From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Sun Jun 27 2004 - 07:41:29 BST
Dear Mark H.,
You wrote 26 Jun 2004 17:01:08 -0700:
'An example of a wind-up would be me saying "Notice the high-caliber
deductive reasoning in play as the OR analyzes the results of his Google
search: Some Heymans are associated with some synagogues, therefore all
Heymans are Jews." ... I think such observations and tactics can serve a
purpose in discussions: they are sometimes very funny, and can use this
humor to emphasize important points. This is why I don't mind having them
directed at me, and why I'd hate to see them banned entirely.'
Fun at the expense of others can serve the purpose of emphasizing important
points.
It makes it very difficult for those made fun of to participate
constructively in the debate, however.
When it is done in front of an audience (and not -as you could have don in
this case- in an off-list e-mail to Paul Vogel) it also expresses
(inadvertently I assume) a 3rd level pattern of value: it serves to increase
your status at the expense of his in the eyes of others. If you are trying
to rationalize that behaviour, the 4th level quality of your reasoning
decreases, as you are then effectively justifying (maintaining) that 3rd
level pattern of value instead of motivating changing it to the better (as
4th level patterns of value should do in the face of relatively low quality
3rd level patterns of value).
In other words: even if fun at the expense of others serves good purposes,
the negative side-effects outweigh them.
With friendly greetings,
Wim
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