5 ms·

I'm going to have to vehemently push back on this. I don't think you can declare what does and does not constitute "implicit approval" for other people. You can

I'm going to have to vehemently push back on this. I don't think you can declare what does and does not constitute "implicit approval" for other people. You can't just impose a crusade on other people. Am I approving of Wolfram'a narcissism if I read an article of his but don't make a comment discussing his narcissism? What if I upvote an article but don't comment about it? What if I comment, but not about his narcissism? Where's the line? Where does my obligation begin and end? If I choose to abstain from commenting on someone's narcissism, does that mean I have to boycott their work? Do I have to boycott talking about their work with other people? If you don't respond to this comment of mine, am I to read your silence as implicit agreement? If not, why is that idea any less flippant than yours? I'm not going to conspicuously trot out a meme about Wolfram's narcissism every time he comes up. It doesn't add any new information to the discussion, whereas he frequently writes interesting things. It also won't make Wolfram any less narcissistic, it will just be obsessive and futile. He's not harming anyone. To give an example, what you're suggesting is the reason why (for the most part) the only people who find Stallman bearable are people who share his ideology. If you have a pet crusade you launch whenever a topic comes up, you'll quickly find your comments marginalized by everyone who frankly doesn't care about it as much as you. It's just not a productive use of time and doesn't effect the change you think it will. It's a poor hill to die on.

jjoonathan 8y ago
Whether silence should mean tacit approval and whether it does mean tacit approval are two entirely different questions. I'd argue that it shouldn't but it does. Mentioning and disapproving of Wolfram's narcissism is hardly akin to dying on a hill, and nobody is even asking you to do it, but Phemist is asking people to not actively disapprove of Wolfram's narcissism and I find that odd.
- zazen 8y ago
  >nobody is even asking you to do it It may not have been your conscious intent, but your previous comment was in fact in the imperative: >Don't implicitly approve Wolfram's narcissism. Just don't.
- afiori 8y ago
  > Whether silence should mean tacit approval and whether it does mean tacit approval are two entirely different questions. I'd argue that it shouldn't but it does. Silence can also mean dismissal. Wolfram is hardly at a level of cultural influence where he is rallying up support for a narcissistic lifestyle. In the course many years we moved from an honour culture where tolerance was a weakness and misbehaviour was something to strongly react to toward a dignity culture where we try to lead by example and where (in polite conversation) criticism needs to be more nuanced. Moreover by that logic I am silently approving of many things all the time, when talking about Obama and medicare I often omit drone bombing as a topic.

jjoonathan 8y ago

Whether silence should mean tacit approval and whether it does mean tacit approval are two entirely different questions. I'd argue that it shouldn't but it does. Mentioning and disapproving of Wolfram's narcissism is hardly akin to dying on a hill, and nobody is even asking you to do it, but Phemist is asking people to not actively disapprove of Wolfram's narcissism and I find that odd.

zazen 8y ago
>nobody is even asking you to do it It may not have been your conscious intent, but your previous comment was in fact in the imperative: >Don't implicitly approve Wolfram's narcissism. Just don't.
afiori 8y ago
> Whether silence should mean tacit approval and whether it does mean tacit approval are two entirely different questions. I'd argue that it shouldn't but it does. Silence can also mean dismissal. Wolfram is hardly at a level of cultural influence where he is rallying up support for a narcissistic lifestyle. In the course many years we moved from an honour culture where tolerance was a weakness and misbehaviour was something to strongly react to toward a dignity culture where we try to lead by example and where (in polite conversation) criticism needs to be more nuanced. Moreover by that logic I am silently approving of many things all the time, when talking about Obama and medicare I often omit drone bombing as a topic.