Etiquette

DP Etiquette

First rule: Don't be a jackass.

Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.

Monday, February 17, 2025

Canards and Tropes

canard

noun

: a false or unfounded report or story

: a groundless rumor or belief

trope

noun

a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.

a significant or recurrent theme; a motif.

More and more lately I have wanted to stay away from Politics. I got into it with someone I consider a friend yesterday. In my opinion he was displaying some canards that I found offensive but he didn't see them as such.

AND I GET IT!

When some whitey calls a black criminal a thug......... that is viewed nowadays as a "trope". Yet the literal meaning of the word is race free.

It's how it is used.

Same with canards. The BLM riots were violent. Yes, some were, but any analysis of those riots would dispel the notion that the BLM protests were "riots" except in isolated instances. Yet the canard persists.

I am NOT here today to get into it again with anyone! I just wanted to express my frustration with our tendencies to use canards and tropes in order to prove a point.

AND while the worst examples may be found on the Right, the Left has their canards and tropes they use on Trump voters or Republicans, or those who lean Right.

BUT......................... and this is a big BUT.............

When heated debates happen, we have the tendency to lean on canards and tropes and characterizations and stereotypes and beliefs that this group of people or that group of people are this or that.

Why discussing politics, particularly in THIS era, cannot be civil.

Am I wrong?