I disagree with this warning:

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Fotheringay-Phipps

There’s nothing in the second paragraph about anyone who is not a fool or asshole, and looks to me you meant this to include everyone in the first paragraph. If this were not so, there was no reason at all to include the “You” in the first paragraph, since the point of this bit was to say that fools and assholes should only be tolerated legally and not otherwise.

The reason to include “you” in the first paragraph, again, is that I was responding to this post, emphasis added:

I don’t agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Attributed to Voltaire but probably not by him. But it’s not a sentiment that liberals would agree with.

I was showing that you and everyone else have a legal right that I’ll defend (not to the death, I’m a bit of a coward, but on a messageboard anyway), but not a right to be free from criticism.

The “you” in that context is, again, something of an impersonal “you.” Aldiboronti’s opinions are pretty much unknown to me and were not the subject of the thread, and it’d make no sense for me to be referring specifically to him (?) with that “you.”

[Fotheringay-Phipps]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

The reason to include “you” in the first paragraph, again, is that I was responding to this post, emphasis added:
I was showing that you and everyone else have a legal right that I’ll defend (not to the death, I’m a bit of a coward, but on a messageboard anyway), but not a right to be free from criticism.

The “you” in that context is, again, something of an impersonal “you.” Aldiboronti’s opinions are pretty much unknown to me and were not the subject of the thread, and it’d make no sense for me to be referring specifically to him (?) with that “you.”

Your opening words to aldiboronti were “Buncha bullshit, aldi”. It’s possible that what followed was a continued theme of contempt for him and his words.

Nonetheless, you’ve made valid points, and my assessment has changed somewhat in light of this (FWIW).

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Fotheringay-Phipps

Your opening words to aldiboronti were “Buncha bullshit, aldi”. It’s possible that what followed was a continued theme of contempt for him and his words.

Well, yes–the argument he was making, that liberals don’t tolerate bigots and are therefore intolerant, isn’t an argument I have any patience for, and I phrased my disgust with that argument in pretty blunt language, and I agree that the bluntness of my disgust for that argument might color the perception of the disputed passage.

However, I tend to be pretty blunt with my language when it comes to arguments I find logically vapid or based on absurd ideologies (I think you’ve got some familiarity with that bluntness) without resorting to personal insults. The fact that an apparent personal insult appeared in the middle of my post was unintentional. Again, when I talked about fools and assholes with opinions, I was addressing the Voltaire quote and its inapplicability to the Robertson case.