Scott Alexander examines violent children's songs from the past to discuss changing societal norms and the reliability of social science versus conventional wisdom. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reflects on children's songs from past generations that featured violent themes about harming teachers and burning schools. He contrasts these with modern concerns about violent media influencing children. The post explores how these songs were once common and accepted, despite actual school shootings occurring. Scott uses this to discuss the reliability of social science, conventional wisdom, and how our perception of what's 'normal' can change over time. He argues that today's common sense often originates from yesterday's pop social science, making it difficult to recognize its origins. Shorter summary