Truth for all Chatlist readers to remember: Good ideas can withstand logical critical analysis and debate.

Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 08:15:09 -0400
From: Cryptik
Subject: Truth for all Chatlist readers to remember

Good ideas can withstand logical critical analysis and debate.

Bad ideas die in the face of objective criticism. For them to be accepted, they require tactics that shut down debate or distract the discussion from the idea itself. Bad ideas don’t want to be examined logically.

An idea is unrelated to who discusses it. For example, if a member of the KKK presents a generally good idea, the presenter being affiliated with that controversial group is irrelevant. Attempting to shoot down an idea by attacking its presenter is an indication of a problem with the attacker, not the idea. (Unfortunately, that doesn’t prevent retaliation, which is why I either get to use a pseudonym on the Chatlist or refuse to participate at all. Too many Chatham residents have too much spare time and significant malicious tendencies.)

If someone makes a claim, the onus is on that person to provide sufficient proof of that claim’s validity. One cannot argue in a manner such as “air has density! Can you prove it doesn’t?”

For people like those who published the names and addresses of volunteers because they disagree with their cause, I would estimate that this is a move they made because they know they can’t possibly win in the arena of reasoned public discourse. “If the facts are against you, pound the circumstances.. If the circumstances are against you, pound the facts. If both are against you, pound the table.”

In the real world, the behavior of those who” doxxed” the volunteers is called bullying. Specifically in this case, it would be cyberbullying, and if any target of it were a minor, it would be a criminal offense under North Carolina General Statute 14-458.1; I would encourage scanning of that list of publicly posted information to determine if any volunteers happen to be minors, and if so, report the bullying to the police for prosecution.