TB: Progressive Myths (Huemer)
Core Thesis
Progressive ideology functions like a religion — sustained by myths that are empirically false and socially costly. Huemer examines a catalog of widely-believed progressive claims, finds them factually unsupported, and argues that the left currently poses a greater long-run threat to epistemic culture than the right (while acknowledging the right poses a greater near-term threat to democracy).
Key Takeaways
Progressivism as religion
- Progressive ideology relies on a set of myths — narratives believed on the basis of group identity and moral commitment rather than evidence.
- These myths are actively harmful: they misallocate resources, distort policy, and damage the fabric of shared epistemic culture.
The myth catalog
Cases examined include: Trayvon Martin/Michael Brown/Kyle Rittenhouse narratives, "Central Park Karen" as racist, implicit bias, stereotype threat, racist drug laws, gender pay gap, campus rape culture, tax burden myths, regulatory myths, global warming consensus framing, existential climate risk claims, mask science.
On publication bias and the social sciences
- "Publication bias makes it difficult to assess the reality and magnitude of any effect in psychology."
- "Most of the humanities are extremely unreliable to the point of uselessness."
- These structural problems in academia explain how myths get academic credibility.
On capital gains taxes
- The capital gains rate is low because it is a kind of double tax: corporate profits are taxed at the corporate rate, then taxed again when passed to shareholders as capital gains. Understanding this changes the equity intuition.
The left vs. right asymmetry
- Left-wing political myths currently pose a greater long-run threat to epistemic and social culture than corresponding right-wing myths.
- Trump/right poses a greater near-term threat to democratic institutions.
- Both claims can be true simultaneously.
Mental Models
- The Map is Not the Territory — political myths are maps that substitute for empirical reality; the progressive myth-set has become decoupled from the territory
- Absence Blindness — publication bias means we systematically see positive results and don't see the null results that would correct the myths
- Hanlon's Razor — most myth-believers are not malicious; they are epistemically captured by group identity, not consciously dishonest