Posted by Peter H on September 23, 2005 at 12:54:33 from 86.130.129.143 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Courage and Self discipline posted by Jock on September 23, 2005 at 08:08:32:
Hmm. Sure, most of what Jock says is reasonable enough. But I don't like his words in italics 'or should not appear to denigrate . .' Appear to whom?
The vast majority of chat site kerfuffles are caused by over-hasty reading of the posts. A statement might 'appear to denigrate' on a very quick reading, when in fact it doesn't, or it might 'appear to denigrate' to a person who is looking to be denigrated. BTW, in this context, I reckon emoticons simply confuse things.
Either a statement denigrates or it doesn't. Once you say 'appear to' then you are creating a charter for people to misread and misinterpret at will. Proper robust debate would be impossible.
If by any chance Jock is referring to my recent postings on this thread, I challenge him to read carefully Posts Nos. 18867, 18877 and 18891 and tell me where I 'appear to denigrate' the person I was replying to. By all means email me privately to continue this discussion.