Subject:
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Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 11 Oct 1999 03:50:27 GMT
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Viewed:
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923 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Scott Edward Sanburn writes:
OK - as your posting was mostly just an 'I agree' response
to what Larry wrote, I wouldn't have thought of replying to
it - until I saw this.
> defending free markets and no whining! :) More power to both of you!
The following applies to you Scott, Mike Stanley, Tom Stangl, and anyone
else who uses the word 'whining' to describe those who happen to
disagree with them.
Larry has just posted a very interesting and informative message
on the subject of the blue hopper car issue. Now as anyone who follows
off-topic.debate will know, I abhor Larry's politics. He and I are poles
apart in our political views. Nevertheless I respect him as a solid,
honest, and reliable trader, and - more importantly here - as someone
who does think through his arguments, and almost always tries to
reason things out. I know that if I post up a serious argument, any
reply from Larry will usually also be serious, and be worth reading
carefully. I might disagree with his basic premises, his conclusions,
and aspects of his reasoning. But I can still see where he's coming
from. Sadly, amongst the right wingers and total-free-market
supporters here, Larry is one of not many people I can say all that
about.
When you resort to such things as just calling the arguments
you don't agree with 'whining' you are doing little more than
political name-calling. You are using emotive or pejorative words
as a substitute for actually coming up with any reason for
holding the opinions you do. It might sound impressive to you
but to people who don't agree with you it just looks
(a) pretty immature, and
(b) like you're name-calling because you don't have any serious
arguments to back up your opinions with.
And frankly, it doesn't make for a constructive contribution
to any debate.
Perhaps you don't care whether that's the impression you
give (but then if you didn't care what people thought, why
post anything at all?)
To be fair, people on all sides of political arguments do that
sometimes - I've probably let myself slip into using emotive
words in that way myself a few times - and there's also been
times when I've been irritated to see people I actually agree with
doing it excessively - but it is hard to avoid it
all the time. But if your messages contain little else but
that kind of tone and no actual reasoning - which is certainly
true of this posting of yours - then what are you trying to
achieve? If you just want to register your agreement with
Larry then it IS possible to do that without name-calling
people you don't agree with. If you want to add anything
by way of justifying your and his views, then perhaps you
could try posting something logical and coherent that we
could seriously discuss?
Simon
http://www.SimonRobinson.com
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...
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| (...) or: (c) Don't always have enough time to spend on a well-reasoned reply that will ultimately fall on the deaf ears of someone whose opinions are simply wrong-headed. (...) Most people who actually engage in debates have no intention of being (...) (25 years ago, 11-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...
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| Simon, (...) Heaven forbid I might use a word. (...) As I do yours, but I digress. (...) I can tell you things about political name calling, but I don't feel like bringing that up again. (...) First of all, Simon, I was not really replying to you, I (...) (25 years ago, 11-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Blue Hopper Car Mania...
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| This whole subject is a rehash from a debate from a few months ago, but it keeps surfacing... (...) I hope not as well. Larry is as sharp as ever. I love reading both of your responses. It is refreshing to see people of your caliber (both Larry & (...) (25 years ago, 11-Oct-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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