Thirith on 19/3/2010 at 19:49
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Especially when you say shit like "commie fascist."
I would've thought that those words exactly would've made it clear that I'm talking about gut reaction, not a considered, articulated, reasonable course of action that I would actually take. Obviously I was wrong.
demagogue on 19/3/2010 at 20:21
My take on that sort of thing is that my issue with Beck & Limbaugh isn't so much what they're saying -- it doesn't persuade or phase me for a second and I hear crap worse than their's on a daily basis around my hometown -- but how many people take them seriously, which isn't a "speech" problem but a culture problem (e.g., a culture which actually *encourages* bad thinking).
Then I think the best response to that is to lift the level of debate in your own arguing, and at best hope to inspire people to raise the level of their own thinking one person at a time ... And then if some people won't budge and insist on holding to ridiculous ideas, then don't bother about trying to lift their thinking and just get to brass tacks negotiating interests (though being clear where we disagree and not hiding why I think what I do).
For similar reasons I'm not a big fan of shame tactics and always go the respect route... Either try to challenge people with good thinking or just get to negotiating; no need to get all pissy or personal, and when they get pissy and personal just let it slide off. It's okay to try to lift the culture at your own micro-level, but no need for declaring entire topics of speech off-limits and going for some grand social engineering experiment probably destined to back-fire anyway.
june gloom on 19/3/2010 at 20:23
Quote Posted by Thirith
I would've thought that those words exactly would've made it clear that I'm talking about gut reaction, not a considered, articulated, reasonable course of action that I would actually take. Obviously I was wrong.
Obviously I had just woken up ;) But the rest of my point still stands.
