I would like to “flag” this post as the point where “experienc[ing] fear and hostility” was warped into “feeling fear and hostility towards”. That makes comments below subject to equivocation. It does not mean anything, at least not any one thing, to “[feel] fear and hostility towards” anything. The fear and hostility are in the brain and do not emanate therefrom.
This is more than a semantic quibble. Consider the fallacy of composition. It is possible for a liberal to hate all poor people and love the poor, and for a Confederate soldier to have hated blacks and loved all blacks.
I don’t think “dislike and fear certain groups” is precise enough to have an non-careful conversation about because it is more than one thing.
I don’t understand the relevant linguistic distinction here; it might be some finesse of English grammar that eludes me. Does saying “fear and hostility towards X” imply some observable action motivated by these feelings?
The sort of “fear and hostility” I had in mind is of the same sort as your hypothetical liberal’s love of the poor.
I don’t understand the relevant linguistic distinction here; it might be some finesse of English grammar that eludes me. Does saying “fear and hostility towards X” imply some observable action motivated by these feelings?
I’m a native English speaker, and I did not understand the comment either.
I would like to “flag” this post as the point where “experienc[ing] fear and hostility” was warped into “feeling fear and hostility towards”. That makes comments below subject to equivocation. It does not mean anything, at least not any one thing, to “[feel] fear and hostility towards” anything. The fear and hostility are in the brain and do not emanate therefrom.
This is more than a semantic quibble. Consider the fallacy of composition. It is possible for a liberal to hate all poor people and love the poor, and for a Confederate soldier to have hated blacks and loved all blacks.
I don’t think “dislike and fear certain groups” is precise enough to have an non-careful conversation about because it is more than one thing.
I don’t understand the relevant linguistic distinction here; it might be some finesse of English grammar that eludes me. Does saying “fear and hostility towards X” imply some observable action motivated by these feelings?
The sort of “fear and hostility” I had in mind is of the same sort as your hypothetical liberal’s love of the poor.
I’m a native English speaker, and I did not understand the comment either.