NOS4A2

I was speaking of illegitimate criticism, those centred around the bogeyman “rhetoric”, and you pretended I was speaking of all criticism.

That’s not what I claimed. I explicitly claimed “All his critics have are word policing and word politics.” Now you’re building strawmen.

Sorry I was getting the guys mixed up. You’re right. I was confusing the chairman of the BBC with the director general. Apologies. The chairman overse...

Again, my point is that words do not affect matter in such a way, so it’s wrong to pretend it does. We already know what happens when Trump tweets som...

I was trying to make the point that so much is left out of the narrative, that it is a one-sided story. I appreciate the info. But the director-genera...

The bad faith, straw men and ad homs do not help your case.

It’s not illegal to yell fire in a crowded theatre. The principle in current first amendment theory is “immanent lawless action”. Nonetheless, It’s no...

I think the problem is the notion that things are “made of” something, and are not themselves something.

No, it’s a fact. He’s actually filed bankruptcy for his casinos several times. BBC is a state-run news agency. That alone warrants skepticism.

Wouldn’t the universe be the one thing that exists?

Seems a little too tautological for my own tastes. I don’t see how “deal with it” amounts to living.

Do you treat the news with the same skepticism? Because I did not inform you about the casino.

Words trigger nothing, because they do not have the capacity to move matter. That’s sorcery.

The policies are not much different, but one was fawned over while this one is demonized.

I don’t need to conform to your understanding. The meaning is quite clear so long as you refuse to remove half the argument.

Hence the danger of word superstition. But it wasn’t the words that would have led to mutual self-destruction, but the choices and decisions of the on...

I claimed “simple glance of the news over the past few years show little of such criticism, and more sensationalism regarding tweets and statements.” ...

No internet search will compare legitimate criticism to the sensationalism, so that’s a false claim. Not everyone. The house recently condemned a twee...

I’m not sure. But seeking asylum doesn’t necessarily entail hopping over the border illegally.

People tend to overestimate the power of words is my only point. The idea that the pen is mightier than the sword is a common superstition.

That is at least a legitimate criticism. But there is no point in conflating immigrants in general with illegal immigrants in particular. The policies...

Pointing out failed promises would be a legitimate criticism, but a simple glance of the news over the past few years show little of such criticism, a...

I think I get your point: we can’t not deal with it. But I think that when people use the phrase “deal with it” they mean you can take certain steps t...

I think by “do something about it”, people mean you should work to change the situation rather than complain to us about it.

The etymology of “metaphysics” has a very long history. But the subject matter of Aristotle’s work bearing the name still suffices as it’s definition....

The same policies that they refused to criticize under the last president. Some pictures of “children in cages” came from 2014, but they no less turne...

Of course you do not know. That’s not my fault. But I do apologize for accusing you for suppression. And there is nothing wrong with dismissing counte...

All his critics have are word policing and word politics. “Trump said...” begins every criticism. This is just political correctness in its death thro...

Wonder away. It’s not abnormal for people to fill in the blanks where only ignorance lies.

There is plenty to argue over, you just refuse to represent my argument properly, choosing to cower in a field of straw men. You mentioned one failed ...

Beware Siddartha’s “middle way”. Buddha led the most foundational times of his life to the extremes, in both extreme opulence and extreme poverty. Sur...

The one who became president? Excuse me if I just don’t see it and attribute the malice to snobbery.

Being a rhetorician does not mean your rhetoric has the power to effect matter. Don’t be absurd. Again, magical thinking in its purest form. No, trump...

I’m not so sure about that. Not very many stupid billionaires out there.

Are you effected by their rhetoric? What effects does their rhetoric have on you? Of course there is. Every gaffe or piece of wrong think is usually o...

Rhetoric has no effect beyond a slight expelling of breath and sound. All that anti-Trump rhetoric on late night, much of it cherry picked from twitte...

“Rhetoric”, the censor’s bogeyman. If Trump’s magical spells and “charisma” is enough to “bring out the worst in people”, one has to wonder why the va...

Tom Cruise has never dealt with a vicious dictator. Trump has wrapped them around his finger. North and South Korea are talking of unification, someth...

Anti-trumpism leads the thinker to blame the world’s ills, not to mention their fears, on a single individual man. Either Trump is a great sorcerer or...

That is at least a more nuanced view. But among the intelligentsia, the celebrities and their voracious followers there is a mass hysteria going on. A...

Most of the problems of free will center around identity, whether we identify with the locus of thought—maybe the brain, the mind, conscious, or some ...

The anti-Trump cult, who don’t have far to look for consensus and propaganda to affirm their beliefs, have been crying wolf for years now. Whether it ...

I don’t know who you are or where you came from either. But no, Marin Luther King also expressed colorblindness. It was easy for him to say it as well...

What I mean is, wealth should not be conflated with white privilege for the very reason that non-whites can be wealthy. They are two different concept...

I believe some eliminative materialists contend that “consciousness” doesn’t even exist, that it is folk psychology. To them, the concept should or wi...

If you grouped people by economic status you’d find individuals of a variety of races and ethnicities. White privilege is not about wealth, but “an in...

Economic advantage and white privilege are different concepts. Any individual, regardless of race, can have economic advantage over another.

I think it is meaningful because it is the grounds upon which entire foundations are built. For instance determinists believe in causality and thats w...

To make “privilege” a property of a certain race is nonsensical , not to mention racist. Privilege and it’s opposites applies only to individuals, not...

Violence may follow speech, sure, but that isn’t to say the speech was the cause of the violence anymore that it is the cause of non-violence if peopl...