The statement above is a plain, honest, unadorned, statement. How could
it possibly be expressed in any "softer" way without distorting it to
the point of vacuousness or outright lying? If it had been a deliberately
hateful statement like "What would you expect from those evil heathens" I
would join the complaints, but because his statement is irrational and
dogmatic, not because of any particular emotional attachment I or other
listeners may or may not have.
Since the original statement is not like that, the fact that the plain
truth of an honestly expressed opinion provoked such a reaction is prima
facie evidence of an intellectual pathology in those listeners. The fact
that we might have predicted it ahead of time is evidence that we as a
society tolerate, even welcome, this intellectual weakness. Evading it,
dancing around it, or denying it won't cure the problem. Dealing with it
honestly and openly will.
Call me a button-pusher if you will; I hold the title proudly. Consider
me the QA department for the mind. There's a bug here: if you push this
button, it malfunctions. Your response is "well, don't push that button".
Mine is let's /remove/ the button. Let's fix the bug. Maybe I've spent
too much time in software QA, but sometimes you have to deliberately
push those buttons and look for failures to get things fixed.
> To blatantly push these buttons and then act indignant when others react -
I'm not indignant--I'm just pointing out that it's a bug.