On Nov 21, 2009, at 6:38 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Shane Mage wrote:
>>
>> On Nov 21, 2009, at 3:38 PM, shag carpet bomb quoted:
>>>
>>> "What would it hurt other than my leftist pride if someone said I
>>> was being racist?...
>>
>> Like all personal insults, whether or not ending in "ist," it would
>> totally subvert the logos of the discussion underway. Otherwise it
>> would be welcome as one's opponent's humiliating admission of defeat
>> in argument.
>
> Note: In the context of the whole quotation from Angela, it makes a
> difference that the hypothetical "insult" was NOT "You are a racist"
> but
> "You are BEING a racist."...
Since "being" and "are" are both forms of the verb "to be," "being" in "are being" is merely an intensifier, emphasizing the insult that you are *now* a racist. If one meant "arguing like" or "making a racist argument" one would say so.
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos