My piece for Comment is Free (The Guardian) appears here.
Go and help me out, coz this one is going to be controversial. Btw, the word around the traps is that you should NEVER get trapped in debate in the comments section if you write one of these pieces. It can take over your life and drive you to despair. So ... I'll keep away as much as possible. :)
About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
13 comments:
Sometimes it is not very simple. There can be issues where both sides have a moral stance. One example is pro-life vs pro-choice. One side takes a moral right stance for the child and the other side takes a moral rights stance of the mother. The answer can take a middle position (abortion until x weeks) which may change as science and medicine progress. Neither side might be satisfied.
Russell,
DO NOT—repeat, DO NOT engage the commenters! Ignore this advice at your peril!
I dunno, didn't sound controversial at all to me.
I'm sure it's good advice Jerry - I'm not even looking at the comments. Let the snake pit go on without me.
I've looked at the comments so far and they're actually quite thoughtful (mostly), and some compliment you on the piece. There aren't any commenters defending FGM, the Iranian and/or Saudi regimes, describing concern about halal/kosher butchery on animal welfare grounds as "racist" or "anti-Semitic," and no paens to Islamic law or Christian theology. (Why I continue to read the comments there on any article having to do with Islam, Israel or any other such contentious topic is beyond me, except that I must enjoy punishing myself!)
In any case, very good article!
I don't know whether DM is playing some sort of joke, but this is not a place where you can turn up and call the blogger a little liar and one of his friends a little shit. See you, pal.
Oh I don't think it's necessary to avoid the comments altogether - just be selective, that's all.
Mind you if one is going to engage it's probably best to do it early or not at all, because once some time passes the commentary tends to settle into two-way wrangles between people like 'sonoftherock' and the opposite, and they go nowhere.
DEEN: "I dunno, didn't sound controversial at all to me."
Same here. It looks like something that struck me as common sense. Not that's a bad thing, though, considering how common so-called "common sense" is.
Sadly Ophelia, I know exactly who "sonoftherock" (a very annoying Christian apologist on Cif) is, and my life is poorer for it. The same with any number of diehard Islamic commenters...
Blasphemy is a victimless crime, therefore is not a crime.
You are nothing but a joke, DM.
Go stew in your own ignorant hate.
A loser is one like you DM. I am happy with my life.
You live in fear of your fictitious boogey-god. You are so deluded to think he hears your every thought and prayer and wants you to shun or murder unbelievers.
You have been taught immorality by your religion. Slavery, murder, genocide, misogyny, homophobia are its rules for your life.
You stand in judgment of others and try to control their lives with your religion's meaningless rules.
We are more tolerant and accepting of others and would not care what you do or believe except that attempt to force your crap onto others.
Hey, you've been MABUS'D!
DM will become very tedious indeed if you don't do something about him. If form is anything to go by, he'll continue to spam your blog with increasingly meaningless frothings.
On the upside, the comments on the guardian piece are fine. Mostly just a few people squabbling amongst themselves.
Don't feed the troll people. The comments from David Mabus stayed there longer than they would normally, because I've been driving all day.
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