14 April 2004 - Wednesday
Office of the devil's advocate
Tonight I became embroiled in a discussion of women's suffrage. I argued the negative. I won.
I won handily, primarily because I avoided using any facts -- and slathered on royal helpings of bad biblical exegesis. In addition, I made question-begging appeals to the natural order of things. (Hmm. Maybe I can get Pat Robertson to hire me as a ghostwriter.)
I received some interesting looks from the females present. Not just looks, though. They kept trying to find some way to defeat my arguments. It didn't work very well. When it failed, they threatened to tell on me to my hypothetical future girlfriend.
Often enough, when I sense a relatively safe opportunity to make a bad argument look sound, I take it. Tonight the issue was suffrage; on another night it might be mandatory euthanasia or something. I like a little verbal soft-shoe now and again. I'm not all that good at it, but I appreciate the practice. So, Anna and Ardith, I thank you for the opportunity. Now stop glaring at me like that.
| Posted by Wilson at 1:30 Central | TrackBack| Report submitted to the Life Desk
All I have to say is that I enjoyed the conversation immensely. I was very saddened by Wheeler and Gallagher's responses to a good bit of devil's advocacy. After all... there's no idea so dangerous that it can't be discussed; especially if it's an idea as good as revoking women's suffrage. Nice show wenches... better luck next time.
The thoughts of Vengeful Cynic on 14 April 2004 - 10:17 Central+ + + + +
The only really annoying thing about it was that you weren't playing fair. You weren't being logical yourself, and yet you're fond of complaining that females aren't. Bad form, Wilson, bad form.
The thoughts of Ardith on 15 April 2004 - 0:32 Central+ + + + +
It wasn't a matter of logic. It was a matter of presupposition. You failed completely to deal with my arguments as I presented them, instead vaguely whining about how "that's not logical" without presenting any viable counterargument. Given my ostensible premises, some of my conclusions were fairly sound -- and the rest sounded as if they were. It was hardly my responsibility to make the opposing case for you.
The thoughts of Wilson on 15 April 2004 - 0:44 Central+ + + + +
*laughs*
Whatever. Clearly, I expect too much reasonableness out of you.
The thoughts of Ardith on 15 April 2004 - 13:01 Central+ + + + +
Clearly, you've missed the entire point of devil's advocacy.
The thoughts of Wilson on 15 April 2004 - 13:22 Central+ + + + +
*beats head on desk*
Gah! This was what I was saying over and over and over . . . It was QUITE painfully obvious that Wilson was forgoing all attempts to be logical and was just saying things that you couldn't refute for the sake of driving to contemplate violent action against his person! And you totally let him get away with it! . . . But you didn't actually commit any violent acts! I ask you, what is the point?!
How do they miss this stuff?
The thoughts of Blame Jared on 15 April 2004 - 15:31 Central+ + + + +
Who said anything about missing stuff?
*evil grin*
The thoughts of Ardith on 15 April 2004 - 16:37 Central+ + + + +
I say quite a bit about the wenches missing things because it was readily apparent to those present that Ardith and Anna were completely missing most (if not all) of Wilson's points. That said, I would also like to assert that even without catching Wilson's point, the wenches should have made a much better showing of themselves. Not that either are much in the way of debate or logical argumentation... but I'm pretty sure that many grade-schoolers could have outperformed the wenches. For shame...
The thoughts of Vengeful Cynic on 16 April 2004 - 0:36 Central+ + + + +
I would greatly appreciate it, Scholl, if you would avoid bringing personal insults into this. It would be inappropriate to use that night's exchange as an excuse to demean their intelligence, particularly since I was clearly the one arguing a problematic ideology. To Ardith and Anna I apologize for the insult.
The thoughts of Wilson on 16 April 2004 - 1:32 Central+ + + + +
Ummm . . . Speaking of grade-schoolers, Scholl, isn't THAT the age when you're supposed to get most of the childish bickering and generally pointless running-down of the opposite sex out of your system? I mean, really . . . Let's not pound people we care for (that make up a significant portion of the human population, besides) TOTALLY into the ground, eh?
The thoughts of Blame Jared on 16 April 2004 - 1:35 Central+ + + + +
Be it said this, while I did respond here and there--mostly with glares--I was busy doing my work and therefore I missed many of Wilson's points because I was ignoring him, having better things to do with my time.
The thoughts of banana on 17 April 2004 - 14:25 Central+ + + + +
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Ladies, I hate to say "I told you so," but . . . *thinks* No, actually I love saying that.
I told you so! And so did Gallagher! When are you people going to learn to ignore this sort of thing rather than encourage it by attempting to argue with someone who isn't the least bit serious! Everyone knows he's wrong, you needn't try and convince him of it! Gah!
The thoughts of Blame Jared on 14 April 2004 - 1:34 Central+ + + + +