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People are getting mad at this tweet so I'm gonna do the hopeless thing where I try to explain what I meant, thinking people will somehow prefer to know my actual perspective over their more sensationalist interpretation:

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Aella

@Aella_Girl

Nov 10, 2019

Replying to @scullytaco

Maybe it is killing a baby, but if killing a fetus = killing a baby then i'm fine with mothers killing their babies.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

Nov 11, 2019

I meant that words are irrelevant - that at the end of the day we're both talking about the same cluster of cells with the same properties, and nothing changes if you call it "baby" or "fetus" - so if you say "sensational words" = the thing we're talking about, then sure whatever

Aella

@Aella_Girl

But sensational words don't change the fundamental thing. If we say "kissing your kid on the forehead is sexual assault" then I'm gonna say "then I'm fine with sexual assault", because we're not here to fight over words, we're here to communicate about the underlying thing!

6:39 PM · Nov 11, 2019

Replying to

I wonder if people would respond differently if you had capitalized IF and THEN

Replying to

I think for the sake of clarity you're better off saying like "then by your definitions I'm ok with this particular kind of 'assault' "

Dr Kate Storrs in NZ!

@katestorrs

Nov 11, 2019

Replying to

@Aella_Girl

I understood and fully agree :)

Replying to

Lol, look who said they are ok with sexual assault. /s Seriously it's like middle school.

Replying to

Well, at least tweets like these weed out the mentally weak if nothing else. No need to entertain sensationalists’ need for drama.

Replying to

We can't even get to a reasonable discussion on some of these issues. Just buzzword, buzzword, boom. We might be too ignorant for Democracy at this point.

Replying to

I'm a little terrified that there seems to be such a blatant epistemic disconnect between people who have internalized the map-territory distinction and people who haven't.

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