The only way to win an argument

Originally Posted by glatt

Your style is to speak in absolutes. I think that rubs many people the wrong way.

I make statements, I rarely state that I am entirely correct. It has always confused me that people load their own shit onto my statements and/or make them things that they are not.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by glatt

Your style is to speak in absolutes. I think that rubs many people the wrong way.

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

I make statements, I rarely state that I am entirely correct. It has always confused me that people load their own shit onto my statements and/or make them things that they are not.

I'm not trying to attack you here, so I hope you don't take this personally. I clicked on posts you have made, and only had to go back to last night before I found an example.

In the unpopular opinions thread you said:

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

Democracy is a terrible option. No true American wants democracy.

Now the first sentence is an attack against democracy. An attack against an idea. No problem there. Everyone here does that - attacks ideas. But in the second sentence, you personalized it.

By saying that no true American wants democracy, you are saying that anyone who wants democracy is not a true American. If I am a person who considers myself a true American, and I also want a democracy, you have just insulted me.

You make statements like this with regularity, which means you are insulting groups with regularity. Eventually, you get around to insulting almost everyone here.

Originally Posted by glatt

I'm not trying to attack you here, so I hope you don't take this personally. I clicked on posts you have made, and only had to go back to last night before I found an example.

In the unpopular opinions thread you said:


Now the first sentence is an attack against democracy. An attack against an idea. No problem there. Everyone here does that - attacks ideas. But in the second sentence, you personalized it.

By saying that no true American wants democracy, you are saying that anyone who wants democracy is not a true American. If I am a person who considers myself a true American, and I also want a democracy, you have just insulted me.

You make statements like this with regularity, which means you are insulting groups with regularity. Eventually, you get around to insulting almost everyone here.

What group? Democracy is mob rule and an unmanageable, impractical idea. You make it work for me, where minorities (not the PC, bullshit, definition, but real minorities) are not just slaves and fodder for the majority and I'll listen to you.
But, it is a fact.
Again, your response is not based in fact. Show me someone sane who REALLY wants true mob rule?

Cloud, people who need to be handled with kid-gloves and don't want you to be honest with them are broken.
BTW, by your definition, I am broken.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

What group? Democracy is mob rule and an unmanageable, impractical idea. You make it work for me, where minorities (not the PC, bullshit, definition, but real minorities) are not just slaves and fodder for the majority and I'll listen to you.
But, it is a fact.
Again, your response is not based in fact. Show me someone sane who REALLY wants true mob rule?

What I am saying is that when you say something that amounts to "anyone who is in favor of democracy is un-American", you are going to insult some people. A lot of people out there think they are in favor of democracy. Probably the majority of Americans. Those same people probably think they are pro-American. If you mean to have a political science discussion about what "democracy" means, then by all means, have that discussion. But when you make a simple statement in black and white drawing a battle line between groups of people, you are going to insult some people.