"That's crap!"
Sep. 17th, 2008 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nancylebovI've been thinking about how civilized discourse isn't really an adequate translation of visceral response. Something like "I really hate that!" does not mean the same thing as "That's crap!". Really hating something carries with it a belief that it's so obviously hateful that anyone else in the vicinity should be recognizing the objective truth and hate it too.
On the other hand, a little civilized recognition that not everyone sees things the same way is both objectively true and avoids pointless quarrels.
I don't see any way to do justice to the way things feel and the way things are at the same time.
Addendum: I see that I didn't quite say what I meant. What I had in mind is that I might have the strong "That's crap!" reaction first, and then I tone it down to the civilized but emotionally inaccurate "I really hate that!".
On the other hand, a little civilized recognition that not everyone sees things the same way is both objectively true and avoids pointless quarrels.
I don't see any way to do justice to the way things feel and the way things are at the same time.
Addendum: I see that I didn't quite say what I meant. What I had in mind is that I might have the strong "That's crap!" reaction first, and then I tone it down to the civilized but emotionally inaccurate "I really hate that!".
