"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are."

[TahitiNut]

I'm recently reminded of this aphorism, variously attributed to Anais Nin or the Talmud. We're seeing the term "projection" employed both to describe the confirmation hearings and the stances of assorted DUers. It should probably give us pause. I'm left to wonder about the demeaning and condescending attitudes towards the members of the DU community as expressed in the Teacup Tempest of 'unrecommend' and note a disturbing correlation between such attitudes and the tendency to conflate message with messenger ... clearly interpreting the 'recommend/unrecommend' diad as approval/disapproval of the PERSON rather than the POST. "Judge not lest ye be judged" seems to have been perverted into some proscription by the judgmental against any expression of a contrary valuation, implicitly insisting on the sole choice of "Drive" or "Neutral" and no "Reverse." Somehow, the transmission seems strangely designed. What's the frequency, Kenneth?

:eyes:

"You like me! You really like me!!" (Sally Field)

[Cant trust em]

1. When I clicked on this, I figured it was going to be a Sotomayor post. nt

[BlooInBloo]

2. Big words - I like it. Kantian notion before Kant that I wasn't aware of - I like it...

Overall opinion - I like it.

[TahitiNut]

3. Interesting. I hadn't thought of the deontological (Kantian) theme ...

... but, as a Kant groupie, I rather like it. I'm a hopeless deontologist, I guess.

[BlooInBloo]

4. :) Kant's so-called "Copernican revolution" is essentially contained in your subject quote...

Naturally the Talmud doesn't mean by it anything nearly so wide-ranging as what Kant meant, but the similarity is noteworthy nevertheless.

[Odin2005]

9. The problem with Kant is he started with incorrect assumptions and thus went too far.

He, like most educated people in his time and all the way until Einstein, thought Newtonian Physics was absolute truth. The understanding that all theories are falsifiable conjectures that merely approximate the truth forces us to modify Kant's assertion that the laws of nature are imposed by our our minds. We impose our theories on the world, but nature always kicks back in the form of falsifications of our theories.

[TahitiNut]

10. In that regard, then, I suppose I'm observing the Heisenberg effect on DU.

:dunce:

[Odin2005]

11. LOL, DUzy!

:rofl:

[Uncle Joe]

5. Self-delete due to error recorded. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

6. I agree with the driving analogy and that's why I believe drive and reverse should be visible.

If <0 or reverse is all that's shown, we'll rarely if ever go forward, if drive were all that's shown we wouldn't know how to back out of a ditch.

I believe both pro/rec/drive and con/unrec/reverse should be visible for maximum democratic driving efficiency, to hide one or the other distorts reality.

Thanks for the thread, TahitiNut.

This is a repost due to error recorded on above post.

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. Most of the arguments given against the u-suck button...

... were presented in terms of the effect on the diversity of opinion which can be readily found here, which is a fair observation, since that is precisely what the tool is meant to affect.

Which brings up your point of "projection".

poster a) I don't like this, it will enforce uniformity of opinion on the greatest page, thus reducing its value.
poster b) OMG! you are just worried 'cuz you can't write.
poster a) that's not it at all, I'm concerned about the aggregate quality of discussion.
poster b) big whiner. Get over it! Skinner says that anyone who doesn't like it can just go away! DU, love it or leave it!
poster a) aren't you listening? I'm concerned about the big picture... not about whether people like me.
poster t) I'm reminded of a deep and profound philosophical point, which relies heavily on arbitrarily multisyllabic words where people who suck, think I suck, simply because I know they suck. They're just projecting, of course.

Perhaps if you could give us some more concrete examples of the phenomenon, and expressed them in layman's terms, we could better understand what you're saying.

For my part, I think the contrary valuation which opinions are apparently in such dire need of, could best be served by commenting.

[TahitiNut]

8. It'd be pointless to rehash the scores of threads on this subject. My point was to note ...

... that the overwhelming majority of postures taken, ON ALL SIDES, seemed to project on others a regard for this "community" most likely held by the poster. In some cases, that characterization was one of most DUers having respect and appreciation for a diversity of views ... expressed by folks I've noted have demonstrated that same regard.

I'm not about to "call out" (in either an affirmative or critical fashion) anyone in that regard, despite your invitation to do so.