> Well, well, well... A writer that doesn't get metaphor . . . Do you get it
yet? Or do I have to type more s l o w l y? I can do 100 wpm, instead of
180 wpm if you need.
Better take it down to 60 or 50. Mr. Thickhead has a headache (ouch!).
> Let's get one thing clear: what you are doing above and in the abortion
> debate is reserving for yourself the right to use flamboyant metaphor to
> get a rise out of the crowd while denying it to others. As you said, as
> soon as someone says ""I'm all for colorful speech, *but* . . ." the
game's
> up."
I deny others nothing. It's not my list, therefore I have no say in what is said. And unlike some opposed to me, I do not plead to Doug to unsub those who I find distasteful, nor do I send viruses to them personally. I play it right here.
> Similarly, if the fingernail clipping crowd wants to advance _their_ own
> colorful metaphors designed to incite and, yes, accurately describe
exactly
> how they feel about abortion, then to cry foul and accuse them of lacking
> morals is to reserve for yourself a mode of discourse you deny them: as
> soon as someone says ""I'm all for colorful speech, *but* . . ." the
game's
> up."
The Nail Clippers can say what they like, and most times I'll ignore them. But when I don't, I will bring, or attempt to bring, something a bit more solid than sarcasm, or try to engage them in a different tone or mood. But again, I do not block their transmissions, and have no desire to do so.
> In the end, you're advance the same claims as the religious right where
> your view of what abortion is all about is assumed to trump their
> opposition(s)'s view. You cannot, however, actually defend this claim
> because you have no god to call on, do you? It's your morality against
> others's morality.
>
> "Carrol's grotesque description of living fetuses as hangnails" is an
> intolerant moral judgment. It is a claim that you assert ought to be a
> universal understanding of what happens during abortion.
>
> For you, it is a grisly fact.
> For others it is a fact.
>
> For you, it is a living fetus, a potential life.
> For others, it is a growing mass of cells that delimits their freedom,
just
> as cancer is a growing mass of cells that delimits their freedom.
Moral relativity. Is this supposedly my take, or is it yours? I don't think anybody here is a moral relativist, not if he or she takes politics and culture seriously. At some point in the argument you throw down your props and speak from the heart. In messy exchanges where the heart is exposed, some truth seeps through. We are only so evolved. But it is a mess, and this drives The Rational crazy.
DP