Rudeness in the Debate.

[Allan C Cybulskie]

Okay, I still read AvC (I'm not a member). I know I shouldn't, but
occasionally interesting things pop-up, like a link to this discussion
between "The Four Horsemen":

http://richarddawkins.net/fourhorsementranscript

They spend a lot of time lamenting that even if they tried to be nice
in the debate, they still got branded as being rude and arrogant, and
they can't understand it.

Well, let me quote this one part of it:

Daniel Dennett: "do you realise you've wasted your life? Do you
realise that you've just devoted all your efforts and all your goods
to the glorification of something which is just a myth? Or have you
ever considered - even if you say have you even considered the
possibility that maybe you've wasted your life on this? There's no
inoffensive way of saying that. But we do have to say it, because they
should jolly well consider it. Same as we do about our own lives."

And he wonders why he might get accused of being arrogant and
overconfident? At the end, he's starting to back away and is
seemingly asking that theists simply consider that their belief in God
might be incorrect. But that's precisely NOT what he's doing at the
start of the paragraph. He's saying, basically, that theists ARE
wrong, that God IS a myth? Even at the end, it's a comment about how
maybe we've "wasted our lives". How is that not reflecting arrogance?

If he'd simply stand down and say "You might be wrong, and would you
want to do what you're doing if you're wrong?" then some of the claims
of arrogance would be blunted. Some will complain no matter what --
for any side -- but it would help. But it hardly seems fair to rant
about people calling you arrogant when you seem to demonstrate that
outright.

To be fair, Dennett said he ran his book -- which he was criticized
about -- past some strongly religious students and updated based on
their input. That being said, perhaps they knew him well-enough to
know that he was aiming more for the latter statements -- think about
the issue -- instead of the former -- you're wrong, I'm right --
whereas most other readers won't.

[Brock Organ]

On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 3:56 PM, Allan C Cybulskie
<allan_c_...@yahoo.ca> wrote:
>
> Okay, I still read AvC (I'm not a member). I know I shouldn't, but
> occasionally interesting things pop-up, like a link to this discussion
> between "The Four Horsemen":
>
> http://richarddawkins.net/fourhorsementranscript
>
> They spend a lot of time lamenting that even if they tried to be nice
> in the debate, they still got branded as being rude and arrogant, and
> they can't understand it.
>
> Well, let me quote this one part of it:
>
> Daniel Dennett: "do you realise you've wasted your life? Do you
> realise that you've just devoted all your efforts and all your goods
> to the glorification of something which is just a myth? Or have you
> ever considered - even if you say have you even considered the
> possibility that maybe you've wasted your life on this? There's no
> inoffensive way of saying that. But we do have to say it, because they
> should jolly well consider it. Same as we do about our own lives."
>
> And he wonders why he might get accused of being arrogant and
> overconfident?

Hi Alan,

You describe the situation so well. Thanks for the thoughtful read. :)

Regards,

Brock