> No, but it’s a trap. If someone answers an obviously rhetorical question, they’re inadvertently demonstrating a predilection for engaging the construction, no

> No, but it’s a trap. If someone answers an obviously rhetorical question, they’re inadvertently demonstrating a predilection for engaging the construction, not the substance, of a statement, and almost certainly missing the ironic subtext. That's a pretty self-aggrandizing analysis of the situation. From my perspective, I got you to make the statement, "People don’t inwardly digest the mistakes of others", which sounds a lot more absurd when you actually say what you mean plainly instead of hiding it in rhetoric. Maybe some people go through life that way, but that's a pretty poor life strategy and I personally make a pretty big effort to learn from other peoples' mistakes. Maybe I haven't been successful always, but I can point to lots of examples of where I have.