Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought the point was supposed to be that when you *successfully* break down someone else's reality, the loss of that reality is painful. So rather than stuff your success in the loser's face, you should be kind.
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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Perhaps, but it was tweeted in abstraction from everything else. And “be kind” was not qualified. I am seeking qualification, it’s really not complicated or difficult to understand or acknowledge. And I am not denigrating the suitably qualified point.
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