Readers mentally compress all your writings

[uppi]

A mini, different example in that thread: Luiz and I had a productive exchange discussing diversity and its forms, but he made clear to disagree with my statement about Europeans hating freedom. I wrote a two sentence but on Europeans not having the same freedom we believe in in america, indeed they don't even really believe in it. He compressed that to "Hygro thinks Europeans hate freedom".

Might be worth a thread of its own. My response to that statement would be that the statement is also true in reverse: Americans do not have and do not believe in the same freedom Europeans have and believe in.

@BvBPL Yes. People will misunderstand you, it's up to them to be better understanderers

Only up to a point. There is only so much effort I am willing to spend to understand someone else. This is obviously modified by my own interest in the subject, but there is nevertheless a limit even for the most interesting topics. If someone is unable to form a coherent argument or, worse, deliberately obtuse, I have better use of my time than trying to decipher it.

 

[JollyRoger]

You all have been compressing my writing here to one liners.

 

[El_Machinae]

Well, I think there's an onus to write in a way that will encourage people to read. This is especially true if you're writing for any moral reason. I've 3-clicked my share of SJWs on Facebook. Ostensibly, I am their political ally, but they'd still rather write in a way that gets them ignored.

I've made this point a few times to those who link Breitbart. They should just know that linking the Stupid-B means that most people reading their post stamps them with a label that means much of their future writings will be ignored. They then have to hope that people read the parts of their posts that people quote in order to give a dignified response.

Civ now hides the quotes of people you have on ignore, too. Which means that it's now much more odious work for me to figure out why one of the respected posters gives a sensible paragraph as a total non-sequiter.

If you're posting for an important cause, it's important to write in a way that people will read your insights fairly and critically. I'd say there's even an onus.