Russell Blackford could easily start 10 threads with his remarks
on adultery, disloyalty, brutality, political correctness,
divisiveness, racism, diversity, separatism, and zenophobia!
I wish I could buy the time to engage in all ten! For what it's
worth, I have mixed feelings only about political correctness
(say given a healthy positive regime fighting for its life),
diversity, separatism, and zenophobia. Diversity is important
for economic reasons alone (Adam Smith attributed our prosperity
to division of labor alone), but is IMO harmful when it brings
about divisiveness, and separatism and zenophobia also have
their place IMO in most of the historical situations of the
past four hundred years. Possibly including ours.
Lee
> Let's go through them.
>
> Adultery: well, I've expressed support from time to time for the principle
> of polyamory, so I obviously have a reservation about this one. However,
> there's no doubt that in many contexts adultery is disloyal and destructive,
> so I didn't quibble about its inclusion.
>
> Disloyalty: A characteristic I dislike very strongly.
>
> Brutality: Likewise, almost as much.
>
> Political correctness: This one is complex, but I generally agree that what
> *I* call political correctness (which we could discuss) is a bad thing.
> However, political correctness is only a sub-set of left-liberal ideas or
> social democratic ones - as you know, I am not opposed to all such ideas.
>
> Divisiveness: Another hard one. Principled dissent, disagreement and
> argument are good things. But "divisiveness" to me means more than than; it
> means creating division for its own sake, being disruptive, not being a team
> player. I thought that was what you meant and agreed it was a bad thing (ie
> it is something I dislike and invite others to).
>
> Racism: Something I strongly dislike.
>
> Diversity: The only one I like without qualification (and it's not the same
> as "divisiveness" as I understand it).
>
> Separatism: To me this means the idea that indigenous peoples in countries
> such as Australia and the US should form their own countries, separating
> from the Commonwealth or the union. That's what the word usually means over
> here. It might mean something else over there. With that meaning, I think
> it's a lousy idea.
>
> Xenophobia: I *like* people from other countries.
>
> So, with a reservation about how we should think about adultery, and with my
> interpretations of what these words mean, I thought this was a pretty good
> list of things to dislike - with the glaring exception of "diversity".
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