so that one cannot blow smoke by diverting attention from one's own behavior.......
I have an aversion to blowing smoke, too, which is why I protested yesterday's interjection of free speech where it did not belong.
I think, though, that the refusal to entertain the notion of any responsibility on the part of the hearer, while used as a counter to the smoke, is it's own variation of smoke blowing, inverse smoke blowing. I recognize that you're prepared to entertain it. And I appreciate that it's hard for the thread to "analyze it from the other point of view" without giving aid and comfort to the enemy and that many are totally focused on that. It's a dilemma. I don't want to make too much of it and I haven't brought it up often for that reason, but it has always bothered me that a part of the thread's problems has always been a surfeit thin skin and short fuses. Just a part, mind you, but one that doesn't get enough respect IMO.
The business yesterday with Jewel's "incarceration" is an example. I read CH's comment and dropped my jaw at how tacky it was. But I did not foresee that it would cause so much commotion. I did not foresee that it would bother Jewel unduly. If I did, I would have come to his aid. But my impression of Jewel is that he is a mature fellow (aside from the occasional puddle splash <g>), someone whose skin is of normal density. Not only did I not foresee that it would bother him unduly, I saw no indication that it did.
But it bothered a bunch of people, apparently including you. I did not foresee that, either. The comment was so stupid and so contrived that it reflected poorly only on CH, not a bit on Jewel. I wrote it off as just another turd in the tank. But others didn't. Foreseeing is a tough business. And obtuse is often in the eye of the beholder. |
