> the argumentativeness, and the stridency of the language Can you give an example of the 'strident language' I used? While I don't tend to gild the lilly I'm

> the argumentativeness, and the stridency of the language Can you give an example of the 'strident language' I used? While I don't tend to gild the lilly I'm not wont to start 'fights' (for lack of a better term) but neither do I avoid them. This is a discussion board after all, not an NPR program or New Yorker/Atlantic piece where we need to sound 'cultured' and 'measured'. I much prefer honesty in language over the verbal equivalent of the slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick [1] which tends to be used in 'cultured' discourse. A spade is a spade just like a rose is a rose and the former can come in handy when dealing with the latter so just call it by its name? I think the 'problem' - if there is one, really - is not related to 'argumentativeness, and the stridency of the language' but to the narrowed window of allowed discourse on this and other similar sites (lobste.rs etc) which in turn is most likely related to the fact that most the people frequenting these sites passed through academia and later workplaces populated by similar people who all learned to keep their noses pointed mostly in the same direction even if they privately preferred the view from another side. When you're used to consensus - no matter whether it be true or false consensus - it becomes harder to deal with opposing views. This is one of the reasons why the ideological monoculture which is found in academia and many workplaces is such a negative development (no matter which ideology rules the roost) since it weakens what I for a lack of a better term will call the cultural immune system of its inhabitants who will, just like the biological namesake, start to overreact to the slightest insult (in immunological terms). Just like an under-exercised biological immune system leads to allergies an under-exercised cultural immune system leads to overreactions to normal variations from the established normal. [1] https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blaster https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Pan_Galactic_Gargle_Blas...