Gautam Mukunda wrote:
>
> --- David Hobby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Yes, I feel it is reasonable to call the US flag a
> > "symbol of hatred", in the sense that many who wave
> > it most
> > fervently do so partially out of hate. You seem to
> > have
> > removed all of the modifiers from your restatement.
> > For comparison, part of my original post is quoted
> > below.
> > ---David
> >
> > P.S. Do you use "extremist" as more than a label
> > for those you
> > disagree with? If you define it as "more than 3
> > sigma from the
> > mean", or something, then we could continue this
> > discussion. But
> > if someone is an extremist just because you say so,
> > I really have
> > no opportunity to reply.
>
> No, I don't. I use it for people who are completely
> out of the mainstream - which you have dramatically
> demonstrated you are.
...
"Out of the mainstream"? So then we could in principle
settle this issue with a poll of American citizens? We ask
them "Do you agree that many who wave the American flag most
fervently do so partially out of hate?", or whatever, and if
the percentage of "yes" responses is more than some cutoff, then
I am in fact "in the mainstream"?
Or is "the mainstream" also something that you and only
you get to define? As I've observed in a similar case recently,
if you get to define all of the words your way then you will
probably "win" your argument. But you won't have been arguing
WITH anybody, because no one else has agreed to your definitions!
---David
Beware of circular arguments...
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