In our climate of tribalism and putting people in political categories based on one idea, ascribing values to them, misrepresenting the values they state and accusations of 'virtue signalling' and nefarious motives, it is more important than ever to be sincere & assume sincerity
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This carries the risk of being 'trolled' by someone, but assuming people actually have some other motive for saying what they say or displaying the symbols they display or that their 'signifier' may or may not be related to the accepted 'signified' makes communication impossible
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There is the option of asking every person if they mean what they say or are just trolling a certain group or being ironic or making some kind of obscure artistic statement but the logistics of this are unmanageable, it wld be very irritating to the sincere & they cld still lie.
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I don't think doubting people's sincerity when they say something we find objectionable is the way to be charitable & open-minded. This punishes the sincere and leaves the insincere unaccountable. It should be an expectation that people are judge on what they say and do.
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Prioritise the sincere over the insincere. Better to be taken in by a troll than disbelieve a sincere person. On a daily, individual basis. The sincere are the ones who have earned the right to be taken seriously.
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I have been accused of being insincere in several contexts. 1)You're just a free speech grifter, trying to make money. This is motivated by a wish to dismiss my arguments by impugning my motivations and character. It's not good.
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2) You're obviously a troll. No-one is that stupid. This is motivated by certainty & a wish to dismiss ideas that threaten it. 3) You're not really an atheist/liberal. You're too nice/reasonable. This is motivated by a wish to keep associations stable & find me acceptable.
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None of those are good. None of those cases of assuming me insincere led to productive conversation & better understanding. Worst case scenario if you mistakenly assume a troll to be sincere is that they will laugh at having 'triggered' you. This reflects badly on them, not you
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This isn't a million miles away from the approach that
@danieldennett ascribes to Anatol Rapoport's rules for criticising others.pic.twitter.com/nlqYsTUZdO
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I've always thought it was a lovely way to approach people with a different opinion to yourself. It demands empathy, an open mind, and a willingness to be wrong/learn.pic.twitter.com/lFALD6WGEP
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You wouldn’t catch me with an antifa flag to ‘trigger the alt-right’ or a MAGA hat to ‘trigger the libs’ because it’s immature and I don’t want to be sneered at (or worse!) in the street.
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I feel kinda sorry for folk of all ideologies who so need to identify which 'tribe' they belong to. I feel a lot of younger folk in particular really struggle with a sense of 'self' and this is the result.
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Especially since "it's just a joke" is their most used bad faith excuse.
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