Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to gradually narrowing in

I'm always partly sarcastic
alcaray — (archived)

But there is a real issues here (at least to my way of thinking). When you have a generic term that defines a set of people, it invites a lot of fallacious reasoning. Here is an example:

I say: "You right-wingers never met a weapon system you didn't want to buy."

You say: "That's not true in my case. Clearly, I came out in opposition to weapon system xyz."

I say: "Well, maybe not you personally, but most of you right-wingers."

You say: "Well I've got a poll here that shows that a majority of Republicans weren't so hot on weapon system xyz, either."

I say: "Maybe not the rank and file, but there's a group of your leadership and commentators that have this mind-set. Everybody knows this. You are just being obtuse." And to prove my case all I have to do is find a link to a conservative who said something nice about weapon system xyz.

In fact the word obtuse is often used in arguements as a way of shaming the other antagonist into going along with an "everybody knows" arguement.

And don't get me started on the "all darkies love watermellon" example.

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