clarissethorn comments on Is masochism necessary? - Less Wrong

8 Post author: PhilGoetz 10 April 2009 11:48PM

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Comment author: PhilGoetz 11 April 2009 08:12:42PM *  3 points [-]

If you jump into discussions of BDSM with moral accusations, and threaten people with social rejection unless they discuss it the way you want them to, you discourage people from talking about it at all. That's not to your advantage.

Thanks for the links - I'll look into them. I appreciate your sharing your knowledge.

Comment author: clarissethorn 12 April 2009 06:32:16PM *  5 points [-]

I made no moral accusations and I threatened no social rejection. I pointed out your bias. I did it with strong words; maybe I should apologize for that; I'm an orator, I don't usually run in specifically "rationalist" circles, and I'm used to a different kind of conversation.

In terms of discouraging discussion, here's what I think discourages discussion:

1) Any request for ideas that implies that people who have some experience with the matter at hand are "perverts" -- this insults and scares off people who could contribute to your discussion.

2) The implication that telling people they're being judgmental is the same as "threatening people with social rejection" or "making moral accusations" -- this tells potential commenters that if they call you out on your bias, you'll refuse to listen because you feel so hurt that someone called you biased.

Comment author: JulianMorrison 12 April 2009 07:02:19PM 2 points [-]

I think people here are used to being more "clinically detached" than you're used to. It's a bit of a clash of styles. You see PG above as judgmental, but I read him as trying to suggest a way of talking that would gain you better results.

Comment author: PhilGoetz 12 April 2009 08:27:59PM *  1 point [-]

The implication that telling people they're being judgmental is the same as "threatening people with social rejection" or "making moral accusations"

I didn't mean to imply that. I meant to say it clearly and unambiguously. It's the same to me.

How would you engage in discussion with someone who hates BDSM, if you don't want them to say anything negative about it?

And, yes, as long as you keep accusing me of bias, I'm not in the mood to talk about the actual content with you. I care more about defending my reputation than I do about the philosophy and psychology of masochism. Notice that we're not talking about content? That your participation is now impeding the conversation instead of facilitating it? The conversation should not be about my bias. People's opinion of my bias is important to me, so it's rational for me to spend all my time in this thread defending myself instead of addressing the issues I originally wanted to address. It isn't very important to anyone else, so I don't understand why you want to keep at it.

I suppose because you feel like I am accusing you of a moral lapse. The way for you to defend yourself against the charge of having made a gratuitous accusation of bias is to show that I'm biased; then the way for me to defend myself is to show that you made a gratuitous accusation.

Can we just call a truce?

Comment author: JulianMorrison 12 April 2009 09:21:19PM 0 points [-]

I care more about defending my reputation [...] People's opinion of my bias is important to me

Why?