How to argue race, or anything at all, really, in alt.callahans

John Palmer

Posted in alt.callahans 8th April 2001

1. Assume you are right. This is imperative. If you assume that you merely have a good idea, you may have to listen to other viewpoints to gain information to assimilate into your worldview. This is a royal pain in the ass, and why the hell would you want to do that here, anyway? Learning about people, in Callahans? Get real.

2. Listen to other viewpoints for the sole purpose of pointing out how terribly wrong they are, and how much more correct your views are. This isn’t as important as the first rule; after all, you can just not listen to other viewpoints at all.

   However, Bad Things will happen if you listen to other viewpoints in an attempt to understand.

   You might end up finding that your views have disturbing results when applied, and this might make you question your axioms.

   You might end up realizing that your views are not complete, and do not give all answers to all possible questions that can be raised.

   Important: You might end up learning about another person’s feelings and perspective. If you end up falling for that bullshit, you might start believing other garbage like sharing pain is going to make it less, or that sharing joy will make it more. And what kind of moron would go for that kind of thing?

3. When a person has a different opinion, that person is an enemy. Mercy is not due the enemy. Nor is any other form of sharing in the common pain of being human.

4. If anyone disagrees with you in even the most minor particular, make sure that you caricature them, or their argument, with an illogically extreme view opposing your own. The minute you admit there are shades of grey, you’re forgetting Rule 1.

5. Above all else, remember that differences in ideas and feelings are hundreds of times more important than any concept of friendship or fellowship. Never, ever, ever let friendship stand in the way of attacking or mocking an opposing viewpoint. How could you be friends with someone who disagrees with you?