if it's cruel to poke an animal, it's cruel to poke a human
Yes and no. It is certainly cruel to poke anyone who can't poke back, but that circumstance does not prevail here.
It is not acceptable to poke strangers with sticks as they walk down the street. On a jousting floor, poking people with sticks is expected behaviour.
This thread is and always has been, despite its deceptive header, a jousting floor for ideas. Those who can't take the heat would be well advised to stay out of the kitchen.
There are people on this thread with whom I have had titanic arguments, sometimes quite emotional ones. Many, to a casual observer, would have seemed quite personal, even a little vicious. All the while, though, the participants never lost the feeling that when the dust settled they could walk away laughing and head out for a virtual beer. Something like a pickup hockey game among friends: when you're on the ice, you bang bodies and do your damndest to win, but when the skates come off you're still buddies.
And then there are people who seem obliged to treat those with whom they disagree as enemies.
I don't know why that is, but I think it unfortunate. |
