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How is a reckless driver endangering you, if you are driving safely?
by MiroF 6y ago
How is a reckless driver endangering you, if you are driving safely?
- hammock 6y agoOff topic, and there are some who would argue reckless driving or even drunk driving is a victimless crime. The victimization occurs when (or if, since the vast majority of intoxicated driving incidents result in no damage) actual damage is caused to person or property.
- MiroF 6y agoBy some, you basically mean libertarians right?
- WD-42 6y agoWhat kind of logic is this? Spraying bullets into a crowd is a victimless crime unless someone gets hit, so we shouldn't prosecute otherwise? That's some serious mental gymnastics.
- michaelt 6y agoWe could also let people carry hand grenades on planes, as there would be no victims at the time the plane took off. I'm not expecting society to follow that line of reasoning any time soon, though.
- bluGill 6y agoNote that those who argue that line also argue that the decision to drive while drunk makes it a planned attack if you do kill someone and so you are looking at first degree murder charges if you do happen to kill someone.
- s1artibartfast 6y agoThis is a poor analogy that I find often steers the discussion to useless reductio ad absurdum
- MiroF 6y agoAnd yet somehow the GP managed to reply defending drunk driving as victimless instead. Sometimes analogies can be useful to reveal people's bizarre ideological commitments.
- s1artibartfast 6y agoyeah, that is precisely what I was speaking of. It is good tactic for winning a absurd internet debate, but doesn't really further the original discussion, and certainly doesn't help educate anyone or build consensus. To me it is a matter of goals, when posting. I seek to learn something and/or share something, and think this is best achieved by replying to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. I find that satisfaction of baiting a stupid post then refuting is short lived.
- strbean 6y agoPeople seem to think reductio ad absurdum is a fallacy just because it is Latin, but it is a perfectly sound mode of argument.
- s1artibartfast 6y agoIt can be a useful mode of argument, but I am not sure I have ever seen it used productively in an internet discussion. This post is a good case in point. I don't thinking drawing the analogy helped to educate anyone who read it or establish the appropriate moral obligations of an individual living in a society. Imo, it is effectively trolling, especially when presented in a one sentence post. Do you think it spawned productive discussion when reading the child discussions?
- strbean 6y ago