IMO you confirmed my take on the use Neocon made of the "natural urges" argument, so I'll skip it. I think his reply was logically justified by the assertion it rebutted.
<<<<Neo comported himself very well in the argument, and doesn't
need defending, but of course you have a right to defend him if
you think he needs it.>>>>
Cobe, you're attributing to my mind the idea that Neo "needs" me to "defend him." That notion is a construct of yours. In mine, I was speaking my mind on an issue of fairness and of argumentation protocol.
<<<<And he most certainly did say that breast-feeding in public is an example of loosening
standards, explicitly, repeatedly. Which I don't think is tactful, and I do think is
belligerent.>>>>
If it feels to him like an example of loosening standards, whyever shouldn't he be allowed to say so without being called names?
His is a view you and I disagree with. I, for one, think the increasing acceptance of public breast-feeding represents a rise in standards of rationality about the topic and a decrease in the subordination of women to patriarchal concepts. I don't think I am either tactless or belligerent for expressing that view, however much others may disagree with it.
Cobe, my friend, I can't get it through my head why it's belligerent to express your feelings about something in a discussion forum. Particularly one called "Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!"
BTW, Neocon has to have known how his expression of his feelings would be received here. That's why I said I thought he showed courage in expressing his.
<<< the dog-eating argument
was made by Neo in response to my comment that "Americans are weird." Thus, I
would say that in that context, Neo's dog-eating argument was an ineffective refutation
of my comment that Americans are weird. The cultural argument was a side-show.>>>
Your "Americans are weird" was understood by Neocon, me, and others, I am sure, to contain the message that other cultures are less weird than American culture. It didn't say, "Aren't people weird?" It said, "Americans are weird." It seems to me reasonable of Neocon to have offered the point, after you have raised the comparative-culture issue with that remark, that there are lots of things other cultures consider fine that we don't, dog-eating being one example.
The cultural argument wasn't the side show, it was the only attraction.
IMO. |
