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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 17, 2023

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My biggest mistake was overestimating both the philosophical knowledge and the Internet Atheist meme history knowledge of the community. (The former bit is from world famous philosopher Rene Girard. The latter bit came from the Internet Atheism Wars, and I suppose it would be vastly more well-recognized ten to fifteen years ago. I guess I'm getting old now.)

...but, of course, that's not the reason that was given for the modding! And perhaps even more importantly, it's completely inapplicable to this modding. What is your hypothesis for why I'm off-base this time? Was it less well-written than the original? Was it secret that it was a parody? Did I make reference to something that completely confused you and made you have no idea where it came from? What's the problem now?

Am I missing something? You're just referring to the modding where a mod called out your characterization of the previous action, right? I'd hardly called that modding at all.

Maybe I'm wrong, and @Amadan can correct me if I'm wrong. But I read:

But if you're really looking for another ban to whine about, do this again.

And I thought that the implication was that there was something wrong with this comment.

Do you think that the only problem was my "characterization" of the previous action? If so, that would be pretty incredible, in my mind, because not to put to fine a point on it, I disagree with their chosen characterization of the previous action. I have also been told that it will not be "relitigated". Point of fact is that it has actually never been "litigated" a first time! There was just a ban, and then nothing. We could just continue on having different characterizations of the past. We could have a discussion to clarify and come to a reasonably joint characterization. What I think is not really something we can do is simply to declare that any characterization I give that is not simply quoting something that I disagree with is a bannable offense because I supposedly "know perfectly well" that my own opinion has magically been declared wrong without discussion, such that even having a different opinion is "lying" about it.

I mean, it is within @Amadan's prerogative to simply declare that my perspective is bannable without discussion, but I think that should be explicitly stated as such. And it should be abundantly clear that this is what is happening, rather than that I am "lying" about something I supposedly "know perfectly well".

EDIT: In fact, it would be perfectly useful if this were declared. Because right now, I think it's apparent that there is total confusion as to what Amadan is going for. Like I said:

Was it less well-written than the original? Was it secret that it was a parody? Did I make reference to something that completely confused you and made you have no idea where it came from? What's the problem now?

It would be helpful to know that these are not the problem, if that is the case. For example, is it bannable to adjust wording in someone's argument in order to demonstrate that the form of an argument can be applied to a different set of particulars, implying a conclusion that is different from the expectation of one's interlocutor? If so, it would be extremely valuable to know this. I was under the impression that such argumentative method has been well-established since Plato's time, so if it is unacceptable here, I just want a clear statement, so that I know what to avoid in the future. Right now, I have absolutely no bloody clue what the actual problem is.

No, I don't think the characterization is the issue. I think the issue is that you relitigated your ban without adding any new insight. Can't say I agree that that's really a moddable offense, but it's not like you were banned for it.

I mean, do you think I "relitigated" my ban in the original comment? I thought I was simply pointing out a double-standard... the exact same thing that was being done by the comment I responded to (but which did not receive a mod comment). Is the problem just that I brought receipts? If I just removed the hyperlinks, does the comment suddenly not get modded?

It's more about how you did so without any new insight. You did something annoying, got banned for it, then came back and did somewhat similar annoying stuff, and got a warning for it. The second warning is much much more based on the first instance of behavior than on anything you did the second time around.

On the object level I just disagree with your claim. I've been (somewhat obnoxiously and incompetently) pushing religion here these last few weeks with no pushback at all. This forum is very atheist, but probably less so than most forums, and not obnoxiously so.

The second warning is much much more based on the first instance of behavior than on anything you did the second time around.

This seems to imply that what someone is allowed to say here is dependent upon who they are, not what they say. This can't possibly be right, can it, @Amadan? This would be an utterly perverse policy that encourages people to drop accounts that have been identified as "bad" and create new ones that are allowed to say things that are apparently total legal to say. @Amadan, can you at least see that there is some confusion here about what you've done? That the problem is that you haven't spoken plainly, not that I'm just lying?!