A Public Letter to the Goat Man:

I just want for you to know that, while you won the sympathies of Zanmek, you have not won mine. I have agreed no longer to engage in philosophical debate with you nor any other members of his server nor his channel. That is well; you’ve demonstrated why it is a waste of time.


Yet just know this: I offered you my point of view as I would intimate it to my closest friends, not out of some presumption that you cared for *me*, but rather the belief that you were virtuous and would consider the position as an opportunity to learn, to criticize, and to improve together as a species. I had tried to treat you “as a human being”, by my definition, but you clearly had another definition.


Though you’re legally entitled to this definition, there is something that you have to know, however: that I gifted you a sub to Zanmek’s channel, one which had not processed by the time we had this little “argument”. I thought you’d have the basic decency to join in that debate with gratitude, and this was what I thought you wanted when you kept it up. Yet clearly you had motives other than discussion, and you managed to convince my friend that it was I that was harassing you.


This did not happen. You presented an opinion; I countered. If you cannot handle that, then keep your uninformed opinion to your own self. There is enough delusion on this planet as it is, and it is always propagated by the people who believe that they are smart but who don’t take the time to re-evaluate and study their assumptions.


At the very least, I owe it to my planet, as we all do, to ensure that they don’t get too far. Your ignorance is not of equal value to my knowledge, since the former hurts and kills; the latter heals and saves, and yes: I’ve earned the right to say this. You do not decide that.


Do not take this out on Zanmek. He’s a decent streamer who is sympathetic to you. All the views expressed are mine (though not exclusively, by any measure).


**[({R.G.)}]**

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Response to Hazmat: Absolutist Ethics.

Image
Yes: I value the opinions of others, insofar as I can vouch for their integrity. Yet that requires that they fervently believe that what they say is true, that they can stand beside it, put it into practice, and uphold it as a sacred principle, as though it were a Higher Power which compelled them. It thus follows that, so long as an opinion is valid, one must validate it not by merely practicing that view within one’s own life, but by holding others to it. One cannot impose morality on anyone, because morality is binding on us all, in equal measure, and one’s only burden is to fathom it, to the extent one can, and to uphold it. That is not an imposition; it’s an obligation, and, without it, we have nothing. You once asked me: “At what point is it an evil to impose one’s views of righteousness on someone else?” I’ll answer with the obvious: at no point, whatsoever, since it is impossible. Where Righteousness is what’s at stake, one can’t “impose on someone else”, as though one posed a
Read more

Justice for R. Kelly: a Reflection on the State of Eros. (Dedicated to the Lady Jerri.)

  I've been reading, recently, about the life of Robert Kelly, whom you'd recognize from *Space Jam*'s soundtrack, the "Ignition" remix, and his many other hits, such as "Trapped in the Closet". It just breaks my heart to see how he was treated, not just as a child who had to grow up much too fast, but also as an adult, even after having given us such heartfelt, soulful music. I could never reconcile those sweet and sentimental, loving, sometimes mystifying tones with the entire image of a sex offender; he was a Don Juan, but not Don Giovanni.   Clearly, that same mainstream media that made him famous had betrayed him, while the legal system, which was never there for him when he himself most needed and deserved it, in the tenderness of youth, went well beyond its obligations in defence of "children". The hypocrisy is not the part which angers me, as it is so ironic that it's laughable, and that alleviates some of the sadness of this gr
Read more

The Early Death of Any Future Peace:

  The biggest problem with the issue of abortion seems, at first, to be that no one wants to talk about it *as* a controversial issue. All the major arguments which either “side” reiterates have been around for roughly half a century at least, and we have made no progress in resolving them in the last forty years. This does not stop idealogues from acting like the matter’s settled and that *their* side won, however.   Yet beyond the moderate, “politically correct” and “civil” surface of the issue lies the deeper issue: Hardly anybody wants to talk about abortion *in itself*, and those who advocate for “choice” (and, by extension, for abortion, as it has to be a choice) are those least willing to discuss *the act itself* and whether it is good or evil to commit.   Instead, we hear from advocates for “choice” a slew of beautiful ideals, impassioned speeches, and redundant platitudes: -    the value of one’s bodily autonomy, -    the need for women to receive protection in a m
Read more