What if that reality includes the murder or oppression of innocent people? What if that reality involves holocaust or genocide? Am I going to feel sorry for the monster whose reality I am trying to break down? Even in the case of lesser evil, respectful ok, but kind? Why?
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And I’m focused on the “always remember” sentence quoted in the initial tweet. That sentence, as I see it, is false. The quicker we recognize its falsehood, the easier it becomes to move on to other matters. But sticking to a falsehood doesn’t help anything.
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The author of that quote was, pretty clearly, not advancing a general moral theory to be applied strictly via the universal qualifier to all situations. In any event,"Always remember" is modifying the "breaking down reality" claim; it is not clear it is modifying "be kind."
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And anyway, when someone is not writing a formal piece of philosophy but is rather trying to communicate a somewhat nuanced idea that might very well advance a more virtuous approach to disputation generally, it rather misses the mark to fire back "WHAT ABOUT X" claims.
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As far as I can tell, your view is that it's important to stress that, when arguing with a genocidal monster/racist/anti-semite, breaking down their worldview is good; the pain they may feel is morally irrelevant (or perhaps good?); and being unkind to them is justified. Yes?
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No, the pain is not morally irrelevant. Whether it is good or bad or neither depends on the situation. See, nuance. Not being kind can be justified, yes, especially when the abandoned belief is only one of a constellation of horrors.
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Yes, depending on the particulars of a case, almost any reaction can be justified. But the spirit of the author's message I thought was clear and the intended scope of the exhortation seemed to be cases of a more typical & pragmatic nature, not constellations of horrors.
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I can't tell if we're having a useful exchange or just kind of talking past each other. I hope not the latter, but, in any event, I wish you all the best - have to head to sleep now.
End of conversation
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I imagine there are some situations where not actively showing kindness to someone could be morally justified (though importantly, being kind is not the same as being "nice"). But then, there are probably some situations where almost any reaction to anything could be justified.
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That seems like a bit of an overstatement. But yes, there are counterexamplescto many general claims. Let us acknowledge them and move on, without dismissing them as weird or cartoonish.
End of conversation
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