Friday, March 27, 2009

Lies and libel

Evolved Rationalist apparently finds lies and libel objectionable only when written by Christians and Scientologists; libel is perfectly okay when directed at people she doesn't like:
While all this despicable lunacy [persecution of supposed "witches" in Gambia] is going on around the world, the postmodernists still claim that we must leave them alone; and rant about how it is AWWRIGHT because their culture is different...or something fucktarded like that.
ER names postmodernists, not even some postmodernists (which would be intellectually dishonest in another way: you can find some members of any group that endorse almost anything; such a claim demonstrates nothing) so she would have to show that this was a majority of opinion. She also claims that that they still claim that we must leave the Gambians alone, so she would have to show the majority opinion exists and has been expressed after these news reports were widely known.

And what must we do to not just "leave them alone"? Invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity? It's one thing (quite objectionable) to assert that Gambians should not be criticized for their actions; it's quite another thing to argue that their actions, abhorrent as they are, do not justify imperialism or military aggression.

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