Wondering

[delwynmarch]

Celoneth wrote:
> You made that theory in a conversation about DD being gay,

Del wrote:
That's true, though you'll notice I did start a whole new thread to
present my theory. I didn't just insert it into a pre-existing thread.
However, my choice of words for the title definitely wasn't very smart.

> and calling a gay person an ephebophile is not a neutral thing -
> the gay = sexual deviant logic has been used by bigots and when a 
> lot of people read such a statement, they're going to be put on 
> guard automatically.

I understand that. I just wish that people had asked me questions to
clarify my position rather than jump to conclusions.

> Frankly, your evidence to support your theory is weak and maybe 
> that's why so many people have a problem with it.

I know the evidence is weak, that's even why I don't believe in the
theory myself. However, I'm puzzled as to how weak evidence relates to
moral motives.

> otherwise it sound like you're speculating to prove a very 
> controversial position.

What would be wrong with that? It's been done before on this list,
countless times. We are supposed to be among adults, not among
hot-headed teenagers, so being able to explore more controversial
positions without people immediately firing off in all directions is
supposed to be one of the luxuries this group can afford.

> Furthermore, some of your analogies - comparing gays to murderers,
> making it sound as if being gay is a "moral crime" just sound 
> horribly offensive. I appreciate you taking time to explain them, 
> but your original choice of language is problematic - you use loaded
> terms and analogies and then are upset that people get offended by 
> them. Language matters a lot, a lot of words and ideas have 
> historical connotations that significantly impact the meaning of 
> those words.

I understand that. However:
1- English is not my mother tongue, so the loaded aspect of those
terms is something I am not naturally aware of. Like for example I
didn't know that saying "homosexual" can be offensive to some gay and
lesbian people.
2- My posts are being moderated (on my request), so whatever ends up
on the main list was approved by the Elves. They have not been shy,
believe me, in asking me to re-word some of my posts, or even to drop
entire parts of them altogether. So not only am I personally putting
efforts into wording my posts in such a way as to avoid as much
controversy as possible, but the Elves are also checking that what
remains is not too overly controversial.

And frankly, what I have mostly seen is not so much people getting
offended at what I actually said, but people reading my posts and
answering some other argument entirely that I never even mentioned.
IOW: projection. Now I can understand a bit of accidental projection
at first, but when people are told that they got it wrong and yet
insist that they got it right, well, that's entirely out of my control.

Del