Zack_M_Davis comments on Talking Snakes: A Cautionary Tale - Less Wrong

107 Post author: Yvain 13 March 2009 01:41AM

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Comment author: SilasBarta 16 November 2009 01:03:40AM -2 points [-]

Baseless accusation? No, I provided a sound basis. Misreading of the original post? Show me the misreading.

Comment author: Zack_M_Davis 16 November 2009 03:21:01AM *  5 points [-]

You wrote, "Devout Muslim women in Muslim countries don't {...}" but the woman in the story is not identified as a "devout" Muslim; notice that she is portrayed as merely curious about Yvain's atheism and only expresses shock at his belief in evolution. (Cf. "Oh, thank goodness it's {the contradictions in holy texts}. I was afraid you were one of those crazies who believed that monkeys transformed into humans.") {ETA: Tyrrell McAllister points out what I was trying to get at more precisely than I did.}

I know very little about culture in the Arab world. I'm sure very many Muslim women would never chat with a male tourist in a cafe. But to say that it's utterly implausible that such an encounter is likely to happen in Cairo is a much stronger claim. Before calling Yvain a liar, you should have considered whether your model of social norms in major Middle-Eastern cities is wrong.