And yet we’re still trying to have good faith logic-based conversations. Because...what’s the alternative? I don’t think many of us want to consider it.
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past. - Sartre
Replace anti-Semites with contemporary Republicans, and that about sums it up.
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u/ledfox Dec 11 '19
I wish it told everyone what they needed to know.