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> Which do you think is more likely ... Don't worry, I wasn't actually impressed, I was just trying to give you a compliment. (It sounds like you need one.) Ye

> Which do you think is more likely ... Don't worry, I wasn't actually impressed, I was just trying to give you a compliment. (It sounds like you need one.) Yes, you've probably read a NYT article on Lakoff. But that does not count as "studying linguistics". > As I explained before, you are combining two very distinct things, first the more or less autonomous speech processing that we do and second the longer term effects, positive and negative. These two are not the same at all. So let's say automatic speech processing exists. (you admit as such.) Now combine this with: if somebody says A to me, over and over again, A will keep on being activated in my brain via automatic speech processing. Over time this automatic processing gets so engrained, it carves out a robust neural pathway that is not easily diverted. Note, I had no choice in this situation. It was not as if I asked a doctor to carve this particular neural pathway in my brain. No, the situation was rather some other person, with his/her own agenda, repeating A to me over and over again until A is literally part of me. The parallel to violence is that both take away human freedom. Of course speech isn't the exact same thing as a fist. Of course I can't punch you in the face with these words, however much I may or may not want to. :) The point isn't that they're the same; the point is that they're not as neatly separable as you seem to believe. Maybe you thinking along the lines of "either speech is violence, or speech is not violence". I am saying that this very framework is wrong. Speech and violence do not have a is-a (or is-not-a) relation between them. They have a much more complicated relation between them.

mpweiher 8y ago
> Yes, you've probably read a NYT article on Lakoff. Nope. > But that does not count as "studying linguistics". You're right, it doesn't. Studying linguistics counts as "studying linguistics". If you don't know what "studying linguistics" means, I really can't help you.
dang 8y ago
There are two problems with your posts to this thread. First, you have repeatedly resorted to personal nastiness. That will get you banned on HN, regardless of how right you are or feel or how wrong someone else is or feels. Perhaps you don't owe better to each other, but you definitely owe better to this community if you want to keep posting here. Second, you've been practicing full-out ideological flamewar. HN is not a place for that. It's a place for intellectual curiosity. The two are not compatible, in the same way that gardens are not compatible with scorched earth. We have many years of experience with what happens on the internet when people flame each other like this, or try to take the culture of rough-and-tumble argument into a large public forum. It leads to the destruction of the community, so we have to be proactive about moderating it. Please use HN for thoughtful, substantive discussion, not smiting enemies. If you'd review the site rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to them, we'd appreciate it.

mpweiher 8y ago

> Yes, you've probably read a NYT article on Lakoff. Nope. > But that does not count as "studying linguistics". You're right, it doesn't. Studying linguistics counts as "studying linguistics". If you don't know what "studying linguistics" means, I really can't help you.

dang 8y ago

There are two problems with your posts to this thread. First, you have repeatedly resorted to personal nastiness. That will get you banned on HN, regardless of how right you are or feel or how wrong someone else is or feels. Perhaps you don't owe better to each other, but you definitely owe better to this community if you want to keep posting here. Second, you've been practicing full-out ideological flamewar. HN is not a place for that. It's a place for intellectual curiosity. The two are not compatible, in the same way that gardens are not compatible with scorched earth. We have many years of experience with what happens on the internet when people flame each other like this, or try to take the culture of rough-and-tumble argument into a large public forum. It leads to the destruction of the community, so we have to be proactive about moderating it. Please use HN for thoughtful, substantive discussion, not smiting enemies. If you'd review the site rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to them, we'd appreciate it.