusion was gross.

keep odysseus tied up, you say. he is unsound of mind-- if he has the faculty of his ears, be sure that he does not have the faculty of his limbs.