But if you claim to be charitable and openminded, except when confronted by a test that affects your own community, then you’re using those words as performative weapons, deliberately or not.
I guess “charitable” here is referring to the principle of charity, but I think that is supposed to apply in a debate or discussion, to make them more productive and less likely to go off the rails. But in this case there is no debate, as far as I can tell. The NYT reporter or others representing NYT have not given a reason for doxxing Scott (AFAIK, except to cite a “policy” for doing so, but that seems false because there have been plenty of times when they’ve respected their subjects’ wishes to remain pseudonymous), so what are people supposed to be charitable about?
If instead the intended meaning of “charitable and openminded” is something like “let’s remain uncertain about NYT’s motives for doxxing Scott until we know more”, it seems like absence of any “principled reasons” provided so far is already pretty strong evidence for ruling out certain motives, leaving mostly “dumb mistake” and “evil or selfish” as the remaining possibilities. Given that, I’m not sure what people are doing that Richard thinks is failing the test to be “charitable and openminded”, especially given that NYT has not shown a willingness to engage in a discussion so far and the time-sensitive nature of the situation.
I guess “charitable” here is referring to the principle of charity, but I think that is supposed to apply in a debate or discussion, to make them more productive and less likely to go off the rails. But in this case there is no debate, as far as I can tell. The NYT reporter or others representing NYT have not given a reason for doxxing Scott (AFAIK, except to cite a “policy” for doing so, but that seems false because there have been plenty of times when they’ve respected their subjects’ wishes to remain pseudonymous), so what are people supposed to be charitable about?
If instead the intended meaning of “charitable and openminded” is something like “let’s remain uncertain about NYT’s motives for doxxing Scott until we know more”, it seems like absence of any “principled reasons” provided so far is already pretty strong evidence for ruling out certain motives, leaving mostly “dumb mistake” and “evil or selfish” as the remaining possibilities. Given that, I’m not sure what people are doing that Richard thinks is failing the test to be “charitable and openminded”, especially given that NYT has not shown a willingness to engage in a discussion so far and the time-sensitive nature of the situation.