MTGandP comments on In Defense of Moral Investigation - Less Wrong

-5 Post author: MTGandP 04 November 2012 04:26AM

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Comment author: MTGandP 04 November 2012 12:24:42AM 0 points [-]

I'm saying that a statement that black people 'were treated unfairly' 'not so long ago' implies a basic ignorance of the way black people still are treated

Perhaps you should not be so quick to assume my ignorance. If I say something that can be interpreted multiple ways, interpret it in the most charitable way possible.

Racism was certainly worse fifty or a hundred years ago than it is today. And, more specifically, it used to be commonly accepted that black people weren't as intelligent as white people. Today, many people (e.g. Gould) specifically try to avoid any facts that might give credence to this belief. I did not mean to imply that racism is entirely eliminated.

On Saying the Obvious

And if you downvote my comment, please explain why. I am just trying to clarify my position and I do not understand why that merits a downvote.

Comment author: TorqueDrifter 04 November 2012 12:34:20AM 7 points [-]

Communication is a two-way road (to a first approximation). You have chosen a particularly poor way to word this sentence. It is, except in the most pedantic sense, incorrect. Likewise, I would not say "women shouldn't have the right to vote" if I meant that I opposed democratic government in general, and if I did say this it would be my fault if I were 'misinterpreted'.