July 4, 2011
"[A] decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Does a decent respect for the opinions of mankind ever impel you to declare anything?
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9 comments:
I'm divorced...does that count?
Yes.
As I've been saying a lot lately, take the stick out of your ass and just say it.
It's this idea that nobody can be offended that's bullshit.
Ask Carol Herman.
I really like this principle. It helps to keep me in check by reminding me to be explicit with my line of reasoning. If I'm making a public argument then a "decent respect" for others, or for my opponents, compels me to lay it all out if I'm being challenged.
It inspires me. I don't know if I always live up to it, but I think it makes me more honest.
Most of what I've declared has been to myself, but I know what they mean.
If you're going to do something, do it for reasons you're not ashamed to tell people.
Yeah:
Fuck off and leave me alone.
Not you, Ann, or any of the hillbillies here.
But Bloomberg, Obama, Romney and all the other assholes that want to tell me how to live.
DSK and Christine LaGarde too, for that matter.
John Henry
Yep, if you're going to ask people for help (and the American Revolution would not have succeeded without foreign help), then you have an obligation to tell those people why you're doing what you're doing.
If you're expecting to, in the future, have influence over others, then before you engage in a major and disruptive activity it would behove you to lay out why you're doing that. So that, for example, if someone else decides to imitate your actions, you can point out that they do, or do not, have the same justifications for their actions as you had for yours.
"I disagree"
"I will wear trousers next time I leave the house."
Maybe.
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