There’s something subtle about Said’s style of commenting that is hard for me to pin down that makes it unhelpfully adversarial in a way that I’m sure some people like but I find incredibly frustrating.
“Subtle”! No, it’s actually not subtle at all. It’s a very simple dynamic: you write something that is wrong and/or nonsensical; I point this out; you do not like this being pointed out. Well, who does? It’s embarrassing! Or, in other words:
Our innate vanity, which is particularly sensitive in reference to our intellectual powers, will not suffer us to allow that our first position was wrong and our adversary’s right.
Schopenhauer also suggests a sure-fire remedy, to prevent such unpleasant scenarios:
The way out of this difficulty would be simply to take the trouble always to form a correct judgment.
Hmm. Yeah, that’s a tough row to hoe.
I don’t know about you, but to me, “frank discussion, out of which correct judgments emerge” seems a lot easier and more reliable than “always be correct, right from the start”. Of course, if you banish from your comment sections anyone who tells you that you’re wrong, then you only have the harder option available to you. I don’t envy you in that case.
There’s little chance we will agree on anything here or convince each other. I’m done with this for now. If I see signs you are arguing in good faith I will unban you, but until then I wish you well.
“Subtle”! No, it’s actually not subtle at all. It’s a very simple dynamic: you write something that is wrong and/or nonsensical; I point this out; you do not like this being pointed out. Well, who does? It’s embarrassing! Or, in other words:
Schopenhauer also suggests a sure-fire remedy, to prevent such unpleasant scenarios:
Hmm. Yeah, that’s a tough row to hoe.
I don’t know about you, but to me, “frank discussion, out of which correct judgments emerge” seems a lot easier and more reliable than “always be correct, right from the start”. Of course, if you banish from your comment sections anyone who tells you that you’re wrong, then you only have the harder option available to you. I don’t envy you in that case.
There’s little chance we will agree on anything here or convince each other. I’m done with this for now. If I see signs you are arguing in good faith I will unban you, but until then I wish you well.