4 ms·

With the larger context of the quote it still seems like a distinction without a difference.

• gruez 1y ago
  >distinction without a difference There's a pretty big difference between "I think the west has too much empathy" and "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy", even if both are directionally anti-empathy. It's not any different than "I think the US's free speech regulations are too lax" and "The fundamental weakness of the US is free speech". Even though both are directionally anti-free speech, and a free speech opponent would object both premises, it would be wholly irresponsible to paint someone who wants hate speech laws passed as the latter, when their position is more accurately portrayed as the former.
  • ZeroGravitas 1y ago
    He literally says "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy" at one point in the larger quote, while your comment makes it sound like that was a paraphrase of his comment.
    • gruez 1y ago
      >He literally says "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy" at one point in the larger quote I never claimed that he didn't say that, only that selectively quoting that part conveys an entirely different message than if you quoted the whole thing.
      • JeremyNT 1y ago
        Are we even reading the same thing? The rest of his statement is simply a justification for this explicitly stated position!