cousin_it comments on Rationality Quotes August 2012 - Less Wrong

6 Post author: Alejandro1 03 August 2012 03:33PM

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Comment author: cousin_it 16 August 2012 05:35:13PM 17 points [-]

If cats looked like frogs we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are.

-- Terry Pratchett, "Lords and Ladies"

Comment author: [deleted] 16 August 2012 10:10:56PM 1 point [-]

I don't get it. (Anyway, the antecedent is so implausible I have trouble evaluating the counterfactual. Is that supposed to be the point, à la “if my grandma had wheels”?)

Comment author: cousin_it 16 August 2012 10:39:05PM 23 points [-]

Here's the context of the quote:

“The thing about elves is they’ve got no . . . begins with m,” Granny snapped her fingers irritably.

“Manners?”

“Hah! Right, but no.”

“Muscle? Mucus? Mystery?”

“No. No. No. Means like . . . seein’ the other person’s point of view.”

Verence tried to see the world from a Granny Weatherwax perspective, and suspicion dawned.

“Empathy?”

“Right. None at all. Even a hunter, a good hunter, can feel for the quarry. That’s what makes ‘em a good hunter. Elves aren’t like that. They’re cruel for fun, and they can’t understand things like mercy. They can’t understand that anything apart from themselves might have feelings. They laugh a lot, especially if they’ve caught a lonely human or a dwarf or a troll. Trolls might be made out of rock, your majesty, but I’m telling you that a troll is your brother compared to elves. In the head, I mean.”

“But why don’t I know all this?”

“Glamour. Elves are beautiful. They’ve got,” she spat the word, “style. Beauty. Grace. That’s what matters. If cats looked like frogs we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That’s what people remember. They remember the glamour. All the rest of it, all the truth of it, becomes . . . old wives’ tales.”