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This is the worst saying ever. I have only ever heard people say it who were either incredibly naive, or worse, malicious. I would go so far as to say: "Never
by mrjangles 5y ago
This is the worst saying ever.
I have only ever heard people say it who were either incredibly naive, or worse, malicious.
I would go so far as to say: "Never ascribe to stupidity what can reasonably be ascribed to malice."
EDIT: perhaps a clearer way of phrasing this would be "If something can reasonably be ascribed to malice, never ascribe it to stupidity"
- jiggawatts 5y agoWait, what? You consider it malicious to not assume that everyone is out to get you unless proven otherwise?
- mrjangles 5y agoYour comment is an excellent example. You completely straw manned my argument. There is zero connection between what you claimed I said, and what I actually said. Zero. Your comment was obviously malicious, but I guarantee you will now proceed to avoid responsibility by feigning ignorance. To those you wish to manipulate, particularly those without particularly good linguistic ability, your comment could work to trick them into ignoring what I said. However, to everyone else who can clearly see that isn't what I said, you will pretend to have 'simply not understood what I was saying'.
- Vanit 5y agoAgreed, there is definitely a great example in this little thread of a malicious comment that everyone else can clearly see.
- mrjangles 5y agolol, well I'm glad I got my point across, one way or the other.
- sabertoothed 5y agoYou're really testing the boundaries of Hanlon's razor here. Some verbal disarmament would be good.
- trashymctrash 5y agoCould you steel man your argument? I don't see how there is zero connection. To me it seems that the other person oversimplified your argument. Would be interested in hearing an example from your real life that would illustrate this point a bit better, if you have the time to elaborate.
- mrjangles 5y agorereading what I wrote, it sounds pretty terrible. I was just trying to be clever and failed. However as to my original comment at the top of the post, I was pointing out that naive people are often and easily taken advantage of by others, and those others will often "play dumb". If someone's actions can reasonably be construed as malicious, then perhaps you misunderstood their actions, but 'stupidity' is absolutely something you should never assume in this situation. As for the part about "people who use this saying are often naive, and worse, sometimes malicious", I was pointing out that assholes tend to see good, trusting people as instead being dumb and naive, and it is in the asshole's best interest to keep them that way. It was kind of half a joke, half serious.
- trashymctrash 5y agoThank you, I understand your original point much better now