A thoughtful leftist friend of mine posted a series of "rebuttals" from a Progressive website called "So Informed" to their own caricature of Conservative talking points on recent current events. It's worth thinking through each of them in turn, especially since I haven't posted in a long stretch, as a way to engage with the current state of our national culture's slide into centralized authoritarianism. This friend gets full points for speaking her mind, engaging with compassion, and standing up for what she believes. My concern here is to correct improper frames for debates, inaccurate and/or beside-the-point facts, and logical fallacies. All of this is centered on the ideas in question, not impugning the motives of the holders of such ideas. It's done in the spirit of believing in the other's freedom and intelligence strongly enough to offer sincere chances for them to change their mind. The ideas themselves, however, come from somewher
Candid evaluation of assumptions as well as musings on consequences of political, religious, moral, scientific, linguistic and literary truths and pretensions thereto. Dissecting representations, critiquing arguments, discussing liberty, equality, justice, faith, values, facts, and the principles and institutions that make them all possible.