On Fri, 16 Jun 2000 02:02:30 -0400, Michael Upton wrote:
quoted 8 lines ===== Original Message From edhall@weirdnoise.com =====
>>===== Original Message From edhall@weirdnoise.com =====
>>Saying you can't stand something is an opinion. Saying it
>>is garbage is an attempt to state an opinion as a fact.
>
>FWIW, I would consider the second sentence above to be an attempt to state an
>opinion as a fact. At the least you are doing exactly the same thing,
>grammatically (using a passive mood over personal pronouns), so if grammatical
>constructions are all that matter, you're just as guilty.
i'm pretty sure he was under the impression that what he was stating
*was* a fact.
quoted 6 lines I tend to think that the key thing this kind of stuff misses by a country mile
>I tend to think that the key thing this kind of stuff misses by a country mile
>is that people use language differently on mailing lists. Consider your
>context. Some people carefully pick every word, others are more colloquial and
>chatty. Saying "when you write this, this is the result" strikes me as
>nonsense, if the massive amount of stylistic variation from poster to poster
>is not considered.
having studied anthropology, i really appreciate what you've said
here. on the other hand, as a student of anthropology, i also have
to respect that one of the features of any culture, no matter how
small, is that it is held together by common accepted practices. it
seems to me that what's at issue here is whether it should be an
accepted practice in the culture of this list to make statements of
opinion like I made, or if it should be more formal and require more
effort in each post.
to be a participant in the culture of this list (i'm pretty new here,
as i'm sure has been noticed), i'm willing to put extra effort in my
posts and clarify my opinions when i write them, so those of you
complaining about my "it's garbage" statement are half-winning. i
say 'half' because i'm not going to stop talking about confucianism,
and there's nothing you can do to make me stop! i wasn't talking
about confucianism? oh, nevermind then.
quoted 2 lines is that it's impossible to know where any individual poster is coming from to
>is that it's impossible to know where any individual poster is coming from to
>the degree you're ascribing above.
true, i agree completely. but i cede the point to those complaining
that it's nice when one makes the effort at making their opinions
more clearly that. at least for the sake of the group as a whole.
sort of like when you're stranded on an island somewhere, and you
agree to die for the good of the group so that the others might
survive longer by eating you.
ok, maybe not.
-adam
--
Adam Piontek [
http://www.tcinternet.net/users/damek/]
ICQ: 3456339 [damek@earthling.net]
... "Well, you did say Jehova..." <Thunk!>
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