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1. cousin+R2[view] [source] 2018-02-15 09:22:00
>>andren+(OP)
This is a "culture war" topic, let's prepare for the shitshow in the comments.

I'd like to offer some advice to make things go a bit more smoothly. There's a widespread view that all beliefs are political, you can't be apolitical, and anyone arguing for a belief opposing yours must be an enemy. To me, that view is pretty much a type error. Beliefs are value-neutral. Only arguments for or against beliefs can be political or not.

More specifically, some arguments are rational (based on evidence) while other arguments are political (based on who benefits and who loses). You can be a very civil person, but still reach for political arguments when defending your beliefs, and thus cause net harm. Or you can be a rude person, but drawn to arguing based on evidence, and thus cause net benefit. It's up to you.

Now go forth and make a flamewar :-)

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2. tome+C6[view] [source] 2018-02-15 10:29:19
>>cousin+R2
> Beliefs are value-neutral. Only arguments for or against beliefs can be political or not.

I wonder why you didn't go a step further to postulate "only actions can be political or not". Of course argument is action, but it could be claimed that only argument qua action is political.

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3. cousin+Ae[view] [source] 2018-02-15 12:31:44
>>tome+C6
Because actions are downstream from beliefs, while arguments are upstream of beliefs. I prefer to fix bugs upstream.
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