>This is a good example of what makes a lot of political arguments a waste
>of time. Speaker A says X. Speaker B takes X to a ridiculous extreme, which
>hardly anyone would defend. Speaker A protests that that is not what she/he
>said. Speaker B refuses to correct her/himself or apologize. The
>communication breaks down.
>A pure waste of time.
Ok, let's look at what Brian said:
In response to me
>>In any event, it's hard to stay "on message" in something as diverse as a
>>demo if people decide to jump in with their own placards.
Brian said this
>That is what freedom is about, something I think leftists should encourage.
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20040531/012162.html
If it's one thing I've learned while hanging around on LBO it's: watch your mouth (for your argument's sake, if not what others think of you). Brian seems to like his big, grandiose term "freedom". So, not knowing his mind, I have to rely on what he says. He equates "freedom" with jumping into a demo with your own placards, completely disregarding what the others there have to say. That's his "logic" so far as I can tell. I'm following it to a ridiculous end because he's allowing me to do that. If he'd be so kind as to revise his statement (assuming he thinks he screwed it up), he's welcome to.
Furthermore, he thinks Leftists should encourage this kind of behaviour (presumably in general since he doesn't say otherwise). I don't have a problem with doing something like this to our opposite numbers, but just simply jumping in willy-nilly whenever the mood takes us ie since we have the freedom to do so to fellow lefties leaves me wondering what the Hell he's thinking.
Speaker A should clarify what s/he meant by saying X, using the opening Speaker B is giving instead of simply denying s/he said X+n (because X is in the category of X+n).
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