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I suspect this is something you and I will never agree on. You see, I think it reflects poorly on someone to see bullshit and not call the bullshitter out. Th
by j_baker 15y ago
I suspect this is something you and I will never agree on. You see, I think it reflects poorly on someone to see bullshit and not call the bullshitter out. That doesn't give someone unlimited license to say what they want. It's just that if someone is spewing bullshit, they deserve to be told they're spewing bullshit. And more importantly, people on the receiving end of said bullshit deserve to be told it's bullshit as well.
- haberman 15y agoAll three of the links I posted were calling out bullshit. But they did it in a way that didn't sound like it came off Jerry Springer. I have a million times more respect for those guys and those guys had far more substance to their criticism too. Just calling "bullshit" rant-style is a cult-of-personality sort of move: people are responding more to your machismo than the actual substance of your argument.
- j_baker 15y agoThere's something to be said for being straightforward though. If you can subtly build a flowing narrative that eloquently describes your beliefs without stating them, good for you. I generally do better just by calling a spade a spade, even if it doesn't like being called a spade. Sometimes people don't like that, and I accept it. But in general, I think people trust me because they know there aren't multiple levels of meaning to everything I say. And besides that, what's wrong with cult-of-personality moves? Generally, strictly logical arguments don't get anywhere. I know because I've spent years losing arguments because I couldn't focus on anything but the logic. :-)