keiths
Posts: 2195 Joined: Jan. 2006
|
Paradoxically, that is one KF comment worth quoting in full -- for the laughs: Quote | 159
kairosfocus
12/24/2008
7:12 am
PS: Mark,
A: There is a reason an undergrad term paper is of length 2,000 - 5,000 words, and why College grad level theses start at around 40,000.
I think it is fair to say that a 200 word synopsis is not at all in the same class, where one expects and has to properly address seriously hostile scrutiny [cf Antievo, Panda's Thumb and the like, if you don't know what I am saying], and brief citations will invariably be pounced on as “quote mining” and more.
But also, we can take this in steps. There’s no rush . . .
So, why not let’s start with the issue of the term you introduced: vitriol?
It’s point no 1 in my note just above, and is addressed in 208 words. (If you like imagine ther is a horizontal rule just after that point . . . )
So, why not look at this one first, then move on from there?
-------------------
[I even put in the HR . . . )
B: More broadly, the sort of length just adverted to is what it typically takes to even at a first level seriously and responsibly address an important matter at the level of the guild of peers, or even in a semi-popular but serious forum as at UD.
(A typical garden variety 1 hour college lecture is 11 pp long, for similar reasons.)
And, we are here dealing with the core matters that have driven a massive polarising wedge across our whole civlisation.
----------------------
C: Not to mention, just for a moment, let us indulge a philosophical thought experiment that I hope and believe will help us put things in proportion:
THOT EXPT: Imagine what happens on a certain Day if you turn out to be wrong in your reductive materialism, and you are asked before a certain Bar, to account for how you handled the opportunity to think through the issues on your worldview and lifestyle. (After all a certain classical and authoritative Christian writer states in his most important writing, that living by even the quite limited the truth one knows or should know and associated persistence in the right are key factors that would count on such a day . . .)
"It wasn't written out in 200 words or less . . ."
Do you think such would wash at such a bar? [In short, is the limit of 200 words realistic for responsibly addressing such matters?]
-------------------------
D: As well, I am not just writing for you, but for the many onlookers who almost never post here.
They, too, need to hear a responsible answer. And, many times such have communicated with me directly, expressing thanks for taking time to take up matters point by point and speak to the evidence and issues. (It helps to view my point- by- point comments and always linked note, longer comments by SB and similar ones by GP or others as back-up to the briefer remarks by others and even by myself. Indeed, I am actually officially “retired” from regular commenting at UD. I re-entered the fray only because of a wave of issues that came to a head recently; on the evidence, tied to a thrust from Antievo. I actually shortly intend to return to my lurking.)
--------------------
E: Also, again, there’s no rush.
So, why not let’s take on the points one at a time [they are numbered for that very reason], and we can discuss?
+++++++++++
I will monitor UD, especially this thread.
Merry Christmas
GEM of TKI |
-------------- And the set of natural numbers is also the set that starts at 0 and goes to the largest number. -- Joe G
Please stop putting words into my mouth that don't belong there and thoughts into my mind that don't belong there. -- KF
|