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Someone had mentioned recently that one of HN's biggest problems was overly pedantic responses get better upvotes rather than actual content. This has a caused
by bb88 7y ago
Someone had mentioned recently that one of HN's biggest problems was overly pedantic responses get better upvotes rather than actual content. This has a caused HN to devolve into a fact correctness engine rather than a content engine. To be fair, this is something I've done in that past too.
Yes, I did use a rhetorical phrase to make a point, but one that's pretty prevalent in modern culture and especially when it comes to triage. Perhaps google phrases like "Doctors forced to play God", etc. Ironically, the first hit that comes up is this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8163641/NHS-doctor-reveals-shes-forced-play-God-coronavirus-patients-overwhelm-wards.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8163641/NHS-doctor-...
I really recommend that you go watch episodes of MASH from the 1980's. Particularly the episodes where the doctors have to triage cases that might be savable if they weren't in a field hospital. If the US president says we're in a war, we should all refresh ourselves up on what meatball surgery is during an actual war.
- threatofrain 7y agoThe objection is that the phrasing of a doctor playing God is extremely culturally potent in America, and far less on whether you are technically correct on the intersection of God and medicine. And in public speech it's the public that determines meaning and not the speaker with their intentions. What the speaker gets to do is make predictions about how it will be received.
- bb88 7y agoAnd this is exactly the pedantry I was talking about. You're arguing about the "way" I mead the point. Not about the argument itself.
- threatofrain 7y agoAs a public speaker engaged in public speech, you are responsible for getting the results you want. It would be silly for JK Rowling to blame people for not correctly interpreting her novels. You are absolutely reaping your own fruits, but you are blaming others for your displeasing harvest.
- bb88 7y agoWow, all I did was use a phrase from popular culture, and now I feel I'm being speech shamed.
- threatofrain 7y agoSure, it's language used to discuss doctors in the context of abortion, euthanasia, and medical research relating to genetics. I wonder why people might focus on doctor playing God. Could some people actually be religious?
- notacoward 7y ago> in public speech it's the public that determines meaning and not the speaker False dichotomy. It's a shared responsibility. Nothing gives the reader or responder the right to project their own biases or guesses of intention onto someone else's words and argue as though they'd been in the original. Please stop doing that.