Asking that someone “take responsibility” for a wrong, can mean either a) an individual decision, OR b) that they be obligated to fix said wrong. “Bob should take responsibility for the mess he made when he sprayed graffiti on the wall.”
Given that ambiguity, the principle of charity obligates us to assume she meant they be forced to bear the consequences, and the following remark that “they should learn other ways to have fun” must be understood in this light: i.e. having to pay for what you’ve done would make you consider alternatives to binge drinking.
Well, all we have is Yvain’s paraphrase of what she said. And considering how much he piled on, and how he compared her to a much stupider suggestion, I think more caution was appropriate.
I don’t see what’s so creative about my “spin”; I frequently hear people use the term “take responsibility” as a euphemism for “take punishment”. E.g., “They should take responsibility for what they’ve done” = “they should receive the appropriate punishment”, not “they should privately admit to themselves that they could do better”.
Asking that someone “take responsibility” for a wrong, can mean either a) an individual decision, OR b) that they be obligated to fix said wrong. “Bob should take responsibility for the mess he made when he sprayed graffiti on the wall.”
Given that ambiguity, the principle of charity obligates us to assume she meant they be forced to bear the consequences, and the following remark that “they should learn other ways to have fun” must be understood in this light: i.e. having to pay for what you’ve done would make you consider alternatives to binge drinking.
That word ‘responsibility’ can be used ambiguously. It was not in this case.
The assertion that Yvain has ‘totally misread’ something based on this creative spin makes a mockery of the concept of ‘charity’.
Well, all we have is Yvain’s paraphrase of what she said. And considering how much he piled on, and how he compared her to a much stupider suggestion, I think more caution was appropriate.
I don’t see what’s so creative about my “spin”; I frequently hear people use the term “take responsibility” as a euphemism for “take punishment”. E.g., “They should take responsibility for what they’ve done” = “they should receive the appropriate punishment”, not “they should privately admit to themselves that they could do better”.