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Originally Posted by mixedmedia
And thinking a little further about the "flaps" controversy.
If someone says something mind-jarringly obtuse and insulting, I'm not sure why people here who know better should pussyfoot around their post and pretend to be gracious about it.
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Thank you. Ya know every once in awhile this place reminds me of my time served on my high school speech team. I was in a category called group deliberation - you get 8 people together in a group to discuss an issue and what should be done about it. You ALWAYS had someone bringing up idiotic ideas - the strategy there was that no one was supposed to say anything that could possibly insult or offend another member of the group, so if you start coming up with dumbassed ideas, you can bait the other guys into finally saying the ideas are crazy. Needless to say, I didn't do very well in that category.
I never liked the concept that you can't call people out when they're saying something obviously obtuse.
A good example would be dksuddeth's thread advocating the easy removal of judges. I said the idea was crazy. I said that because it IS crazy. I'm not worried about hurting dksuddeth's feelings here - he's a big boy now and can take it. We're not dealing with little kids around here - we should be able to state our opinion without a lot of nailbiting over whether or not we might possibly have hurt someone's feelings.
I know political correctness has been a fun and entertaining little concept since the 90's, but what it boils down to is the idiotic human desire to sugarcoat reality. If an idea is crazy, then dammit, say it's crazy. It seems some people want TFP to become a syrupy sweet love fest where everyone gets along and no one ever argues - I can't even count how many times I've seen a poster complain that people fight in the politics forum. Well, yeah. Of course they fight in the politics forum. That's what makes politics fun. If you don't like it, don't go into the politics forum. Some of us do enjoy a good healthy debate, and comprehend the difference between saying someone's idea is stupid or crazy, and calling that someone a moron. We manage to be able to say the former without lowering ourselves to the level of saying the latter.
Now if anyone here thinks what I've said is stupid, please feel free to say so, right here, out in the open. I promise I won't be offended, I won't cry, and I won't leave the TFP in a huff, never to return.