**I'm going to preface this with an acknowledgement that too many of you who hold with Darwinism demonstrate excessive levels of hatred, profanity, and downright rudeness, if not certain irascibility, which precludes a lot of people from arguing with you. Learning civility may be more elusive than learning the science of life.
Ad Hominem, and unproductive statement. I'm sure that upon reflection you will realize that there are assholes on both sides of the fence and that these assholes get in the way of those who would like to have calm exchanges of information and ideas. Making the accusation here, and extending the asshole trait to the entire group of those who favor Darwinian evolution, implying with the words, "too many of you," that it is a significant portion of the population of said group, is RHETORIC. It serves only to trigger emotional responses that serve to polarize people into 'Us vs. Them' groups.
If we were to extend the same argument in the other direction, we might have something like this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by FaultyLogician
**I'm going to preface this with an acknowledgement that too many of you who hold with Creationism demonstrate excessive levels of hatred, profanity, and downright rudeness, if not certain irascibility, which precludes a lot of people from arguing with you. Learning civility may be more elusive than learning the science of life.
This version is just as valid as the previous, and just as unhelpful. The very polarization that such a statement causes is precisely the cause of hostility in debate and loss of civility.
Oh, and just so I don't look like I'm getting all superior on you, I've done this same kind of thing too. Trying to use emotional triggers in an argument is an entirely natural, if entirely unhelpful, thing to do. If we're careful and avoid it though, we can help keep ideas and information flowing freely. It's the 'Us vs Them' that makes people throw up barriers to opposing views/ideas/ideologies/whatever.
Comments
**I'm going to preface this with an acknowledgement that too many of you who hold with Darwinism demonstrate excessive levels of hatred, profanity, and downright rudeness, if not certain irascibility, which precludes a lot of people from arguing with you. Learning civility may be more elusive than learning the science of life.
Ad Hominem, and unproductive statement. I'm sure that upon reflection you will realize that there are assholes on both sides of the fence and that these assholes get in the way of those who would like to have calm exchanges of information and ideas. Making the accusation here, and extending the asshole trait to the entire group of those who favor Darwinian evolution, implying with the words, "too many of you," that it is a significant portion of the population of said group, is RHETORIC. It serves only to trigger emotional responses that serve to polarize people into 'Us vs. Them' groups.
If we were to extend the same argument in the other direction, we might have something like this:
**I'm going to preface this with an acknowledgement that too many of you who hold with Creationism demonstrate excessive levels of hatred, profanity, and downright rudeness, if not certain irascibility, which precludes a lot of people from arguing with you. Learning civility may be more elusive than learning the science of life.
This version is just as valid as the previous, and just as unhelpful. The very polarization that such a statement causes is precisely the cause of hostility in debate and loss of civility.
Oh, and just so I don't look like I'm getting all superior on you, I've done this same kind of thing too. Trying to use emotional triggers in an argument is an entirely natural, if entirely unhelpful, thing to do. If we're careful and avoid it though, we can help keep ideas and information flowing freely. It's the 'Us vs Them' that makes people throw up barriers to opposing views/ideas/ideologies/whatever.
C
Proof of that can be found on these boards on a daily basis.
Ha ha ha. You know, Spammy, if it wasn't YOU that said this, I'd probably be ticked off by it.
C