I mostly disagree that better reasons matter in a relevant way here, especially since I am currently reading your intent as not one of informing me of that you think there is a norm that should be enforced but instead a bid to enforce that norm. To me what’s relevant is intended effect.
Suppose I’m talking with a group of loose acquaintances, and one of them says (in full seriousness), “I’m not homophobic. It’s not that I’m afraid of gays, I just think that they shouldn’t exist.”
It seem to me that it is appropriate for me to say, “Hey man, that’s not ok to say.” It might be that a number of other people in the conversation would back me up (or it might be that they they defend the first guy), but there wasn’t common knowledge of that fact beforehand.
In some sense, this is a bid to establish a new norm, by pushing a the private opinions of a number of people into common knowledge. It also seems to me to be a virtuous thing to do in many situations.
(Noting that my response to the guy is not: “Hey, you can’t do that, because I get to decide what people do around here.” It’s “You can’t do that, because it’s bad” and depending on the group to respond to that claim in one way or another.)
“Here are some things you’re welcome to do, except if you do them I will label them as something else and disagree with them.”
Your claim that you had tentative conclusions that you were willing to update away from is starting to seem like lip service.
I am currently reading your intent as not one of informing me of that you think there is a norm that should be enforced
Literally my first response to you centers around the phrase “I think it’s a good and common standard to be skeptical of (and even hostile toward) such claims.” That’s me saying “I think there’s a norm here that it’s good to follow,” along with detail and nuance à la here’s when it’s good not to follow it.
This is a question of inferred intent, not what you literally said. I am generally hesitant to take much moderation action based on what I infer, but you have given me additional reason to believe my interpretation is correct in a nonpublic thread on Facebook.
(If admins feel this means I should use a reign of terror moderation policy I can switch to that.)
Regardless, I consider this a warning of my local moderation policy only and don’t plan to take action on this particular thread.
Er, I generally have FB blocked, but I have now just seen the thread on FB that Duncan made about you, and that does change how I read the dialogue (it makes Duncan’s comments feel more like they’re motivated by social coordination around you rather than around meditation/spirituality, which I’d previously assumed).
(Just as an aside, I think it would’ve been clearer to me if you’d said “I feel like you’re trying to attack me personally for some reason and so it feels especially difficult to engage in good faith with this particular public accusation of norm-violation” or something like that.)
I may make some small edit to my last comment up-thread a little after taking this into account, though I am still curious about your answer to the question as I initially stated it.
I can have different agendas and follow different norms on different platforms. Just saying. If I were trying to do the exact same thing in this thread as I am in the FB thread, they would have the same words, instead of different words.
(The original objection *does* contain the same words, but Gordon took the conversation in meaningfully different directions on the two different platforms.)
I note that above, Gordon is engaging in *exactly* the same behavior that I was trying to shine a spotlight on (claiming to understand my intent better than I do myself/holding to his model that I intend X despite my direct claims to the contrary).
I mostly disagree that better reasons matter in a relevant way here, especially since I am currently reading your intent as not one of informing me of that you think there is a norm that should be enforced but instead a bid to enforce that norm. To me what’s relevant is intended effect.
What’s the difference?
Suppose I’m talking with a group of loose acquaintances, and one of them says (in full seriousness), “I’m not homophobic. It’s not that I’m afraid of gays, I just think that they shouldn’t exist.”
It seem to me that it is appropriate for me to say, “Hey man, that’s not ok to say.” It might be that a number of other people in the conversation would back me up (or it might be that they they defend the first guy), but there wasn’t common knowledge of that fact beforehand.
In some sense, this is a bid to establish a new norm, by pushing a the private opinions of a number of people into common knowledge. It also seems to me to be a virtuous thing to do in many situations.
(Noting that my response to the guy is not: “Hey, you can’t do that, because I get to decide what people do around here.” It’s “You can’t do that, because it’s bad” and depending on the group to respond to that claim in one way or another.)
“Here are some things you’re welcome to do, except if you do them I will label them as something else and disagree with them.”
Your claim that you had tentative conclusions that you were willing to update away from is starting to seem like lip service.
Literally my first response to you centers around the phrase “I think it’s a good and common standard to be skeptical of (and even hostile toward) such claims.” That’s me saying “I think there’s a norm here that it’s good to follow,” along with detail and nuance à la here’s when it’s good not to follow it.
This is a question of inferred intent, not what you literally said. I am generally hesitant to take much moderation action based on what I infer, but you have given me additional reason to believe my interpretation is correct in a nonpublic thread on Facebook.
(If admins feel this means I should use a reign of terror moderation policy I can switch to that.)
Regardless, I consider this a warning of my local moderation policy only and don’t plan to take action on this particular thread.
Er, I generally have FB blocked, but I have now just seen the thread on FB that Duncan made about you, and that does change how I read the dialogue (it makes Duncan’s comments feel more like they’re motivated by social coordination around you rather than around meditation/spirituality, which I’d previously assumed).
(Just as an aside, I think it would’ve been clearer to me if you’d said “I feel like you’re trying to attack me personally for some reason and so it feels especially difficult to engage in good faith with this particular public accusation of norm-violation” or something like that.)
I may make some small edit to my last comment up-thread a little after taking this into account, though I am still curious about your answer to the question as I initially stated it.
I can have different agendas and follow different norms on different platforms. Just saying. If I were trying to do the exact same thing in this thread as I am in the FB thread, they would have the same words, instead of different words.
(The original objection *does* contain the same words, but Gordon took the conversation in meaningfully different directions on the two different platforms.)
I note that above, Gordon is engaging in *exactly* the same behavior that I was trying to shine a spotlight on (claiming to understand my intent better than I do myself/holding to his model that I intend X despite my direct claims to the contrary).