Re: Black goo: Never mind.

Eric Watt Forste (arkuat@pobox.com)
Wed, 03 Sep 1997 12:59:45 -0700


Lee Daniel Crocker writes:
> Tolerance is an obligation /only/ of listeners, not speakers.

I think this overstates things a bit; I certainly feel no obligation
to tolerate anything anyone cares to say to me. If someone is
spewing offensive speech at me, I have zero obligation to listen
to it: I'll get right up and walk away without a shred of remorse.
(It's called plonking.) If tolerance is an obligation at all, it
is an obligation of human beings regardless of their speaking or
listening roles.

> The obligations of a speaker are clarity and honesty above all else.

Yes, but a clear and honest speaker who fails to communicate with
anyone because he drives away his target audience with implicit
insults before they've really listened to his message isn't
accomplishing much. I don't think there's anything particularly
extropic about futile and self-defeating activity.

--
Eric Watt Forste ++ arkuat@pigdog.org ++ expectation foils perception -pcd