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PaperclipPerfector  13d ago (text post)   2756 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 2, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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No, I can’t. Calling you unserious is an insult to your character, which is against the site rules. Arguing about what I’m insulting, or how insulting it is, is also against the rules. Consistent rulemaking protects all of us; otherwise it starts slipping from “no insults” to “no acrimonious insults” to “well I think your argument was unserious even though I didn’t say “your argument is unserious” I said “you’re unserious” and you should have known what I meant” to “fuck it, open fire free-for-all”. Which is also why the rules are “speak plainly”. You think it’s small potatoes, I think it’s a further indication that the moderation on this site is not for me.

Alright, then let me offer a clarification: I think that refusing to engage with the substance of people’s arguments, and instead accusing them of being unwitting stooges of a hostile foreign power, is the mark of someone who is not willing/able to be a serious interlocutor.

I think that probably a lot of your opinions are rooted, ultimately, in your exposure to top-down messaging which I would characterize as, if not overt propaganda, then certainly propaganda-adjacent. I’m sure you think the same of me! However, this does not give me license to simply dismiss those opinions as “regurgitating propaganda” and making a big show of being scandalized by the fact that someone here would dare to express them. If I did so, I think it would be extremely fair to accuse me of not taking the spirit of open debate seriously. And if I did it repeatedly, I think it would be fair to accuse me of not being a serious person generally. Perhaps that would be an insult, but I personally believe it’d be permissible within the rules of this forum because it is directly related to the question of whether you ought to continue to participate. (Not, to be clear, whether or not you ought to be allowed to participate; I’m certainly not calling for you to be banned or censured.)

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