I strongly suspect that tone and body language are a key component in whether the statement “that’s not right” is interpreted as “I disagree, let’s talk about it” or “shut up and think what I think”.
I further suspect that a tendency to interpret ambiguous or missing subtext in a negative or overly critical way correlates strongly with being “thin-skinned”. This is partly based on having both of these characteristics myself. A potential counter-argument here is that it is not “rational” or useful to always assume the worst in personal interactions if you have evidence to follow instead (Have people generally meant the worst things possible when I have been unsure in the past?), but the important thing to remember here is that we are not dealing with people who have had time to be trained in that way. A martial arts master does not go all out against a beginner knowing that they will one day be able to handle it.
It would be unwise to alienate a group of potential rationalists if there is a relatively simple way to avoid it. If it would cripple the discourse or otherwise be quite detrimental to implement any sort of fix, then I would not advocate that course of action. However, I believe that to not be the case.
At this time, I would like to agree with RichardKennaway’s observation that Plasmon’s option A was quite different from the situation posited by Submitter B, and further agree with his hypothesis that even option A is some sort of improvement (largely due to the word “may”).
My conclusion is that a few changes of word choices would be a low-cost, medium-reward first step in the right direction. This would include using words such as “may”, particularly in the context of someone’s perceived domain of expertise or cherished belief. Also, explicitly starting an evidence based conversation while voicing your disagreement.
Example: I disagree with your statement that “Most civilized people are [open to being convinced]”. As (anecdotal) evidence, I submit the large number of Americans who are closemindedly religious.
I strongly suspect that tone and body language are a key component in whether the statement “that’s not right” is interpreted as “I disagree, let’s talk about it” or “shut up and think what I think”.
I further suspect that a tendency to interpret ambiguous or missing subtext in a negative or overly critical way correlates strongly with being “thin-skinned”. This is partly based on having both of these characteristics myself. A potential counter-argument here is that it is not “rational” or useful to always assume the worst in personal interactions if you have evidence to follow instead (Have people generally meant the worst things possible when I have been unsure in the past?), but the important thing to remember here is that we are not dealing with people who have had time to be trained in that way. A martial arts master does not go all out against a beginner knowing that they will one day be able to handle it.
It would be unwise to alienate a group of potential rationalists if there is a relatively simple way to avoid it. If it would cripple the discourse or otherwise be quite detrimental to implement any sort of fix, then I would not advocate that course of action. However, I believe that to not be the case.
At this time, I would like to agree with RichardKennaway’s observation that Plasmon’s option A was quite different from the situation posited by Submitter B, and further agree with his hypothesis that even option A is some sort of improvement (largely due to the word “may”).
My conclusion is that a few changes of word choices would be a low-cost, medium-reward first step in the right direction. This would include using words such as “may”, particularly in the context of someone’s perceived domain of expertise or cherished belief. Also, explicitly starting an evidence based conversation while voicing your disagreement.
Example: I disagree with your statement that “Most civilized people are [open to being convinced]”. As (anecdotal) evidence, I submit the large number of Americans who are closemindedly religious.