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8:36pm August 25, 2013

Please don’t try to have a conversation with me if you:

* can’t handle that not everyone who says the same thing means the same thing by it (or think that if I don’t like something, my reasons are the same as everyone who dislikes it)

* are going to interpret what I say as part of an overarching worldview or system of ideas, rather than a specific statement about a specific kind of situation

* are going to single out one specific thing I said, connect it to a bunch of ideas I didn’t say, and respond to those ideas as if they are what I meant by that one thing I said

* are going to insert my views into some sort of system where there’s people who believe in system of beliefs A, people who believe in system of beliefs B, and nobody else in the world even exists.

Because you’re wasting your time and you’re wasting my time and no actual communication is going to take place. 

I understand that sometimes making mistakes about these things is inevitable, and that I make these mistakes too. Just try not to make a habit of it. 

See also:

http://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2007/01/11/politics-ethics-and-mental-widgets/