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Somebody can be part of the problem and also be right about something. Call it "accidentally right" if you need to deprive them from the merit of being right.
by ithkuil 6y ago
Somebody can be part of the problem and also be right about something.
Call it "accidentally right" if you need to deprive them from the merit of being right. But let's not turn facts and logic into collateral damage of a fight that happens at a different level.
- bsder 6y agoA stopped watch is correct twice a day--yet everybody would still throw it out.
- ithkuil 6y agoSure. But you won't say that it's not 8:30am when it's 8:30am just because a broken watch happens to say so. Humans care about reputation. Our trust in people is based a lot on past performance and what other people though about that past performance. Thus, we also find it dangerous to let people get away with being perceived as having competence on something where they don't have it, because they may in future capitalize on that and spread their wrong ideas and be believed because you conceded that they had competence in the past. However it cuts both ways. If you want to expose somebody's incompetence you surely don't want to behave in ways that are clearly dishonest and bending facts just to strip the other person of being accidentally right once or twice a day. That shortcut won't pay off. I've seen so many discourse between otherwise honest people derailed by this practice that is now so entrenched. Call out fallacies by all means. Give credit when credit is due and move on to attack arguments that are worth attacking.