(no subject)
I almost cannot believe someone just said this in a discussion about racism. Except there it is.
pnh: I wouldn't even split the problem into "authors" and "readers". Some people are smarter than others, to put it as baldly as possible.
Of course, not-so-bright people are entitled to justice, as are (also) people who don't express themselves well. As the ghost of John Rawls reminds me, all of us fall into both of those categories at many points in our life, so we should always be suspicious of the temptation to "worship language, and forgive / all of those who by it live."
This does not, however, amount to an unlimited claim on our time and energy by people who can't sort out the difference between their inner feelings and the exterior world of discourse. We can try to help them but we cannot be their servants.
(Links to earlier parts of the discussion are linked in rydra-wong's journal from 12 January.)
pnh: I wouldn't even split the problem into "authors" and "readers". Some people are smarter than others, to put it as baldly as possible.
Of course, not-so-bright people are entitled to justice, as are (also) people who don't express themselves well. As the ghost of John Rawls reminds me, all of us fall into both of those categories at many points in our life, so we should always be suspicious of the temptation to "worship language, and forgive / all of those who by it live."
This does not, however, amount to an unlimited claim on our time and energy by people who can't sort out the difference between their inner feelings and the exterior world of discourse. We can try to help them but we cannot be their servants.
(Links to earlier parts of the discussion are linked in rydra-wong's journal from 12 January.)