• 4 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: October 11th, 2023

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  • You know what a “false dichotomy” is? If no, this is a beautiful example. Immigration reform is an entire world of options, “deport all the brown people” and “Ignore all the laws” aren’t the only options like you’re implying here.

    This is a very, very old topic. What have we been doing, before it was politicized into a fiery hot-button issue? What, historically, have we been doing that is effective?















  • (I can’t speak to the actions of the moderators, alas.)

    Indirect discussion is usually the best way to approach a complex topic. Or a language in general, really. It’s the foundation of… well, rhetoric. It’s been a fascinating topic of discussion for (at least) 2000 years, if you’re at all interested in engaging with it.

    Downvotes are a modern implementation of a truly ancient concept here. It’s a pretty critical aspect of the comment system, or participatory discussion in general.

    Then follow me and give me audience, friends.
    Cassius, go you into the other street
    And part the numbers.

    I mean sure, he’s not referring to the number of upvotes and downvotes, but if any human being in history understood the role of the audience surely it was Shakespeare. “The audience can’t exist without the subject, but neither can the subject have import without the audience” and all that. It really is a fundamental aspect of human interaction, not just internet forums.