[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Buster

In order:

- I don't make statements to get a rise out of people. I'm just interested in people being accurate. My perception is that people enjoy a cozy narrative, that makes them feel better, and they really dislike it when you poke holes in that narrative and ask them to back up their points. I'm not concerned by their cognitive dissonance. I don't feel like a provocateur so much as a public defender. I don't much like Trump, but I think we have a responsibility to try to maintain accuracy.

- People ARE actively trying to search for obscure passages and content. The entire thing is people jumping to a conclusion based on their own preconceptions. In my experience, people really don't like being challenged when they happens, and this case is no different. When Trump made the comments about Mexicans and Muslims, everybody's hair lit on fire, and people ran around calling him a racist. I'm not sure why I'm the only one here who thought to go back and look at what he actually said, rather than just joining the crowd in that particular attribution.

- The reduction of discourse card is exactly what I am pointing out here. And despite people thinking it's repetitive or whatever, I think it's actually incredibly important. The discussion here is a case-in-point. Attributing the racist label to Trump is a big charge. It's an inflammatory word, and I think we ought to be careful running around using it like a flame-thrower. The problem with it is this: if you say Trump is a racist, then you are saying to Trump supporters that they are supporting a racist, which is an attempt at guilt by association. It's a way to hector people, and shut down actual conversation on the actual policy he is suggesting. It's the same "shout down" bullying technique that the left uses regularly to impair discourse. In that way, running around shouting "Trump is Racist" might be considered more divisive than the actual policy, which you can impugn quite easily based on its lack of merit.

Oh, and xenophobe and racist are two different things. Language matters.

You are one of those guys who insists there are only three anthropological races, aren't you?