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I'm not up to date with the Trump stuff but what I thought was particularly disingenuous about the first example was that he said in advance that he was going t

I'm not up to date with the Trump stuff but what I thought was particularly disingenuous about the first example was that he said in advance that he was going to write something ambiguous that people would 'misinterpret' and then he made fun of them when it happened. As far as I'm concerned, if you write something with the goal of communicating a particular idea to a particular audience then that's what you said. It doesn't matter at all what other meanings could be construed and whether they are more logical or not. If I say something to a few people and I know that one of them will misunderstand it (the reason doesn't really matter) in a way that makes the statement untrue then I've just lied to that person.

kelukelugames 11y ago
On one hand I think he knows exactly what he is doing. He mentions phrasing and word choice in some of his posts. On the other hand, he might just be completely clueless about race and gender issues. He says things like "If women want to avoid catcalling then why don't they just move? I moved to improve my life." Maybe a little of column A, and a little of column B.
- zo1 11y ago
  >"If women want to avoid catcalling then why don't they just move? I moved to improve my life." Perhaps pointing out the hypocrisy of those actually using that rhetorical construct? Being someone that advocates a society without a state, and often criticizes it, I get that comment thrown at me many times. And people find it a perfectly acceptable and valid retort to what I'm advocating. Maybe putting it in the context of "women" (with gender issues currently being a prominent theme/topic in society), perhaps he can make the users of that construct look at it critically as a bad argument against anything. Note, haven't actually read Adam's articles about women being mentioned here.
- specialist 11y ago
  I hate myself for laughing at his comics. Whatever Adams' other, numerous, faults, he does have an amazing economy with words.
lliamander 11y ago
> If I say something to a few people and I know that one of them will misunderstand it (the reason doesn't really matter) in a way that makes the statement untrue then I've just lied to that person. If you can avoid the misunderstanding, then sure. But even then you don't always have the time to explain yourself fully. Sometimes, the very ideas you are expressing are liable to trigger strong emotions in other people. It can't be helped. But that's why I like his disclaimers. I know ahead of time that the point he is trying to make isn't likely the one that is salient to me on my first pass.
- aptwebapps 11y ago
  Right, but in this case he actually said in advance that this was what he intended to do. It was the purpose of the post, not a regrettable side-effect.

kelukelugames 11y ago

On one hand I think he knows exactly what he is doing. He mentions phrasing and word choice in some of his posts. On the other hand, he might just be completely clueless about race and gender issues. He says things like "If women want to avoid catcalling then why don't they just move? I moved to improve my life." Maybe a little of column A, and a little of column B.

zo1 11y ago
>"If women want to avoid catcalling then why don't they just move? I moved to improve my life." Perhaps pointing out the hypocrisy of those actually using that rhetorical construct? Being someone that advocates a society without a state, and often criticizes it, I get that comment thrown at me many times. And people find it a perfectly acceptable and valid retort to what I'm advocating. Maybe putting it in the context of "women" (with gender issues currently being a prominent theme/topic in society), perhaps he can make the users of that construct look at it critically as a bad argument against anything. Note, haven't actually read Adam's articles about women being mentioned here.
specialist 11y ago
I hate myself for laughing at his comics. Whatever Adams' other, numerous, faults, he does have an amazing economy with words.

lliamander 11y ago

> If I say something to a few people and I know that one of them will misunderstand it (the reason doesn't really matter) in a way that makes the statement untrue then I've just lied to that person. If you can avoid the misunderstanding, then sure. But even then you don't always have the time to explain yourself fully. Sometimes, the very ideas you are expressing are liable to trigger strong emotions in other people. It can't be helped. But that's why I like his disclaimers. I know ahead of time that the point he is trying to make isn't likely the one that is salient to me on my first pass.

aptwebapps 11y ago
Right, but in this case he actually said in advance that this was what he intended to do. It was the purpose of the post, not a regrettable side-effect.