I don’t think the rudeness was about the phrase, but the implication that anyone who disagreed was dumb. A raw assertion “this would be a disaster” is both clearer, and allows space to question and disagree. A judgement about readers “anyone with half a brain can see …” is worse on most dimensions, for LessWrong-style writing, at least. It’s fine for Facebook, for instance.
I don’t think the rudeness was about the phrase, but the implication that anyone who disagreed was dumb. A raw assertion “this would be a disaster” is both clearer, and allows space to question and disagree. A judgement about readers “anyone with half a brain can see …” is worse on most dimensions, for LessWrong-style writing, at least. It’s fine for Facebook, for instance.
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