09-02-2019, 01:59 PM
(09-02-2019, 12:12 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Quote:Strength vs Weakness. Israel or Muslim "extremists"? China or the US? Friends vs enemies/animals. "Obvious" biases.
As neutral analytic options disappear, truthiness saturates the whole.
Any attempt by you to portray yourself as a neutral arbiter of the truth can only be met with laughter and ill disguised scorn.
Don't interrupt Dill. He's too busy trying to castigate me for speaking the truth than to actually listen to it.
Well now that's the thing. The ideal/standard I appeal to here is not "neutral arbiter of truth." I choose to present myself as 1) someone who attempts to grasp the factual ground of an issue before pronouncing judgment on it or the arguments of others, and 2) someone who does not substitute "laughter and ill-disguised scorn" for argument while presenting myself as "speaking the truth." I reject all forms of "poisoning the well" followed by appeals to "the obvious." I.e., I don't defend my claims as "obvious" and so beyond need of explanation or support, or call others' arguments "inane" (especially when unable to demonstrate I understand them).
To put this another way--there is a NEUTRAL mode of discussing political issues which involves trying to understand all aspects of an issue before reaching conclusions about it (conclusions which can remain open to revision in light of new information/arguments), and it doesn't involve denigrating the character and motives of people with different views along the way. It involves making sure you understand what people mean or think they are saying, especially before you judge them enemies of the people.
Were I to systematically convert disagreement with my views on China or Muslims or Israel into a "defense of the enemy," I would be collapsing that neutral analysis into something more akin to propaganda. All the aforementioned "neutral options" are gone then, and what remains is mostly name calling and bluff "laughter."
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
